One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Castration Analysis

The oppressor, or antagonist, of the story is Nurse Ratched, or the Big Nurse. Her methods of oppression, including attempts to emasculating the men in the medical ward, is the foundation of the work. The nurse uses her power to manipulate the patients as well as members of the staff in the hospital. Since she is in charge of the entire ward, she runs it with an iron fist while concealing her feminism and humanity behind a patronizing façade. As the story progresses, Nurse Ratched loses some power over the patients with the introduction of a new patient on the ward, Randle McMurphy. As McMurphy continues to fight her oppression, her façade breaks down and falls apart as she loses control.

When Nancy counters this with “you certainly manage to make a woman feel like an object rather than a person,” Billy’s response is “thank the pills for that.” This moment is presented as one of the first “lessons” that Billy teaches Nancy, that the pills are bad and somehow making her less of a woman. However, what it really suggests is that a woman isn’t worth listening to if her sexuality isn’t involved. Once Nancy reaches Billy’s hideout, other women are more than happy to assist him in raping her. It is later revealed that all of these other women were also once raped by Billy but have now “they understand” and “they’re grateful.” The fact that these victims would not only be happy to assist their rapist and kidnapper but also are described as almost worshipping him seems to suggest more of a Stockholm syndrome situation instead of one where Billy has “saved” them. Billy obviously holds the power within his “gang” and these women are willing to do whatever it takes to help him rape other women. The idea that all these women needed to become grateful was to be forcefully “deflowered” by Billy perpetuates the patriarchal idea that women need to be introduced (often forcefully) to their own sexuality. Instead of just letting the women stop taking their pills and then waiting for them to make their own

So. Does anyone care to touch upon this subject further?” and McMurphy, holding his hand up, asks for permission to speak and says “Touch upon what?” and Nurse Ratched in a shocked way says “What? Touch-” and adds “ Touch upon the subject of Mr. Harding’s problem with his wife.” And McMurphy says “Oh. I thought you mean touch upon her - something else.”(44). Speaking of breasts, McMurphy usually asks Big Nurse’s breast size, “the actual inch-by-inch measurement”, and he collapses her authority when she feels it’s topmost: “ [...] then destroyed her whole effect by asking something like did she wear a B cup, or a C cup, or any ol’ cup at all?”(176-7). So, as we can understand, McMurphy’s insulting manners to get over her dominion includes men sexuality with his fifty to position cards, his pride in having had a voracious fifteen-year-old lover and his Moby-Dick boxer shorts, clashes with the sterile and sexless ward that Nurse Ratched tries to maintain.

Out of the four characters listed in this film, the one character that does not exhibit pretense is Billy. We first see Billy as a nervous, shy young boy with a speech impediment. Billy has weird relationships with women; he likes women and enjoys the company of them but is fearful of the women that are most close to him. Billy’s mother and especially Nurse Ratched are the women he is most afraid of. Nurse Ratched has a personal relationship with Billy’ mother, she has a special motherly power that she only has on Billy and not the other patients in the hospital. She can control him into doing stuff he doesn’t want to do because, Billy is afraid that Nurse Ratched will tell his mother about his

By carrying out the Combine?s orders and imposing a matriarchal system, the Big Nurse has the ability to systematically dehumanize the patients and suppress their individuality. In Group Meetings, the men are forced to talk about personal experiences, a method Big Nurse claims is therapeutic but is actually very humiliating. Billy Bibbit talks about his first love who his mother disliked. Billy?s relationships with women seem to be the root of his problems. Nurse Ratched worsens the situation by ?grinding (his) nose in (his) mistakes? instead of helping him work through his problems (59). The patients let the nurse manipulate them in fear of the consequences of her wrath, and consequently are shamed, weak, and defenseless men. Even the Chief, the biggest man, has become a person so weakened by his society that he loses his ability to speak against the cruelty that surrounds him, ultimately leaving him powerless. The men are victims of their society and lose all their self confidence and individuality as a result of being pressured to conform.

From the start Billy thought some things were a little odd. The first thing that was odd about her was when she immediately opened the door and little comments she made to him. Then he thought she was a little dotty, but he was getting a deal. Finally, he decided she was off her rocker, but he compensated for all the odd little things she did by reminding himself that she was a sweet old lady. Billy should’ve trusted his instincts when something seemed off, but because he doesn’t, he ends up in a situation where something awful will

Individuals are being emasculated and mistreated by woman throughout their journey. Emasculation is intertwined with societal expectation throughout the novel such as when men arrive at the ward. "‘Why then, I'll just explain it to you.’ McMurphy raises his voice; though he doesn't look at the other Acutes listening behind him, it's them he's talking to. "The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin' at it, see…” (Kesey 51). In this quote, McMurphy distinguishes the key factors and clues that the nurse is controlling the men in their institution by forcing them to turn upon each other. She services them to reveal things that shame them to one another. Nurse Ratched is using the men’s secrets to turn them against each other, showing she is mistreating the men and this action really strips the men on their masculine rights. Many of the men got threatening by Nurse Ratched, and some where more extreme than others, leading to terrible outcomes. Billy and the girl had climbed around to the bow and were talking and looking down in the water (Kesey 213)". Billy Ribbit feels emasculated because of Nurse Ratched is threatening him into telling his mother about the situation with Candy. Billy had never been with a woman until he had sex with Candy, a prostitute. Billy’s mom seems to have a strong hold on him, and has a powerful look upon him. The Nurse uses this against Billy, a he thinks deeply considers his mother’s opinion on him his. Nurse

Nurse Ratched’s word is law. She has the power to send you to Electroshock Therapy or to receive a Lobotomy:turning you into a vegetable, no longer able to function in life. She also is very manipulative towards the men causing them to turn on one another by having the patient's record embarrassing things other patients said and discussing these things at therapeutic group meeting. She uses this to emasculate the patients by sharing shameful things they said with all of the patients on the ward. McMurphy, the main protagonist, compares the group meetings to a “bunch of chickens at a pecking party”(51).this is when a chicken coop kills each other to escape the spotlight of Nurse Ratched’s

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, women are often objectified and sexualized. Regardless of how Nurse Ratched is depicted sexually, the men on the ward never experience sexual attraction towards her; since she has many flaws both in her physicality and in her disposition, McMurphy shows signs of a Negative Oedipal Complex.

In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author Ken Kesey 1.enthralls the reader’s attention by displaying events of 2.diminished 3.humanity all throughout the book. This book revolves around the idea that women may be a threat to the masculinity of mental ward patients. The manipulation that occurs within the ward has do with making other characters betray one another and reveal their shame. The manner in which the dominant characters attack the other 's’ “manhood” demonstrates their methods for manipulating the inferior characters under their control. The 4.diverse types of minority groups become 5.conspicuous as the author reveals the 6.inclement and 7.sadistic character, Nurse Ratched, the stories antagonist, , who runs the ward with 8.morbid intentions to 9.desiccate the courage of the people around her. The power in which she portrays is10. ample to the point it becomes 11. flagrant. Her choice of words and background knowledge on the patient 's weaknesses, 12.engender her ability to control people within the ward using insinuation. Although she claims that her actions are in favor for everyone she has contact with within the ward, they are just 13.facades in which 14.covert her manipulation. Throughout the novel, the power of emasculation was a common implement in which controlled the ward, dismayed the courage of many patients and

For instance, Bromden’s mother is portrayed as a castrating women as her husband took her last and she turned a big strong chef into a small, weak alcoholic. According to Bromden, “she built herself up emotionally, becoming bigger than either he or his father, by constantly putting them down”. Simarily, Billy Bibbit’s mother treats him like an infant by not allowing him to develop sexually. As Billy consequently has sex with candy, billy briefly regains his confidence. Through this act, Kesey clearly shows that the following act symbolically resurrects his manhood. Thus, his manhood is taken away by Ratched as she threatens to tell his mother, consequently driving him to commit suicide. More subsequent references to castration appear later in the novel, cementing Kesey’s idea of being emasculated by the frigid nurse. Rawler a patient in the distributed war commits suicide by cutting of his testicles, Bromden remarks that “all the guy had to do was wait,” this implies that the institution would have castrated him In the future. The mental institution in which is run by women, treats only male patients, allowing women to have the ability to emasculate the most masculine of men. Nurse Ratched manipulates the patients in many ways to preserve her control. She finds ways to emasculate and sexually repress the male patients as it keeps them childish and vulnerable. The emasculation furthermore

Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, is a ‘response to changing gender roles ’ that some argue is an ‘anti-feminist work ’ ,and that consequently Ken Kesey was a misogynist, as ‘the text celebrates a “natural” maleness which is placed in opposition to a domineering emasculating representation of the feminine ’. Thus, presenting the men as ‘victims of a matriarchy ’ stressing the benefits of patriarchy; ‘The premise of the novel is that women ensnare, emasculate and in some cases crucify men ’. Nurse Ratched is demonised ‘for trying to save her own

“This scene not only expresses Billy’s rage, it visually represents his childhood. Billy is blocked by barriers of gender, class, and

Nurse Ratched is a former army nurse who works in the ward, she has manipulates the men in many ways. One way is having the patients “spy on each other” making them write things down, they think she would want to hear, or know. Bromden described Nurse Ratched as having the ability to “set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants”, a metaphor for her control, showing how the patients lose track of

From the moment that the apple touched Eve’s lips, women have been seen as an embodiment of all that is evil. This reflects misogynistic societal beliefs that women are below men. While many of the prejudices towards women are hidden in modern American society, some misogynistic stereotypes are still present. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one can see many misogynistic and sexist undertones. Big Nurse Ratched is in a position of authority over a large group of men and is seen as a tyrannical and unjust ruler. Although most of her methods would have been seen as awful when used by any person, the saturation of bad women in the novel creates an unfavorable picture of women in general. The balance of power in the ward is