One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis

In Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, the nurse Miss Ratched is a fine example of a realistic fictional villain. Possession of three key components is essential in identifying what makes Miss Ratched a villian. Motive is what drives the villain to commit the very acts that allow them to be considered evil in the first place, and often drive their entire being as a character. While they must possess motive, they must also have a sense of morals that coincides with their motives (typically evil, or distorted) and follow their moral compass in a way that often causes trouble for those around them. Additionally, a villain is frequently associated with their opposite; the hero who combats them. Kesey’s character perfectly aligns with these three categories of what makes a villain, and it is unquestionable that she is the villain of the novel.

Both men, McMurphy and Luke were turned into examples, much like Jesus Christ and left behind a legacy. Luke at the prison was cool without a doubt, motivating all the prisoners to follow his lead which attracted attention of the authority who believed that Luke had to be dealt with since he was getting out of line and also taking the other prisoners with him 'Thats my darling luke, grins like a baby bites like a gator' we see here in this qoute that dragline was one of many whose heart Luke won, dragline calls him 'darling' which shows how much luke is loved by his fellow prisoners and what a huge impact he has had on their personality. When McMurphy started popping the bubbles of the 'rabbits', making them realize that they had been ripped

The novel begins with Grania as a five-year-old girl, embarking on a journey in relearning a new language. Grania can lipread and often ensures she is angled in a way that the lips of the person she is speaking with is lit. Light and dark make a tremendous impact for her as a deaf person.

In the beginning of the novel, Cole behaves cruelly when he becomes emotional. For example, Cole beats up Peter after Peter has told on Cole for breaking into a store. Another time, Cole hated the stare he was getting, he spit into the wind, were the wind would catch the saliva and carry it back to Edwin. The only reason to why Cole spit cause he hated the stare he was getting and he wanted the saliva to hit Edwin. Whenever, Cole was asked to eat the ingredient separately, he told Gravey it won’t taste good, but you mixed the food together it tastes good. Cole got really mad that he made the food going flying cause how he acted, once he is angry. Cole becomes very angry and he ends up acting very harsh.

In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, an individual’s capacity for self-sacrifice is affected by compelling circumstances. The novel follows the experiences of Chief Bromden and his fellow patients within a psychiatric hospital ruled by an authoritarian Nurse Ratched, who imposes strict rules within the facility in order to maintain stability. The novel is centred on Randle McMurphy’s and Nurse Ratched’s rivalry caused by their polar opposite views on how the institute should be run. McMurphy, a boisterous patient, believes that his fellow patients should have more freedom, on the other hand Nurse Ratched believes in the institution being run like a dictatorship where discipline is the important aspect for stability.

Freedom can be obtained through the defiance of society’s expectations to find a sense of individuality. Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is a novel originally published in 1962, which centres on the lives of patients in a psychiatric hospital. Symbolism, one of the many techniques, was incorporated into the novel, to convey the main ideas of freedom, and society versus individual.

Ken Kesey and Tom Schulman explore the struggle for independence by adopting similar setting, plot, and contrasting characterisation in their respective pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dead Poet’s Society. The two works share an exaggerated institutionalised setting, wherein the internal community is repressed by overbearing authority figures. However, as the media format varies, the portrayal, imagery, and symbolism of the setting differs. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dead Poet’s Society contain parallel plots. Both involve the introduction of a ‘wildcard’ figure into the microcosms of the institute. The character’s idealistic preaching of freedom inevitably leads to disaster at the climax of the novel. Although both preach independence, the definition of independence greatly differs. McMurphy finds independence in escape, while Keating conveys the importance of independent thinking, however within the limitations of the institution. By methods unique to each piece the disruptive figure is neutralised, concluding in the regression back to the establishment’s version of ‘normal’.

Societal pressures are expectations used against those who do not deem socially acceptable actions or behaviours. It often causes people to change their picture of reality, as they want to appear ‘normal’ among the majority. But how can one truly be themselves, all whilst letting societal pressures dictate one’s path? Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, explores the societal pressures for patients to conform to the behavioural standards of society within the walls of a mental ward— but the power of one individual arises the rebellion of other patients to go against the authority of this institution. By examining the symbolism of the patients’ imprisonment, imagery of the machinery, and the setting of the ward, one can see that

In their pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dead Poet’s Society, author Ken Kesey, and Tom Schulman, respectively, adopt setting, plot, and contrasting characterisation to explore the central theme of a struggle for independence. Both Kesey and Schulman set their stories in exaggerated institutions, wherein the internal community is repressed by overbearing authority figures. However, due to their varying media formats, the portrayal, imagery, and symbolism of the setting differs. The plot in both the novel and the film is parallel as both centre a wildcard entering the microcosm that is the institutions. The figure preaches freedom, however, disaster strikes, and at the conclusion of the novel the community regresses back to normal. Finally, contrasting characterisation is used in the same manner – the protagonist and the community are contrasted. The

In their pieces, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dead Poet’s Society, author Ken Kesey, and Tom Schulman, respectively, adopt setting, plot, and contrasting characterisation to explore the central theme of a struggle for independence. Both Kesey and Schulman set their stories in exaggerated institutions, wherein the internal community is repressed by overbearing authority figures. However, due to their varying media formats, the portrayal, imagery, and symbolism of the setting differs. The plot in both the novel and the film is parallel as both centre a wildcard entering the microcosm that is the institutions. The figure preaches freedom, however, disaster strikes, and at the conclusion of the novel the community regresses back to normal. Finally, contrasting characterisation is used in the same manner – the protagonist and the community are contrasted. The

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a first hand account by the narrator about several weeks inside a hospital's ward for the insane. The narrator, Bromden, recounts, “ I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. Bu it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.”(page 8). The book is a testament of major character transformation, following characters that transform from detached and constricted individuals to individuals who relearn how to think for themselves and tap into their natural desires. The

While the novel itself is portrayed as an odd depiction of the struggle of power in an unrealistic setting, there is a purpose for the information included in the novel, which is full of symbolism. The novel by Ken Kesey was written around the children’s rhyme previously stated and symbolizes the plot. The beginning of the rhyme is displayed as “Ting. Tingle, tangle, tremble toes, she’s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts them in pens” which also depicts the novel because the fisherman is Nurse Ratched, who “catches hens”, or mentally ill patients and “puts them in pens” by incarcerating them in the psychiatric hospital. The rhyme then continues with “… three geese in a flock, one flew east, one flew west, and one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.”

In his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, author Ken Kesey tells the story of Randle McMurphy, a former work farm inmate who feigns insanity so he can be admitted to a mental hospital, where he believes he will lead an easier life. From the moment he arrives, however, the boisterous and fun-loving protagonist experiences the harsh reality of life in the ward: Nurse Ratched, the head nurse, has absolute authority over all the patients, who have become helpless under her manipulation and abuse. Not willing to accept his new lot in life, McMurphy finds ways to rebel against the nurse, while giving the patients the confidence they need to join in with him. Over a matter of weeks, their small battles intensify, eventually erupting into

There are times in the world where it is evident that humans are innately evil and driven to savage ways. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, boys are abandoned on an island with no supervision due to a plane crash. The boys become divided by savagery, and the last bits of ordered civilization they had first created falls apart. The innate evil the boys express results in their descent into a savage lifestyle depicted in the way they act, the way they lead the island society, and the way they are perceived by the outside world. When left to function without proper order and civilization, humans are innately evil beings.

Sophy is not in the least in love with him, but the veneration she feels and the little quarrel she has had with her friend Sam makes her accept this proposal. Following marriage they move to London to escape attention which would have been inevitable in the village. Soon a son, Randolph, is born to them. The boy is educated in a public school and thence at Oxford. Following the death of her husband Sophy has nothing much to do and is bored by the uneventful life that she leads looking forward only to the occasional arrival of Randolph. But he has grown estranged from her and is supercilious and critical in his attitude.