One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis

1. Randle Patrick McMurphy charges into the Mental Hospital and challenges Nurse Ratched also known as the “Big Nurse” in attempts to topple what she has established. In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” emptiness, placement, and apathy loom in the beginning of the novel, however once Randle Patrick McMurphy arrives the order of combines takes a drastic turn… for the good! McMurphy is a complex character because he can be seen either as a negative influence or as a positive influence because of his actions in the story. However, McMurphy a positive influence because of his actions within the novel.

Kesey has also given this novel great Symbolic value. As an opposer to the McCarthy scheme, he has used the mental hospital as a scale model of how society breaks free of society's conformity. McMurphy acts as the ‘liberator', or rebel of the ward's excessively strict conformity. He saves the patients from "the

McMurphy got in a couple of hassles at the work farm, and the court ruled that he is a psychopath. He doesn’t want to argue with the court. Indeed, he wants to out from the farm and doesn’t care to be called a psychopath.

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.

In Part I of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy enters the ward as self-absorbed and self centered. He doesn’t care if he takes advantage of the people and only cares about himself. His track record proves this; “ A dishonorable discharge, afterward, for insubordination. Followed by a history of street brawls and barroom fights and a series of arrests for Drunkenness, Assault and Battery, Disturbing the Peace, repeated gambling, and one arrest - for Rape” (Kesey 42). All of his convictions and arrests show that he wasn’t ever worried about anyone else, especially his charged of rape. McMurphy also shows his self-centered personality right away when he was talking to the patients. He tells them; “Why, one of the big reasons I got myself sent here was because I needed some new suckers.... I thought I might take advantage of this and maybe make both our lives a little more richer. I’m starting level with you. I’m a gambler and I’m not in the habit of losing” (71). McMurphy comes straight out and tells the patients that he is a gambler and plans on taking their money. He doesn’t care about what they might think about him and it also doesn’t bother him to take advantage of people like mental handicaps. He just wants to win their money and plans on doing so. Overall, in Part I McMurphy is self-absorbed and self-centered and proves this with his life history and with what he tells the other patients.

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

“A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure…”(17).

McMurphy was idolized by certain people in the ward, making him a threat to Nurse Ratched. Throughout the novel, One who flew over the cuckoo's nest, there was several symbolic representations of religion. But, how does McMurphy become a Christ figure towards the patients in the ward? When McMurphy entered the ward, he created disruption in the Disturbed room; therefore, the patients would copy his disruptive behavior, by over throwing the Big Nurse. Although, Part one is the exposition of the novel, demonstrating the main characters, and setting of the novel.

While I agree that the heart of this novel is the power struggle that ensues and that RP McMurphy is not "mentally ill", the other patients are more clearly suffering illnesses, to reach the conclusion that McMurphy himself is "not crazy". As readers, we must first examine what it means to be "crazy", both to ourselves and to society at large. When researching Ken Kesey and his life, I had stumbled upon an interesting fact. Ken Kesey heard of a government program that paid people to take part in experiments with psychedelic drugs. When I heard this, I was so shocked, I thought “wow this is going to be a very interesting book.” There were things that I really enjoyed about the book, such as the narrator, McMurphy, and the crazy parties they both threw. Things that I disliked about the book was the death of poor Billy Bibbit, how nurse Ratched treated the

The institution has essentially made these Chronics more into machines rather than productive human beings, which was the initial intention of Nurse Ratched and her experiments. Therefore, these categories of patients, created by the oppressive behavior of the psychiatric ward, clearly exposes the failure of oppressive institutions as a whole. Similarly, these patients also lose their individuality in the institution by eventually losing their sanity. This is clearly explained by a nurse, in a different ward of the hospital, when she tells McMurphy, the newest patient in the Combine, that he “probably won’t [last] very long - I mean - like you are now” (Kesey 234).One of the most significant patients in the story is McMurphy, a sane criminal who transfers from prison to the ward by purposely acting insane in order to receive a shorter prison sentence. This is because he entered the hospital full of energy and became a symbol of rebellion towards the strict rules of the Nurse. Throughout his

In this film, McMurphy is a the perfect anti-hero, a protagonist that has many flaws. He is self-absorbed and doesn’t answer to authority. His biggest flaw is that he often acts before thinking about the consequences. Because of this, although he truly cares for them, he often unwittingly puts his ward mates into jeopardy. For example, he sneaks girls and booze into the ward with the goal of showing the guys a good time. However, his lack of foresight causes Turtle to get fired and has detrimental effects on Billy who, fearing his mom will find out about his tryst, ends up committing suicide.

The utilization of the Psychoanalytical lens becomes apparent between the character’s actions and the Super Ego when Mc Murphy tells Nurse Ratchet that he’s been wrongly diagnosed. Mc Murphy Tells Nurse Ratchet that he thinks the doctor wrongly diagnosed him, he claims he must have been misunderstood. "Doc the nurse left this out while summarizing my record 'Mc Murphy has evidenced repeated'—I'm understood, 'repeated outbreaks of passion suggests possible diagnosis, psychopath.' He told us 'psychopath' means I fight, means I’m overzealous in sexual relations. "Have the people ever been troubled by it? "No, Mc Murphy. I’m interested that the doctor at the work farm: 'Don't overlook the possibility that this man might be feigning psychosis to

Within “The Purloined Letter” different type of deception: Omission, Equivocation and Falsification. As the story evolves each character uses different kind of deception to help their plan

Individual’s having this personality disorder fail to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest, they are frequently deceitful and manipulative and they show a pattern of impulsivity. All these above characteristics are visible in Randle McMurphy. He was in custody for statutory rape of an underage girl. He challenges the authority of Nurse Mildred Ratched and was very impulsive and manipulative.

As the hero of the story, Mirabell 's behavior and personality is a very important factor in the play 's function. His "primary motive throughout the play is to protect his relationship with Millamant" (Rosowski 402). The entire purpose of his scheme is to secure his relationship with Millamant, and his other relationships are affected by his behavior. His relationship with Fainall becomes antagonistic, he abuses his power, and he plans to blackmail a relatively innocent person. He manipulates his relationships with several characters to ensure the success of one relationship. His behavior is dangerous and potentially harmful, but that does not matter in his mind.