One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey during a time in our society when pressures of our modern world seemed at their greatest. Many people were, at this time, deemed by society’s standards to be insane and institutionalized. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a ward of a mental institution. The major conflict in the novel is that of power. Power is a recurring and overwhelming theme throughout the novel. Kesey shows the power of women who are associated with the patients, the power Nurse Ratched has, and also the power McMurphy fights to win. By default, he also shows how little power the patients have.

McMurphy can also be considered a tragic hero. Although he could almost always take control of a situation and never let the combine get the best of him, he could not always control his temper. It was the one think that could get him in trouble because Nurse Ratched could not punish him with electric shock therapy unless he had an outburst. The best thing that McMurphy could have had in the hospital was patience and a calm temper because the only weapon Nurse Ratched had was to try to frustrate him. Since she has ultimate power on the ward, she could do anything she wants and make any rules. For instance, when the patients wanted to watch the world series and they clearly had a majority, she didn’t let them because she wanted them to know that she has authority

With McMurphy’s death, he has become the ward’s martyr, and will be revered as a hero in the future as it seems he has made the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the ward. Additionally, Kesey uses imagery to develop McMurphy as a Christ figure, who has come to save the ward from the oppression of Nurse Ratched and free the helpless patients. For example, when McMurphy is being prepared for his electroshock therapy treatment, he is strapped onto a cross shaped table. He says, “Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?”

Interestingly, McMurphy loosely follows the path of Jesus Christ, where he begins a journey of unselfishness to help free his fellow ward members from the strong grips of the combine. With his fusion of an almost thuggish hero and a liberator, McMurphy cements himself as an archetype that was common in the psychological field from that time. In conjunction with the thoughts of many theorists, like Freud, McMurphy becomes a character that serves almost as role model for many young people. In the case of the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy’s fellow ward-mates are the figurative representation of the children McMurphy would appeal to. In the end, it is McMurphy’s rebelliousness and inevitable sacrifice that help portray him as a classical hero, while also allowing him to free society from the constraints of oppression.

Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the current

The suppression that the male patients face traces back to the suppression of American society. McMurphy refuses to be another robot following orders aimlessly, he fights to maintain his individuality and to spread that individuality to the other patients. Just as the novel, society in America is very mechanical, citizens follow mundane orders like machines and when a unique individual breaks through and expresses themselves, they are eliminated. The power that Nurse Ratched feels against the male patients is similar to the power that Society holds on their people, order and control is essential. Both entities fear individuals whom have original thought, those people cause a threat since they can influence others to think the way they do--control is then lost.

McMurphy does not come onto the ward with the intention of creating such a big movement. He does not seem intrigued at all when first entering the ward however, he begins to realize how poorly the ward treats its patients through the rules Nurse Ratched has set up. Something as simple as not being able to leave the “mess hall till they [Blackboys] all leave at seven-thirty” causes McMurphy to sarcastically reply that he “sure don't want to go against that goddamned policy” (103). Showing the patients how to go against Nurse Ratched through example and providing them with an experience in the outside world, they slowly begin to develop their own opinions rather than having their thoughts drilled into them. McMurphy becomes a leader indirectly and many patients begin to look up to him, When McMurphy attacks one of the Blackboys “shoving him away from George”,, it becomes clear that he does not want money from them; he truly cares (273). Irwing compares to McMurphy because just like him, he has no intention of creating a scene. Irwing makes it clear from the moment of his arrival that he wants to serve his

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a controversial novel that has left parents and school authorities debating about its influence on students since its publication in 1962. The novel describes the inner workings of a mental institution, how the patients are emasculated and mistreated by the terrifying Nurse Ratched, who will go to any length to control them. But in comes McMurphy, a criminal who chose to go to an asylum rather than serve physical labor; he disrupts the order of the hospital with his big personality and loud opinions, undermining the authority of Nurse Ratched and encouraging the patients to live their own lives, until he too, is silenced forever by authority. With his novel, Ken Kesey paints society as an oppressive

Throughout McMurphy’s stay at the hospital, one of his only goals was to take Nurse Ratched off of her throne. He didn’t like the way she ran the hospital, and he was the only one to do something about it. He brought together

In the novel, patients in a mental hospital ward are mistreated by former military nurse, Nurse Ratched. However they feel mentally weak, and have been so intimidated her rule, that they do not question her evil practices. When Randle McMurphy enters the ward, his confidence and boisterous personality rubs off on the patients as he

Whenever McMurphy is first admitted into the ward, he’s nothing like the other patients have seen before, Nurse Ratched included. At the beginning of his stay at the ward, he truly believes that it’s just a place where he can gamble all day long, have three hot meals a day, and can do whatever he pleases. McMurphy

In Kesey’s 1950s novel ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest’ Nurse Ratched’s relationship with male patients is based upon differences they hold about gender and identity. Nurse Ratched is portrayed as a masculine misandrist figure that gains power from emasculation. She carries “no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she’s got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties” . This implies nothing womanly about her as she prioritises her “duties”, suggesting that she aims to control her male patients by ridding her feminine qualities. In addition, she is shown in robotic with a chilling aura. This is evident when she slid “through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her” . This indicates that as a power figure her only concern is controlling her male patients, making sure they are obedient and abiding by her rules. “Gust of cold” implies that by doing so she wholly ruins her relationship with the males due to her “cold” and callous methods. Daniel J. Vitkus states she is “the Big Nurse, an evil mother who wishes to keep and control her little boys (the men on the ward) under her system of mechanical surveillance and mind control.” Yet, can be argued that she is fulfilling her role of working as a Nurse within a mental institution. However Vitkus’s critique is similar to when McMurphy says “Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter?” McMurphy is a hyper masculine force against Ratched’s emasculating norms. Their relationship is essentially a power

As McMurphy joins these sessions, he is shocked to see what appear to be normal men told to be puppets with no control over their own destinies. His rebellion is put into action once he sees what is going on around him this is the same rebellion against authority that has gotten McMurphy into trouble with the law many times before. At first he seems amused to see yelling at one another but as he takes the entire situation into mind he changes it into chaos. He observes how Nurse Ratched controls over the sessions with a sly smile painted across her mouth. He sees how she appears to push and pull the patients as she pleases for own advantages. In response, he interrupts the therapy sessions by playing with a deck of cards (Quote page 12) he stares at Nurse Ratched and a silent challenge passes between the two. Nurse Ratched for her authority but, he also enjoys trying to break down those who control others.

McMurphy raised his voice. ‘Goddamned motherfucking n**!’” (236). McMurphy’s courage to fight the nurses shows his selflessness as a leader, as violating the rules has severe consequences. To many in the ward, McMurphy serves as a “special friend and hero” (227).

Many other critics chose to talk about and criticize One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for many reasons, especially madness, insanity versus sanity and authority, and how the authority can use their power to falsely diagnose the patients, these are also the main themes of the novel, which will be the main points of arguments of this