One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

During his time spent, he is at constant war with her either he losing advantage or gaining. When McMurphy first arrives to the ward, he seems different compared to other admissions. Chief Bromden the narrator of the story mentions “ I don’t hear him slide scared along the wall, and when they tell him about the shower he don’t just submit with a weak little yes, he tells them right in a loud brassy voice that he’s already damn clean, thank you.(Kesey Pg.9)”. This means compared to the other admissions McMurphy does not submit like the rest he seems strong and takes charge of the situation he is. McMurphy is a man who confident, strong, and rowdy and despite his big and muscular appearance as mentioned by the narrator, Chief Bromden observations of him. In one section of the novel, Chief Bromden mentions during the recollections of his past he mentions of his father mentioning to him about conformity based on appearance “Papa said if you don’t watch it people will force you one way or the other into doing what they think you should do”. Therefore, even though McMurphy is a tall, broad across the jaw and shoulders and chest.

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.

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

     Mcmurphy was the one who started making people laughing in the ward. When he first came into the ward he was cracking jokes and shaking everybody’s hand. (p.16)

After leaving the hellish work farm where he serving his prison sentence, McMurphy arrives at the ward, which is exponentially more dull and drab in comparison. The impact of his arrival at the ward is seen instantly. The enthusiasm and energy he brings to the ward is so uncharacteristic, that even some of the Chronics, who are longstanding patients that have become “machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired,” show some life (Kesey 10). In his typical westernized fashion, McMurphy arrives at the hospital with the aura of “a frontier

McMurphy learns that involuntarily committed patients cannot leave the hospital without staff approval. Therefore, he cannot leave at the end of his six months sentence, but when Nurse Ratched says he can and he begins to submit to her authority. However, by this time, he had become the leader for the other patients. Their sanity, their claim to manhood lies in the balance. Cheswick, dismayed by McMurphy’s surrender, commits suicide.

The climax of the novel took place when McMurphy’s rebellion took a violent turn. Until this point McMurphy’s actions were light hearted and humorous, but his frustration got the best of him. McMurphy smashed through the window of the nurse’s center highlighting that his mischief was now serious. From that point on he takes a slightly selfless stance connecting and helping the other patients of the ward deal with their unfortunate situations. Chief bonds with McMurphy and helps protect his best interests for the remainder of the

McMurphy, a gambler who is mistakenly diagnosed as a psychotic is brought into the Combine is considered a leader through the eyes of the patients by teaching them how to stand up for themselves against Nurse Ratched’s dictator like authority. McMurphy demonstrates his leadership when he first walks into the ward and asks all of the patients, “Who’s the bull goose loony here?... I’m thinking about taking over this whole show myself…so you better take me to your leader and we’ll get it straightened out who’s gonna be boss around here” (Kesey 22-23). It is easy to see that McMurphy is trying to be the leader of the ward and

McMurphy is an exception to the characters falling into a bubble of blindness when it comes to Ratched’s oppression. McMurphy is the only one to call her out for it and some characters say that he sees her oppression: "Of course, the very nature of this plan could indicate that he [McMurphy] is simply a shrewd con man, and not mentally ill at all”(36). McMurphy’s challenge to the Nurse’s authority causes problems and creates more oppression for the rest of the patients. McMurphy eventually realizes that his rebellion to Nurse Ratched created more oppression when he says, “You let me go on hassling Nurse Ratched here, knowing how much I had to lose, and you never told me nothing”(198). McMurphy understands that even though he does not want to submit to her oppression, he is still required to because she has more power over him. Another character who stays out of conflict but understands that the discipline is visible is Chief Bromden. When he is describing the Nurse he says, “The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth , accurate, precision-made machine”(68). He understands how the Nurse functions and is able to comprehend Ratched’s oppression. Earlier in the novel, the Nurse pushes Harding during a therapy session when talking about his wife. Eventually, Harding exclaims, “I'm not just talking about my wife, I’m talking about my life. I can’t seem to get that through to you. I’m not just talking about one person, I’m talking about everybody, I’m talking about form, I’m talking about content, I’m talking about interrelationships”(21). In the end, McMurphy posed a major threat to Nurse Ratched and was one of the few patients that saw through her

In the beginning of each protagonist’s journey and conflict exhibits, the ineffectiveness of mental institutions as the authors describes the protagonists’ situation. N’s initial situation exposes the unproductivity and dehumanisation towards the psychiatric patients:

McMurphy was a so called a psychopath rite when he first arrived to the ward. Things really came alive when he arrived he immediately took over the ward.Even though everyone in the ward was scared and afraid of Nurse ratchet.Everyone was scared to get electroshock therapy or lobotomy session because it was all up to Nurse Ratchet,so of course no one wanted to get on her bad side until Mcmurphy arrived to ward and everything changed because he was the only so called rebel to stand up to Nurse Ratchet.Since none of the patients had confidence to stand up for themselves he then standed up for the patients and started to push the limits on Nurse Ratchet by telling her to turn on the tv so all the patients could watch the world series,and makeing

Finally, Kesey constructs McMurphy as a charismatics alpha male to directly oppose and confront Nurse Ratched’s corrupt dictatorial style of leadership. For instance, since McMurphy is “accustomed to being the top man” he wastes no time in seeking the most the crazy patient because the “…hospital ain’t big enough for the two of

The movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest” is based on the experience of a criminal, Randall P. McMurphy who chose to move into a mental institution rather than moving into prison. McMurphy chose to do this because he believed his sentence would be equal to the time he would need to spend in the mental institution. Once McMurphy got to the institution he realized he would not be released into society, but to prison and the time spent in the institution was adding onto his sentence. While in the institution, McMurphy makes a huge impact on both the patients and the institution as a whole. McMurphy challenges the norms and regulations of the institution and encourages the patients to stand up for themselves.

When McMurphy finds out that he is one of two patients that are involuntarily committed to the hospital, it makes him realize that he alone is fighting for his freedom, and the others have been repressed by Ratched to the point of being afraid to rebel against her or simply leave. McMurphy fights until the end to free these men of their emasculation even if it

We were all born to be different and raised as individuals, yet society feels the need to judge everyone and categorize them. We either fit and blend in with the majority or stick out and are labeled as different. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey focuses on the social justice issue of mental health by setting the book in a mental asylum. The novel is narrated through Chief Brombdens perspective, a mute schizophrenic patient who is an outcast even among the other patients. This novel accurately represents how; we are expected to live under societies strict criticism and definition of normal, those who do not meet expectations are considered mentally ill and different. In this novel patients are taken advantage of because they are