Setting in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay

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.

Second in a discussion of power are the women associated with the patients. The supervisor at the hospital is associated with the patients by controlling who is employed to take care of the patients. Nurse Ratched and the supervisor served in the Army together as nurses. They are still very close and have a good relationship. Because of this relationship, Nurse Ratched’s employment is secured and others won’t stand up to her for fear of losing their own jobs. Harding states “In this hospital, the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s” (61). The receptionist on the ward is Nurse Ratched’s neighbor

Society is governed by a set of rules and laws that help to maintain order and efficiency. However, the rules and laws that are set may be given by one person and is not acceptable by society or an individual. This could lead to challenging authority and becoming an individual and not a statistic in society. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one of the main characters, Randle McMurphy, defies all the rules given once entering the mental hospital. In doing so, he challenges Nurse Ratched's authority which disturbs the order in the ward. Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,a children folk rhyme, and a Beatles song, Tomorrow Never Knows, depict the power and control one may have over society or an individual.

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.

Nurse Ratched, the ward supervisor, personifies the forces that seek to control the individual by subduing their right to think and act for themselves. She acts as a dictator who is constantly manipulating her patients to gain an advantage over them. Because Nurse Ratched supervises a mental hospital, she is expected to tell her patients what to do, but “the novel suggests that Nurse Ratched goes beyond mere supervision and instead seeks to rule all elements of the patients lives” (“Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”). Nurse Ratched and her staff dehumanize the patients, and this eventually causes the patients to become broken inside.

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.

When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate

In the novel, setting is important towards the interiors, as the vast majority of the novel is set within the closed, confined space, the interior, of the

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

Finally, all this came together to institutionalize every individual in the hospital. Everything that the patients were expected to do became norms, and things went of control when these established rules were not followed. McMurphy tries to defy everything and lost to it in the end by pretty much becoming permanently institutionalized by the lobotomy. You were to follow the rules or be punished. Nearly every patient was already institutionalized before McMurphy came along, the went completely off the chain when McMurphy sneak alcohol into the hospital. One of them lost their virginity and it broke him. He couldn't handle the thought of that freedom, being an adult and being afraid of Nurse Ratched telling his

In the asylums during the 50’s, patients were allowed to smoke, were admitted for petty issues such as jealousy, or laziness and were also treated with harsh consequences like electroshock therapy or lobotomies. I would recommend this book because it gives a special message, that we can change the structure of society – if we possess enough determination, courage, and perseverance. McMurphy showed his courage and determination by not giving up when trying to make the other patients happy, while still trying to get into Nurse Ratched’s head. Throughout the story, I have noticed that McMurphy could be looked at as a God, because he “cured” the patients by providing them with hope and happiness. McMurphy’s death could be referred to as Jesus dying for people’s sins. Overall, I believe this was a very good book and would be in my top five favorites. The message that “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” brings, and the close relationships all the characters have really pull the book together and present a bittersweet

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

Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a creation of the socio-cultural context of his time. Social and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs informed his invited reading of his text.

In this quote, “Metaphorically, Kesey's sanitarium serves as a multiple microcosm for institutional society; it's a military barracks, prison cellblock, encounter-group bullpen, behavioral laboratory, and Jean Genet-esque plantation where the power hierarchy has been inverted."(Wolcott), perfectly and precisely captures the true essence of this book. Kesey empowers a rebellious figure by the name of McMurphy by privileging him to do as he sees fit for his fellow companions even if that means temporarily disrupting the artificial peace created by the vicious and barbarous administration. McMurphy represents an activist, attempting to fight for the well-being of the entire psych ward, while the community of patients represents a beaten down and continuously crumbling society at the mercy of the cruel

Ken Kesey vehemently lashes against dictated social conformity, disguising his personal manifesto as his novel reflective of mid-twentieth century American society, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The protagonist, Randle McMurphy, purposely casts away his own desire of self-preservation to deliver liberating freedom to prisoners broken by institutionalized sanity. Kesey develops McMurphy’s character as a tragic hero by drawing inspiration from religious texts, especially the Bible. The changing attitudes resulting from McMurphy’s presence not only evinces, but parallels the coming of Jesus Christ and the spiritual liberation of his followers; ascribing a quality such as Messianic selflessness, Kesey gives immense depth to McMurphy’s character.