Short Story

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

Both Taber and the men view Nurse Ratched as a counselor of their decisions, a mother. In fact, he tells the others, “This is Miss Ratched. I chose this ward because it’s her ward. She’s, girls, just like a mother. Not that I mean age but you girls understand” (37). The way that Nurse Ratched’s ward functions is by her manipulation of the men through the use of pills and lobotomy as demonstrated on Taber. Thus, why he was dismissed, the men are set up to believe in conforming or are dehumanized enough to conform to Nurse Ratched’s authority in order to be prepared for the real world. However, Taber previously rejected her pills, “He still isn’t ready to swallow some-thing, he don’t know what is, not even just for her” (34). This action-made decision influences the progress the patients make as individuals as they follow his footsteps. The men realize they can follow their own decisions and although few are afraid of her authority some chose to rise against her along with McMurphy, “ dragging them out of the fog till there they stand, all twenty of them, raising not just for watching tv, but against the Big Nurse, against her trying to send McMurphy to Disturbed…” This is parallel to the attitude presented by Taber, when he refused to take the pills, and ignored the Nurse’s request, making him metaphorically influential of the

Nurse Ratched (also known as Big Nurse) was used to being forceful to get what she wanted. She stopped at no end to have complete oversight over the men in the ward. When the men were in the nurse’s presence they were either saying what they knew she wanted to hear or cleaning something that she ordered them to clean. They knew not to speak out against her and to not say something that would make you stand out too much. Ratched’s tactics to get them to be fit for society were normally some kind of procedure on the man

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.

Both societies present different ways in how they deal with the aspect of death and aging in their respected communities. One way that the society in Fahrenheit 451 and American society differ is that in american society suicide is not seen as a common and unimportant occurrence, but it is in the novel Fahrenheit 451. For example, in the community of Fahrenheit 451 death is seen as a common and relatively accepted part of their society. In the story of Fahrenheit 451, it explains how people in the society are under the illusion that they have found happiness even though they clearly have not.

Kesey demonstrates the impact of a self-sacrificing, healing influence on the ward, through the construct of McMurphy. He becomes this ‘Christ-like’ figure to the patients because he makes it his responsibility to counteract the control and oppression of Nurse Ratched. Kesey uses this symbol through all aspects of the text. In the aftermath of his final rebellious act, McMurphy sacrifices his own needs for the lives of others, looking “dreadfully tired and strained and frantic.” After his death, the character construct of McMurphy Is still impacting and influencing the mental state of the remaining patients. Although McMurphy sacrifices his own life for the sake of others, he successfully challenges the status quo, and unhinges the very basis that it was founded upon:

Nurse Ratched attempts to sway Billy away from his newfound path in order to regain control over the ward. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched’s rivalry is a constant and intense battle. “And we’re all sitting there… watching the gray screen just like we could see the baseball game clear as day, and she’s ranting and screaming behind us. If somebody’d of come in and took a look… a fifty-year old woman hollering and squealing at the back of their heads about discipline and order and recriminations, they’d of thought the whole bunch was crazy as loons” (144-145). No matter how hard Nurse Ratched tries to control McMurphy, he does not conform to her rule. Though Nurse Ratched controls the television and does not allow the patients to watch the World Series,

The control of the head nurse could be felt in the atmosphere and the actions of the characters. Chief Bromden, although schizophrenic, describe the presence of the ward being structured such a way that patient do not normally interact with each other, through a "Combine" that produces fog. There was no actually Combine nor fog; the fog is nothing more than the feeling of being controlled from unfair rules used to wrongly contain the patients in the hospital. Furthermore, Chief remarks how the "Chronics" in the ward have no future" What the Chronics are - or most of us - are machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired, flaws born in, or flaws beat in over so many years of the guy running head-on into solid things that by the time the hospital found him he was bleeding rust in some vacant lot" pg 3. The black boys,

Before McMurphy, everyone was afraid to express their concerns towards Nurse Ratched. However, after seeing McMurphy’s bravery to address a concern, this inspires all his inmates to live for themselves and inquire any concerns they have with Nurse Ratched. Learning to live only to satisfy themselves is what eventually made many men sign out or escape from the

After Big Nurse’s disagreement, the patients propose that McMurphy should be sent to the Disturbed but once again Big Nurse disagrees. However, this time Kesey describes her expression as “She smiles around at all of them,” and by using “smile” which creates a paradox of her characteristics. Because the word “smiles” means being in a state of happiness or delight which makes her response extrinsic because such expression is unexpected from an authoritative and cruel figure as Big Nurse. Kesey does this so Big Nurse catches the patients off guard creating an opening for her to takeover through the confusion caused by her expression. Going against her the proposal to send McMurphy to the Disturbed is an effective technique as she is leading them to think that McMurphy’s rebellious behavior is not as remarkable as they think it is. In addition, she furthers her credibility that she is still in control by asking “Would removing him undo the harm that he has done to our ward?” By asking a rhetorical question, it creates a direct confrontation by her that such action is unnecessary and will not solve the issue. Furthermore she adds on, “I believe if he were to be sent to the Disturbed … he would be a martyr,” and because “martyr” symbolizes a Christ like figure. By using it, Through Big Nurse, Kesey is emphasizing how

Finally, Nurse is able to make the patients act out towards each other and tell lies about themselves. Chief thinks to himself, “It was better than she’d dreamed. They were all shouting to outdo one another, going further and further, no way of stopping, telling things that wouldn’t ever let them look one another in the eye again. The Nurse nodding at each confession and saying Yes, yes, yes.” (51) Nurse Ratched is able to get the patients to rebel against each other

He mentions, ‘Year by year she accumulates her ideal staff: doctors...come and rise up in front of her with ideas of their own about the way the ward should be run...and she fixes these doctors day in, day out, until they retreat with unnatural chills.’ (29) With the use of phrases such as ‘year by year’, ‘accumulates’ or ‘ideal’, Chief portrays the process in which Big Nurse selects her employees as sophisticated and thoughtful. Chief mentions that upon meeting Big Nurse, doctors who have their own provisions for the hospital would be fixed, often times coming out with ‘unnatural chills’. In this description, Chief suggests that Nurse Ratched pursues her own vision for the hospital and the way it should be run, therefore, she’d use her power in order to uphold her ideology in the hospital. With employees of her choice, Nurse Ratched utilizes them as apparatuses to assert physical and emotional dominance over her

Upon arrival, I spoke with visitor Robin Sharpe who slipped and fell while taking her grandson Caleb Barnette out of patient Brandan Barnette's room, 211. Ms. Sharpe stated that while visiting Mr. Barnette, Caleb began to become restless and she began to take him out to her car, resulting in Ms. Sharpe to slip and fall into the right hall corner of the nurse's station, landing on Caleb. Upon hearing Ms. Sharpe falling,Mr. Barnette came out of his room to assist her up. Mr. Barnette along with his assigned nurse, Tiffany Stamps, assisted both Ms. Sharpe and Caleb up from the floor in which they

The novel describes the inner workings the the mental institution of how the patients are emasculated and mistreated by terrifying big nurse Ratched, who will go to any length to control them. “We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value…….for your own good that we enforce discipline and order.” (page 171) The patients are unaware of their surroundings and they all depend on the big nurse for their well-being’s. Beginning of the novel when