The Characters of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest in Film and Novel

Every work of literature – whether long, short, humorous, or frightening – enables all readers to experience a certain set of emotions from the passages within the text; but what do these emotions imply? In How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster clarifies that these reactions closely associate with symbolic meanings. He specifies how “every reader’s experience of a work is unique” in order to explain that almost everything stands as a symbol and carries various ideas – depending on the reader’s emotional interpretation (Foster 110). Foster also mentions the concept of intertextuality in which pure originality is impossible, thus resulting with authors influencing one another. Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest stands

Randle McMurphy, the protagonist, is introduced to break down the nurse’s oppressive ways. McMurphy, a con man who was sentenced to a work farm, was diagnosed as a psychopath and sent to the mental hospital, which he much preferred. Serving as a savior figure to the patients of the ward who have already been battered by the Big Nurse, McMurphy causes interference to the nurse’s control. He supports the men as they are ridiculed in meetings and supports their attempts to change policy. Although he does help other patients, he first looks out for himself. He cons the patients out of their money and then follows the nurse’s rules for awhile because of the threat of being kept on the

The 1960’s was a period of great dissatisfaction from people who felt their rights were being violated. Millions of Americans, young and old, black and white, came together to fight against racial discrimination and protest the Vietnam War. The government suppressed the southern black population the right to vote, while sponsoring a war in Vietnam that was widely unpopular. Reflecting the anti-establishment movements of the 1960’s, Ken Kesey wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It has since become an American classic for its themes of rebellion and nonconformity against an over controlling authority that does not respect individualism and humanity.

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.

​Red haired, rowdy, and raunchy are three words to describe the crazy, infamous McMurphy, while the Nurse is a prude, prideful and frigid ruler who is power-hungry over the mental institution. These two mixed together lead to a cunning war of dominance in the hospital. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a 1962 novel by Ken Kesey depicting the patients at an Oregon psychiatric hospital and how the of the patients and staff change when a new patient, Randle McMurphy arrives. From McMurphy 's devious schemes to manipulate the system to get what he wants, to the Nurse sabotaging his friends ' opinions of him in order to gain the upper hand, this superiority struggle has a definite winner at the end of the novel: McMurphy. McMurphy wins this battle with the Nurse because although he died at the end, he still overcomes and finds ways to manipulate Nurse Ratched 's harsh rules and regulations throughout the book, and leaves an effect on Ratched and the ward that proves the influence and power he had over all of them.

In this book written by Ken Kesey, the main character is a man named R.P. McMurphy who tricks people into thinking that he is a psychopath. To McMurphy, the asylum is a get out of jail free card, which quickly turns out to be something else entirely. However, one vital aspect of this book is the way in which it addresses and provides insight upon several contemporary issues relating to the American healthcare system, by illustrating the ways in which our modern healthcare system has improved and grown in the last five decades. This includes the following areas of healthcare: the need for a healthcare reform, the lack of healthy doctor-patient relationships, and the murky definition of mental illness.

From the early stages of the novel, it is apparent that McMurphy will be a consistent thorn to Ratched’s side. “‘that is exactly what the new patient is planning: to take over. he is what we call a ‘manipulator,’ Miss Flinn, a man who will use everyone and everything to his own ends’” (Kesey 27). In this scene, the Nurse displays a concern for McMurphy’s assertive behavior and believes that he is here to gain control of the men of the ward. Nurse Ratched is certainly very distraught at McMurphy’s entrance and his dominating stance seen throughout the ward by both the faculty and the patients. The Nurse is aware that it is possible for McMurphy to gain influence, admiration and control over the other patients of the ward, which would lead towards McMurphy gaining enough power to threaten Ratched. It is strongly suggested that the Nurse is unused to one patient trying to assume control over the others, causing her to become somewhat doubtful of her power and opening up areas that could be attacked. For example, McMurphy is able to perform a task so unusual when he leads the men to watch a blank television screen, causing the Nurse to lose her temper and stability. “‘You’re committed, you realize. You are . . . under the jurisdiction of me . . . the staff.’ She’s holding up a fist, all those red-orange fingernails burning into her palm. ‘Under jurisdiction and control―” (Kesey 144). When

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

   In 1962, when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (the Nest), was published, America was at the start of decade that would be characterized by turmoil. Involvement in Vietnam was increasing, civil rights marches were taking place in the south and a new era of sexual promiscuity and drug use was about to come into full swing. Young Americans formed a subgroup in American society that historians termed the “counterculture”. The Nest is a product of time when it was written. It is anti-authoritarian and tells the tale of a man's rebelling against the establishment. Kesey used metaphor to make a social commentary on the America of the sixties. In this paper I will

The world of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is dark; it is a place where

Out of the four characters listed in this film, the one character that does not exhibit pretense is Billy. We first see Billy as a nervous, shy young boy with a speech impediment. Billy has weird relationships with women; he likes women and enjoys the company of them but is fearful of the women that are most close to him. Billy’s mother and especially Nurse Ratched are the women he is most afraid of. Nurse Ratched has a personal relationship with Billy’ mother, she has a special motherly power that she only has on Billy and not the other patients in the hospital. She can control him into doing stuff he doesn’t want to do because, Billy is afraid that Nurse Ratched will tell his mother about his

In the film, McMurphy remains the noncomformist person he was, up until his lobotomy. However, in the book, Chief observes McMurphy’s short attempt to conform to Nurse Ratched’s rules. He notices the growing distrust of the other patients towards McMurphy and his increasing sadness as he senses his own doom.

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 the novel, Chief describes Nurse Ratched as having orange lips, orange fingertips, and a perfect-looking face. However, she is heavily endowed in the chest area, and Chief says that one can tell that it makes her bitter to think about it. The novel makes the Nurse seem huge, in describing her physically, and the other inmates refer to her as "Big Nurse". In the film, she is a petite lady that does not have a noticeably large chest in any way. It is hard to imagine the Nurse without her chest, so it makes one wonder why the film does not include this aspect. In the novel, when Nurse Ratched and McMurphy have a physical fight, McMurphy rips the front of her starchy white uniform, exposing her breasts, and her vulnerability. At this point in the novel it seems that McMurphy has won the battle, and it is one of the more symbolic parts of the story. Since her chest does not become a matter of importance in the movie, this part of the novel is not shown, and the reader may be left wondering why, as it certainly adds to the story and to the characters of McMurphy and the Nurse.

Our perspective of a stranger whom we’ve never met nor seen, but only heard of through the mouth of the enemy’s opinion, will inevitably align with the only version of the story we’ve heard. This sort of bias is found in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with Nurse Ratched’s depiction through the narration by Chief Bromden. The reliability of Bromden’s perspective is questionable, as it is his interpretation of the world, rather than what it actually is.