The Combine Essay

Setting is also important, as it refers to the period this book was set in, the 1950's. Ultimately, it is a reflection of what was happening in American society at the time, and what American society expected from each other. McCarthyism, as started by Senator Joseph McCarthy, was the most prevalent movement of the 1950's, where there was great momentum for anti-communism and the suppression of the Anti-communist party. Freedom of speech was suppressed, just like speech and actions were inside the hospital. Here, the Combine and Nurse Ratched act like the McCarthy "representatives", where the patients are seen as members of the public, having their every word and movement under close scrutiny.

Hospitals are meant to help some people heal physically and others mentally. In the novel One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey published in 1962, readers are introduced to a mental hospital that has goals that do not align with helping people. Within the hospital, characters with varied personalities and opinions are intermixed with three main characters playing specific roles with supporting characters close by. With the characters’ motivations, themes develop such as the emasculation of the men in the hospital by an oppressive nurse. Symbols, such as laughter and the “combine”, are also pertinent to themes as the readers watch the men transitioning from being oppressed to being able to stand up for themselves causing change in hospital policy.

Laughter makes the patients feel good, and, specifically, Bromden feels good and begins to remember other things that made him feel good (Tanner 4). McMurphy’s power in laughter is intensified by Nurse Ratched’s lack of laughter. McMurphy’s laughter and humor are genuine while Nurse Ratched’s humor is forced and smiles are chiseled like in plastic (Wallace 3, 5). Power enables McMurphy to make changes on the ward and to survive in the institution. His sanity compared to the other patients, his manipulations, and his ability to laugh give him the power. He, in turn, gives patients a sense of power by teaching them to laugh at themselves, Nurse Ratched, and the world (Magill 1533).

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 got in a couple of hassles at the work farm, and the court ruled that he is a psychopath. He doesn’t want to argue with the court. Indeed, he wants to out from the farm and doesn’t care to be called a psychopath.

During McMurphy’s first group meeting, Bromden mentally describes how society affects a person and what it does to social outcasts “How a guy has to learn to get along with a group before he’ll be able to function in a normal society; how society is what decides who is sane and who isn’t so you got to measure up.”(Kesey 49) To be accepted by society it is necessary to understand and be able to socialize or work with a smaller group before going into society. The purpose of the combine is to change people and teach them that being their own person is wrong and won't’ be accepted by others. The combine is defined by Bromden as an organization that works to fix people and decide who is sane, or who satisfies the expectations. Kesey expresses his nonconformist views about how society treats outcasts. During the staff meeting, Nurse Ratched listens to what her staff members have to say and then interrupts them when she felt appropriate. The staff members tried to guess what ideas would satisfy her need for power. As the staff meeting was going on she interrupts and takes her time explaining her solution and takes a sip of her coffee “I stare at the rim of the cup in spite of myself; she couldn’t be wearing lipstick that color. “(Kesey 157) The tone of Bromden’s thought process is surprised and in disbelief because he did not see Nurse Ratched’s feminine side. The lipstick represents the femininity that opposes the representation of the combine. Kesey uses the lipstick and Bromden's reaction to seeing the lipstick to express the combine is considered a masculine strong type of power. Because Nurse Ratched is caught using lipstick, the combine is showing what they consider to be weakness, this would further elaborate to Kesey’s nonconformist views that could change what society thinks of it's determined outcasts. The

The combine will not succeed in taking away his freedom, nor will Nurse Ratched take

He waltzed into the ward and introduced himself to every patient as a gambling man with a zest for women and cards. Randle P. McMurphy, a swaggering, gambling, boisterous redheaded con man, arrived at the ward from the Pendleton Work Farm. He was sentenced to six months at the prison work farm, but pretended to be insane in order to obtain a transfer to the hospital because he thought it would be more comfortable than the work farm. Bromden senses that there was something different about this new patient. After his first experience with the excruciating routine of the Group Meeting, McMurphy tells the patients that Nurse Ratchet is a genuine “ball-cutter.” The other patients tell him that

A man named Randal McMurphy, who defies the rules of everything that resembles the concept of the Combine, enters the hospital and immediately questions the corrupt system. He uses his rebellious spirit to influence the patients? beliefs about the policies, in hopes of gaining enough support to change them. When McMurphy comes and shakes every patient?s hand on the ward, Chief feels a sense of power transferring from

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.

He was also fearful that he might do something wrong again causing him to go back to the Disturbed ward, or worse, sent to shock therapy, therefore he turns to suicide as his only solution. This self-inflicted tragedy could’ve been prevented if McMurphy supported Cheswick when he rebelled against Nurse Ratched’s cigarette policy. He would not have felt worthless; instead, he would’ve gained some confidence as he knew someone supported him. McMurphy’s support would’ve made Cheswick stronger so he wouldn’t have been weakened in the Disturbed Ward and he would’ve felt insignificant, giving him no reason to commit

     Sometimes in life people are forced to conform to a certain situation for lack of a better alternative, and this is the case in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These such people lack the will to stand up for their scruples, and intern are simply guided through their mundane lives by the powers that be. Until someone comes along offering them leadership and the prospect to become “big again.” The man who does so is no other than R.P. McMurphy. Scanlon, Harding, Bibbit, and Chief Bromden may have become adjusted to the oppressive system in which they lived, but certainly were much better adjusted to the real world and life in general after their experience with McMurphy.

Most of the characters are truly plagued by the government, as it rejects any sort of nonconformity in society. Patients such as McMurphy are forced into the ward because they refuse to conform to the normal standards of civilization, and thus they must be fixed. The Combine’s machines of oppression cause many to conform, and eventually leads to the fall of many, including McMurphy.

Characters like Billy Bibbit, who is too timid, with a speech impediment and Harding who is a closet homosexual and was less avert in sexuality were seen as having mental problems, and were committed to the asylum. McMurphy demonstrated the treating of these patients like normal people, helped them to become more in line with society then Nurse Ratched’s rules and group therapy meetings, or pecking party as Chief Bromden would call it. Chief Bromden was a Native American and wasn’t insane until he was institutionalized and withdrew himself from everyone else pretending he was deaf and dumb to protect himself. Ken Kesey’s message here with Chief Bromdens silence, was to portray the natives of the time having no voice in the country and to show the controlling and manipulative manner of Nurse Ratched that emasculated and de-socialised these grown men.

McMurphy is a gambling Irishman and convict, who grows tired of laboring at the Pendleton prison farm. To escape prison life, he feigns insanity and gets himself involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in Oregon. He tries to bring about a change at the hospital, for he does not like the fact that grown men act like "rabbits" and are scared of the Big Nurse. He tries as hard as he can to "get her goat", by not doing the duties he is given. He also ironically ends up serving as a