The Messianic Superego : Liberation Of Self Essay

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.

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

Though she smiles a lot and talks sweetly, she’s not a kind or charming woman; instead she is a woman with a strong will for control. She pursues power with intensity and is very successful at getting people to do what she wants. Nurse Ratched has the ability to present a false superficial self, and she has complete and total control over the ward and her emotions at all times. This exemplifies that the mechanistic and oppressive forces in society build up through the abuse of power and dishonesty by authoritative figures. (Lead in) “Manipulative to the core, the only thing that really matters to Ratched is her desire to control everything around her- the environment, the staff, the patients” (Novel For Student 224). The abuse of power and authority cause individuals to be broken. Explain how the outside quote integrates into your thesis and your quotes from the book. The narrator says, “What the chronics are - or most of us - are machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired, flaws born in, or flaws beaten 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

In modern day society, individuals are influenced by strong superiority figures their whose dominance stems from internal power. Authority can often lead subordinates to rebel and seize control; therefore ability to obtain power is exceptionally difficult. A rivalry for rigid power is seen in the literary piece, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The limited dominance is shifted fluidly between Nurse Ratched and Randle McMurphy, and finally designated to Chief Bromden. Although Nurse Ratched exercises initial control over her ward, Randle McMurphy attempts to disobey her authority through defiance, and ultimately the power shifts into Chief Bromden’s final control in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest operates as an entertaining and interesting novel on a pure surface level. There’s a good story, well-developed characters and fresh language. It has all the workings of a good novel, but One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest isn’t just a good novel. It’s a great one, because Kesey uses Chief Bromden’s perspective to let imagery flow out of the novel and have it all come back to one theme: individuality and its repression by society. This idea is highlighted by the image of gambling vs. playing it safe, whether in literal card games or as a way of living. The mental ward’s new patient, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is a self-described “gambling fool” (12)1, while his opposer, “Big Nurse” Ratched,

A sexless, rigid caricature of a nurse, Nurse Ratched imposes discipline on her ward with all the fervour of an Army Nurse, which she had been. Large, with huge breasts only partially disguised by her ultra-stretched white uniform, she nevertheless has a pretty, delicate face that belies her cruelty.

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a book in which he dealt with the issues of racism, sex and authority that is going on in a mental institute. In the novel, the women are depicted as the power figures who are able to significantly manipulate the patients on the ward. There are four ways of Ken Kesey’s using of “woman” as a subject: Superiority of male sexuality over female authority, matriarchal system that seeks to castrate men in the society, mother figures as counterpart of Big Nurse and “Womanish” values defined as civilizing in the novel.

Power and control are the central ideas of Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There are examples of physical, authoritative and mechanical power in the novel, as well as cases of self-control, and control over others. Nurse Ratched is the ultimate example of authoritative power and control over others but R.P. McMurphy refuses to acknowledge the Nurse’s power, and encourages others to challenge the status quo. The other patients begin powerless, but with McMurphy’s help, learn to control their own lives. Many symbols are also used to represent power and control in the book, such as the ‘Combine’, ‘fog’, and the imagery of machines.

Nurse Ratched and Big Brother have many similarities in their deeds - they are able to constantly monitor others and execute their powers. The actions of the nurse towards her patients are crude and inhumane. The big difference, however, between these two leaders lie in the achieving of their goals. While Big Brother manages to get his aims realized, Nurse Ratched is deprived of it, by the brave actions of the patients. The patients try to deprive her of feeling of being a dominant dictator. Both, Big Brother and Nurse Ratched seem to be powerful leaders, and integral part of a system, their unconditional control causes a negative impact on a person’s mind.

Society functions on a balance of people helping others through charitable acts defined as sane or insane. Through a microcosm in his novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey addresses the sanity and insanity in our society. The novel follows rebellious protagonist Randal McMurphy after his admission to a psychiatric ward ruled by Nurse Ratched, with whom McMurphy constantly battles. McMurphy sacrifices his freedom and endures cruel repercussions for his rebellion, with the intention of bringing life back to the ward. Sacrifice to give others life exists in conjunction with the controversial topic of organ donation, in which one relinquishes a piece of themselves to give someone

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

In Ken Kesey’s One Flew of the Cuckoo’s Nest the narrator, Chief, a mental patient in the mid 20th century, critiques the world around him, and exposes truths about society through analyzing the events he witnesses on the ward. In this passage, Chief observes Nurse Ratched and her affect others as she enters the hospital to begin her daily routine. Through the use of mechanical and unnatural imagery, Kesey uses Chief to reveals the true nature of Big Nurse and their surroundings. Nurse Ratched’s goal is to fix people, make them conform to what society tells them is normal.

Many vision Jesus Christ as the true hero in the history of mankind, following the same Hero’s journey as many fictional characters, including R.P. McMurphy, the protagonist in One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. Jesus endured persecution in Rome in order to complete the journey for mankind, and the promise of hope to the people, while in the small psychiatric hospital in Oregon where the novel takes place; McMurphy is the savior of the people. Through the call to action, to crossing the threshold, and the road back, the patients will always reminisce of McMurphy’s sacrifices for their own well being. McMurphy committed various offenses in the real world, resulting in the choice between prison and the psychiatric hospital.

To begin, Kesey portrays society with its repressive nature that makes individuals on the ward conform to certain standards. For example, Chief Bromden describes the great force of society: “the pressures of the different beams and frequencies coming from all directions, working to push and bend you one way or another” (Kensey 239). This is also depicted when the Chief recalls the Combine working on his father when he says, “if

In this world, there are two sides to everything. Whether it may be a message, a film or a novel, each platform of literature has two different windows. The first being the depiction of the author and the second being the interpretation of the audience. This concept is evident within both works this essay seeks to explore. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, a charismatic criminal, Randle P. McMurphy is admitted to a state asylum due to his will of serving out of prison sentence in a mental hospital rather than the penitentiary. McMurphy brings in the outside world to the admitted patients after being legally declared insane through a condensed interview with a psychiatrist. He symbolizes freedom, life and the power of an