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Violent scenes always have an important meaning in literary works. They could serve different purposes that either benefit or harm the characters. Often times it serves as both as it usually benefit the good ones and harms the enemy. Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, shows various scenes of violence from McMurphy toward Nurse Ratched, depicting how McMurphy often breaks her control and gives the other inmates a sense of freedom.
Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, is a novel containing the theme of emotions being played with in order to confine and change people. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is about a mental institution where a Nurse named Miss Ratched has total control over its patients. She uses her knowledge of the patients to strike fear in their minds. Chief Bromden a chronic who suffers from schizophrenia and pretends to be deaf and mute narrates the novel. From his perspective we see the rise and fall of a newly admitted patient, RP McMurphy. McMurphy used his knowledge and courage to bring changes in the ward. During his time period in the ward he sought to end the reign of the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched, also to bring the patients back on their feet. McMurphy issue with the ward and the patients on the ward can be better understood when you look at this novel through a psychoanalytic lens. By applying Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence to McMurphy’s views, it is can be seen that his ideas can bring change in the patients and they can use their
I hated Nurse Ratched before and I sure do now. Her sneaky little schemes to turn the patients on each other make’s me furious. I’m glad McMurphy broke down the window; it’ll remind the patients that her power is limited and changeable. Although, she made McMurphy stronger than ever, even with the countless electroshock treatments. Proving his desire to remain strong in the face of tyranny. “And he'd swell up, aware that every one of those faces on Disturbed had turned toward him and was waiting, and he'd tell the nurse he regretted that he had but one life to give for his country and she could kiss his rosy red ass before he'd give up the goddam ship. Yeh!” (Kesey, 187) I agree to some extent, that without her there wouldn’t be a book, she makes the book exciting even if her methods are all but pure. Her character stands as a symbol of the oppression woman received during that time and in a way, the society in which these characters live are flipped. While on the outside woman have no rights, in the ward they are the all mighty, all knowing, powerful, controllable force. So yah, we need Nurse Ratched but I still hate her. During the course of the short novel she destroyed three men, two of which died and the other was lobotomised. “What worries me, Billy," she said - I could hear the change in her voice - "is how your mother is going to take this.” (Kesey, 231) I can’t say I enjoyed Nurse Ratched being strangled by McMurphy, but I do think she deserved it. Although, it was the end to the battle since the Nurse had won the war. By infuriating McMurphy to that point and her ability to remain calm throughout it all, she proved that McMurphy’s action didn’t faze her. She proved that rebelling is feeblish and by lobot...
Within the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, two of the main themes are borders and marginalization. These themes are found within the various characters within this story, which lead to readers being able to clearly see the effects of this marginalization. Throughout the story, readers see a female-tyrant rule over those below her in a hierarchical setup. This leads to a clear separation of male and female characters. In this novel, the author is able to convey a sense of separation as well as slight misogyny with his use of borders and margins.
When Ken Kesey sat down to pen his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he enlightened many to the problems that were taking place under the veneer of perfection. In his life, he experienced some of these problems, as Kesey had been the subject of multiple science experiments. These experiments were later discovered to be top secret mind control experiments under the purview of the Central Intelligence Agency. These experiments enlightened Kesey and motivated him to share his new world view. Kesey’s worldview would go one to shape the minds of many in the United States and would be one of the largest harbingers of the hippie movement. His novel crafts an overarching theme of challenging particular aspects of society that previously had
The dominant discourse of conformity is characterised predominantly by influencing to obey rules described by Kesey’ novel ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. At the start of the novel, all the acute and the silence chronic conform to Nurse Ratched’s rules before the arrival of McMurphy. Since, she was in complete control over the ward until McMurphy arrived. After he arrived, he begins to take control of the patients. He begins to take the role of leader, a leader that was unexpected. Kesey has foregrounded the character, McMurphy to be different thus creating a binary opposite that is represented in the novel. Kesey shows the binary opposites as being good versus evil. The former represents the con man McMurphy, and the latter represents the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. An example of this would be, “She’s carrying her wicker bag…a bag shape of a tool box with a hemp handle…” (pg.4), showing that Nurse Ratched is a mechanic. McMurphy is portrayed as being a good character by revitalising the hope of the patients by strangling Nurse Ratched. This revitalise the hope for the pa...
My presentation will be about the depiction and meaning of violence and human nature, in C.M.’s novels.
The main character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is brought to a state mental institution from a state prison to be studied to see if he has a mental illness. McMurphy has a history of serving time in prison for assault, and seems to take no responsibility for his actions. McMurphy is very outgoing, loud, rugged, a leader, and a rebel. McMurphy also seems to get pleasure out of fighting the system. McMurphy relishes in challenging the authority of Nurse Ratchett who seems to have a strong hold over the other patients in the ward. He enters into a power struggle with Nurse Ratchett when he finds out that he cannot leave the hospital until the staff, which primarily means her, considers him cured.
Fred Wright, Lauren's instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, "English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students learn about various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the literature and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the 1960s counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class also watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpretation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or another editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Lauren's essay in the next edition!"
In The Outsiders by S.E Hinton shows the theme of Violence causes more violence . For example, say if two friends get in a argument and end up fighting each other and one of them wins but the one that lost has lots of other back up friends that end up wanting to fight the person that won is going to cause major trouble . Especially if the person who won has back up as well then it will be a bigger brutal fight. One quote that is mentioned in the book is “Sixteen years on the streets.And you can learn a lot.But all the wrong things,not the things you want to learn.(S.E Hinton)(pg.104). This shows that with all the violence that happens comes all the brutal pictures that you may never forget in your life and may even scare you. For all the
Violence is a real world problem today as technology advances throughout the world. The act of violence is not stopping but growing as we speak. You might wonder what causes violence to lead to these catastrophic events? Aletha Solter who studies violence says “a person who is physically or mentally hurt will more likely become accustomed to violence”. On 20/20 ABC news, Professor Jonathan Freedman says “violence seen through children’s eyes are more likely to become violent”. In the book The Outsiders, there is everything from gang fights, shootings, stabbing, to rumbles. Has all of Ponyboy’s gang been mentally hurt or been accustomed to violence because they were exposed since a young age? Does misunderstanding one another have anything to do with the Socials and greasers hate for one another? The book The Outsiders, is a violent book explores the cause of violent behavior through the literature.
McDonagh uses the concept of violence to attack mainly the family institution which he believes is "the primary source of hatred and murder" in his plays (Garcia 67). He also invades the individuals, the society (especially Irish society)
The imagination is the reader’s most important tool on the path to enjoying a good book. One can only hinder their enjoyment of the story by disregarding the vivid images created by the mind. Nothing can compare to a landscape so exquisite that it would make a cinematographer jealous, or a prison so cold that you can see the inmates’ hot breath. However, some authors offer help for those who are creatively impaired. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey builds such an effective tone, that the shifts in the attitudes of the characters can be detected.
As seen in the Novel, most acts of anger and violence are down to failed dreams and hope, with the one or two exceptions and that they are both ways of letting how you feel known and a way to make you feel better.
To justify the use of violence in her fiction, O’Connor stated “in my own stories I have found that violence is strangely capable of returning my characters to reality and preparing them to accept their moment of grace” ("Suspense" 804). Her characters were closed-minded and self-centered. “Their heads are so hard that nothing else will for the work,” was her justification for using violent means to awaken the characters to reality ("Suspense" 804). Although she employed terror and death in many of her stories, she stated that violence was not the ultimate goal of the stories. “It is in the extreme situation that best reveals what we are essentially” ("Suspense" 805). O’Connor believed the violent situations her char...
You open your eyes and see blood. You rest against the fountain while catching your breath. You see your friend pale as a ghost, and one of the “cool kids” lying in a pool of blood. This is a similar situation to many people because of violence. About 60% of deaths per year are caused by gun violence in the United States. Though guns weren’t used for violence in The Outsiders violence plays a big role in the book. Ponyboy’s opinion on violence changes throughout the book. Ponyboy’s opinion on violence changes so that we can see the reality of violence and not just his opinion.