Who Is The Antagonist In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Jood Abuali
I.B. English Written Assignment- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Mr. Rader
23 November 2016
Word Count:
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author Ken Kesey 1.enthralls the reader’s attention by displaying events of 2.diminished 3.humanity all throughout the book. This book revolves around the idea that women may be a threat to the masculinity of mental ward patients.The 4.diverse types of minority groups become 5.conspicuous as the author reveals the 6.inclement and sadistic character, Nurse Ratched, the stories antagonist, , who runs the ward with morbid intentions to desiccate the courage of the people around her. The power in which she portrays is ample to the point it becomes flagrant. Her choice of words and

To keep the ward from being rowdy, she chronically reminds the patients of their weaknesses. In the story, the Nurse becomes referred to as “Big Nurse” because of her ample power and capabilities. She sets up a logbook in which the patient’s write the secrets they here about one another. Big Nurse claims that this logbook will have therapeutic value and interest to the whole ward. Chief the narrator of the book impugns the Nurse’s theory. Chief states, “Sometimes one man says something about himself that he didn’t aim to let slip, and one of his buddies at the table where he said it yawns and gets up and sidles over to the big log book by the Nurse’s Station and writes down the piece of information he heard--- of therapeutic interest to the whole ward, is what the Big Nurse says the book is for, but I know she is waiting to get enough evidence to have some guy reconditioned at the Main Building, overhauled in the head to straighten out the trouble.” (Kesey- ch3) This quote reveals the fact that Big Nurse uses their secrets as weapons against themselves. She does this to curb the ward in a unified manner. Chief enhances his point about Nurse Ratched’s fictitious intentions by making an allusion to the outcome of the use of the logbook. Chief knows from past experience that if someone’s behavior goes against the conduct, Big Nurse has the ability to call for a

However, the story's protagonist, Mc Murphy, did not let her bypass the consequences of her flagrant mischief throughout the ward. Rather than wait patiently in hope that karma would get reverted back to her, he took matters into his own hands. Towards the end of the story, the Big Nurse became so assertive to get the ward back under her control, she felt the need to hold Mc Murphy notorious for the rascality occurring in the ward. Eventually, Mc Murphy became so agitated with Nurse Ratched’s knavery, that he breaks through the glass door. He rips her through white, starched uniform down the middle of her chest exposing her large breasts swelling out of her uniform. At this point in the story, this is Mc Murphy's method of emasculating Nurse Ratched of her strength. Her large breasts trsnsusde seuxality and symbolize a malicious mother-like figure. Ever since the beginning of the story, the Big Nurse always attempted to secrete her large breast behind her white, tight and starched uniform.It is as if she was attempting to eliminate the role of sexes in the ward. Nurse Ratched seems to be humiliated of her own sexuality. Mc Murphy takes pleasure in reminding her that she is undeniably a woman. As tensions begins to form between Big Nurse and Mc Murphy, she overcompensates to represent her masculinity. At the end of the