Character Analysis: One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the reader has the experience to understand what it was like to live in an insane asylum during the 1960’s. Kesey shows the reader the world within the asylum of Portland Oregon and all the relationships and social standings that happen within it. The three major characters’ groups, Nurse Ratched, the Black Boys, and McMurphy show how their level of power effects how they are treated in the asylum. Nurse Ratched is the head of the ward and controls everything that goes on in it, as she has the highest authority in the ward and sabotages the patients with her daily rules and rituals. These rituals include her servants, the Black Boys, doing anything she tells them to do with the patients.

The Black Boys toy with the patients and do as they please with them. Yet, a character that disrupts all that goes on in the ward goes by the name of McMurphy, as he is the only patient that will stick up to Nurse Ratched and go against the rules she puts forth. He tries to portray himself as a tough worker from the work-farm that is now a psychopath, but nobody believes him and thinks he is just there because he is too lazy to work. This connects to Feminism which is the concern of the level of equality and power that are in relationships, making sure that one does not have a copious amount of power over the other. Equality and power dynamics are evident through the descriptions of the characters of Nurse Ratched, the Black Boys and McMurphy. It is through these descriptions that readers see how power effects each character’s level of equality.
Abusive power dynamics are clearly illustrated by Nurse Ratched’s character when the reader observes her level of power over the ward. She controls the daily lives of the patients in an obsessive way by changing the time on the clock constantly, shocking them with Electric Shock Therapy and letting the Black Boys do whatever they want with the patients like raping them “We need that Vaseline” (Kesey, 10). Above all, Nurse Ratched manipulates each patient so much that they become mentally deviant compared to when they first entered the insane asylum. With this in mind, Chief Bromden describes Nurse Ratched and he says, “…with the element of time working for her she eventually gets inside everyone…she is a master at forcing the trembling libido out into the open” (Kesey, 70). In this quote Chief Bromden is explaining that she controls all of the men with her sexual female assets. Although all the patients are scared of her, they would give into her easily as she has so much power over them in a sexual way. This proves that Nurse Ratched uses her Feminine qualities as power over all of the men in the ward and creates inequality between herself and the patients.
Following the pattern of Nurse Ratched’s power over the ward, the reader starts to understand that she does not allow any amusement among patients. Each patient must follow her rules of how things should be done and only go about them “Its ward policy, Mr. McMurphy, tha’s the reason” (Kesey, 90). Despite her rules, When McMurphy enters the ward he does not abide by Nurse Ratched rules the way she wants him to, even down to the slightest rule like singing in the shower. Nurse Ratched is furious when she hears McMurphy singing in the latrine as Chief Bromden describes her stomping down the hallway and getting angrier with each step she takes, he then says, “I’m scared to think what she’ll do” (Kesey, 93). The reader understands here that the Nurse is so strict and over powering that everyone is afraid or her, because Chief Bromden explains her in such a horrendous, it reveals to the reader the kind of reputation she has made for herself to portray to the patients. She uses her abusive qualities to emphasize her power over the patients because she does not let them act out in any way they would like. Nurse Ratched makes it clear to the patients that she is in charge and that the consequences they will face will be horrid if they ever go against her. She does this by putting forth her power dynamics and tampering with the level of equality.
As a result of this, the lens of Feminism continues to be illustrated through the characters of the Black Boys, because of their level of inequality in the ward.

The Black boys are under the control of Nurse Ratched and are ordered to do what ever she wants them to. This is due to, the hatred from whites to blacks before the 1960’s. This issue started to shift because of public speakers like Martin Luther king and Malcom X, even though both were killed, they both had a major impact on the equality and power between whites and blacks. The hatred that white people had for black people was still lingering, but was not as large as before the 1960’s (Flaherty, Seidman, McLelland, Holler, par 2-3). In relation to the Black Boys in the novel of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest they are considered Nurse Ratched’s slaves, they are the only black men in the whole asylum which makes them stand out and makes them visibly different than all the other men. Nurse Ratched teaches them to hate the patients, so the only power that the Black Boys have is over the patients. Chief Bromden explains the Nurse’s strategies that she uses with the Black Boys, he says “She appraises them and their hate for a month or so and then lets them go because they don’t hate enough” (Kesey, 27). Power dynamics are evident here because of the way the Nurse treats the Black Boys, she teaches them to hate and if they do not hate enough then she will get rid of them. This point very important because it gives reason to how patients were mistreated in insane asylums. Even though the Black Boys have some power over the patients they are still under control of Nurse Ratched. Using the Feminist lens, these points are important because inequality is created because by the power of the Nurse over the Black Boys. Yet, the Black Boys are used the way that they are because of the color of their skin, there is a physical inequality illustrated because they stand out so much compared to everyone else in the ward. The

Black Boys cause inequality for the patients because they control them and treat them awfully as Nurse Ratched orders.
As a result of that, it is evident that everyone in the ward follows the rules of Nurse Ratched except for the new patient, McMurphy. McMurphy is known for getting into too many bar fights and having sexual intercourse with too many women. McMurphy is a strong and tough man, that used to work on the work-farm. When McMurphy first enters the asylum he intimidates all the patients and even the nurses because he uses his sexuality and physical appearance to show his level of power. For example, while Nurse