Conflict In One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

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Recommended: Psychology of one flying over the cuckoo's nest

Jack Nicholson as Randall McMurphy: What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or something'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walking' around on the streets and that's it.

This film presents an individual that chooses not to conform to modern society, and the consequences of that choice. The main character R.P. McMurphy would be best described as the antihero, and Nurse Ratchet would be the antagonist.
Both characters have an important role insofar as how the ward responds to their actions. The basis of this plot is a battle of wills between McMurphy and Nurse Ratchet. Before McMurphy entered the ward, Nurse Ratchet ran the place the way that was most comfortable for her, and not in the best interest of the patients. From their first meeting, McMurphy asserts that her dominance is not as things should be.
Randall Patrick McMurphy’s struggle against institutional authority in the 1975 Academy Award winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest brings to light one man’s rebellion against the repressive and controlling powers of an oppressive institution. McMurphy is committed to a mental institution after being ejected from a work farm due to his belligerent: some at the prison believed him to be crazy.
Within the walls of the man-made cuckoo’s nest McMurphy and his new peers are scrutinized without end under the total control of the facility's administration – for their own good, of course. Their access to information is restricted to the point where they are not even allowed to watch the current World Series on television; all their personal freedoms are forfeit.

The daily degradation that strips away their humanity and self-regard is apparent to McMurphy from his first entry into the ward as all his personal belongings are collected and removed from his possession. From that point on he is treated as n...

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... this point, McMurphy's fate is fulfilled. He committed an open revolt against the authority and failed. It is not questionable what retaliation he can expect. Although he has tried to change and reform the world of the ward around him with peaceful and cunning manner, he failed. The institution (and its embodiment in Nurse Ratched) does not tolerate any deviation from what she considers correct.
Knowing all of that, McMurphy's attempts are doomed to failure from the outset. His failure is coded in his character: he wants to live free or die if that's not possible. The conflict between that insoluble idealism and the entrenched realities personified in Nurse Ratched is resolved in a manner rife with subtlety yet ultimately not ambiguous: in his meteoric progression toward his self-destruction, McMurphy nonetheless triumphs by inspiring the caged cuckoos to rediscover their freedom.
Jack Nicholson as Randall McMurphy: Well, I tried, didn't I? Goddamnit, at least I did that.

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