An individual is a single human being that is distinct from a group or class. In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey portrays the change of Randle McMurphy as an individual. Randle McMurphy is a criminal that acts like he is mentally sick, he fakes being sick to get away from being put to work on a prison work farm. Instead, McMurphy is introduced to a mental institution where he begins to change the way other residents think and behave. Throughout the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey describes the changes of being rebellious, a fighter, and a hero in McMurphy’s character. In the beginning, McMurphy’s character is represented as a rebellious individual and troublemaker. McMurphy encourages the men at the mental institution …show more content…
The book states, “I thought for a minute there I saw her whipping. Maybe I did, too. But I see now that it doesn't make any difference.To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as soon as you lose, she’s won for good, and eventually we all get to lose. Nobody can help that” (Kesey 101). McMurphy is willing to challenge the Big Nurse, who is also known as Ms. Ratched. The nurse is a problem for McMurphy, and he realizes that he needs to do something before the nurse begins to control him. Big Nurse’s authority led McMurphy to rebel against her and the rest of the staff. McMurphy's attitude will influence those around him to challenge the Big Nurse. In addition, McMurphy is not only willing to stir up trouble, but is prepared to fight for what is right. McMurphy notices that not everything is perfect in the hospital, as it may seem. He decides to stand up for himself and his fellow friends. In the reading, Chief Bromden states, “Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now, as bad as it is, you can slip back in and feel …show more content…
Chief Bromden hallucinates fog that is not real. The fog represents a safe place for him to hide. Chief Bromden recognizes that McMurphy is breaking rules and challenging Ms. Ratched. He begins to fear that McMurphy’s actions will lead to big problems. Residents fear breaking the hospital's rules, but McMurphy continues to fight and risk anything to be free from the hospital’s oppression. In the end, McMurphy continues to change and help improve the lives of the men at the mental institution. McMurphy’s determination impacted the men's lives because the patients began to think more positively about themselves. McMurphy’s leadership has taught the residents that they should not be controlled by the authority of the hospital. In the novel, Chief Bromden mentions, “I noticed vaguely that I was getting so’s I could see some good in life around me. I was feeling better than I’d remembered feeling since I was a kid, when everything was good and the land was still singing kid’s poetry to me” (Kesey 237). Chief Bromden believes that McMurphy has shaped and changed him as a person. McMurphy became a hero for Chief Bromden, who taught him to value
In Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Randle Patrick McMurphy is the patients’ savior. By definition a savior is an individual who saves someone or something from danger, and who is regarded with the veneration of a religious figure. A savior either directly or indirectly gives faith to his followers in hopes of them continuing their fight against oppression. Upon his arrival to the ward McMurphy is quick to adapt the role of a Christ-figure as he helps the patients reach salvation from the societal restraints of the combine. Christ, however, is the ultimate savior. According to the bible Christ performed countless miracles to spiritually heal and inspire his followers. Christ’s most renowned act of miracle healing is when
The author Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado and went to Stanford University. He volunteered to be used for an experiment in the hospital because he would get paid. In the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Kesey brings up the past memories to show how Bromden is trying to be more confident by using those thoughts to make him be himself. He uses Bromden’s hallucinations, Nurse Ratched’s authority, and symbolism to reveal how he’s weak, but he builds up more courage after each memory.
Chief Bromden’s development in the story was evident mostly by his narrations throughout the story. Kesey created Chief’s initial character to be anxious and uncomfortable. This is most evident when he speaks about a certain “fog” in his narrations. The “fog” he hallucinates about may have been included as imagery of his inner apprehension and nervousness. "It's still hard for me to have clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen"(13). Bromden had come to the conclusion that the fog was not real, but had trouble trying not to think about it. “When the fog clears to where I can see, I’m sitting in the dayroom” (9). This quote makes the reader feel that Bromden’s angst may cloud his perception and represent his desire to hide from reality. Besides the fog, Bromden als...
Nurse Ratched was head nurse of the ward. She needed to have control over everything. All of the patients feared Nurse Ratched, or as they sometimes call her, “Big Nurse.” That is everyone feared her until McMurphy. Because he refused to listen to Nurse Ratched, the “ruler” of the ward, it showed that there will be dismay between the two throughout the story.
In "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," McMurphy is successfully perceived as a heroic Christ figure. Kesey uses foreshadowing and images, the fishing trip, actions and feelings of other characters to develop this character.
In a staff meeting, Nurse Ratched gains her composure, and decides to use her position of authority to her advantage, when other professionals question whether McMurphy should be sent back to the working farm: “I expect her to get mad, but she doesn't; she just gives him that let’s-wait-and-see look...we have weeks, or months, or even years if need be. Keep in mind that Mr. McMurphy is committed. The length of time he spends in his hospital is entirely up to us” (157-158). The Big Nurse is only keeping McMurphy under her jurisdiction so that she can redeem herself, and come back full force, towards McMurphy. The more time that she has with McMurphy, the more likely she is to win the battle against
The Big Nurse thrives from the power she holds over the men in the ward. When her power, the thing she values the most, is challenged, she cannot function properly. This not only affects her regular behavior, but the order that the ward is run with too. Chief Bromden comments that “all the machinery is quiet,” indicating the lack of force the nurse is exerting on the patients. This is to say, she isn’t able to influence the patients once her superiority is put to the test by McMurphy. Even the fog, which drugs the men into following her commands, seems to not be functioning. I predict that the Big Nurse is insecure about her practices, and pretends to be so cold and fearless, when in reality, she isn’t so fierce. The nurse can be compared to
Nurse Ratched is portrayed as the authority figure in the hospital. The patients see no choice but to follow her regulations that she had laid down for them. Nurse Ratched's appearance is strong and cold. She has womanly features, but hides them “Her Face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive… A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing putting those big, womanly breasts on what would have otherwise been a prefect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it.” (11) She kept control over the ward without weakness, until McMurphy came. When McMurphy is introduced into the novel he is laughing a lot, and talking with the patients in the ward, he does not seem intimidated by Miss Ratched. McMurphy constantly challenges the control of Nurse Ratched, while she tries to show she remains in control, He succeeds in some ways and lo...
Initially the ward is run as if it was a prison ward, but from the moment the brawling, gambling McMurphy sets foot on the ward it is identified that he is going to cause havoc and provide change for the patients. McMurphy becomes a leader, a Christ like figure and the other patients are his disciples. The person who is objective to listen to his teachings at first is Chief Bromden (often called Bromden), but then he realizes that he is there to save them and joins McMurphy and the Acutes (meaning that they have possibility for rehabilitation and release) in the protest against Nurse Ratched, a bureaucratic woman who is the protagonist of the story, and the `Combine' (or society).
This also demonstrates how much power McMurphy has gained so far over Ms. Ratched. In the novel, Ms. Ratched tries to take away all of the power that McMurphy has gained over her by blaming McMurphy for making the lives of the hospital patients worse, and that McMurphy was the cause for the deaths of patients William Bibbit and Charles Cheswick. This angers McMurphy, and causes him to choke her with the intent to kill her, in the novel, Chief Bromden describes, “Only at the last---after he’d smashed through that glass door, her face swung around, with terror forever ruining any other look she might ever try to use again, screaming when he grabbed her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front.
Control in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey Ken Kesey?s masterpiece novel One Flew over the Cuckoo?s Nest uses many themes, symbols, and imagery to illustrate the reality of the lives of a group of mental patients. The element of control is a central, arguably the largest, and the most important theme in the novel. The element of control revolves around the two main characters of the novel, Randle P. McMurphy, and Nurse Ratched. These two characters are the exact antithesis of each other, and they both seek to get their own way.
Ken Kesey in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest question a lot of things that you think almost everyday. With this famous portrait of a mental institute its rebellious patients and domineering caretakers counter-culture icon Kesey is doing a whole lot more than just spinning a great yarn. He is asking us to stop and consider how what we call "normal" is forced upon each and every one of us. Stepping out of line, going against the grain, swimming upstream whatever your metaphor, there is a steep price to pay for that kind of behavior. The novel tells McMurphys tale, along with the tales of other inmates who suffer under the yoke of the authoritarian Nurse Ratched it is the story of any person who has felt suffocated and confined by our
Many social issues and problems are explored in Ken Kesey's novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Perhaps the most obvious complaint against society is the treatment of the individual. This problem of the individual versus the system is a very controversial topic that has provoked great questioning of the government and the methods used to treat people who are unable to conform to the government's standards.
Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is a story about a band of patients in a mental ward who struggle to find their identity and get away from the wretched Nurse. As audiences read about the tale, many common events and items seen throughout the story actually represent symbols for the bigger themes of the story. Symbols like the fishing trip, Nurse, and electroshock therapy all emphasize the bigger themes of the story. The biggest theme of the story is oppression. Throughout the course of the story, patients are suppressed and fight to find who they really are.
A hero is considered to be any man noted for courage or nobility of Purpose; especially, one who has risked or sacrificed his life. In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the reader can see how McMurphy is a prime example of a hero. McMurphy's strength embodies a heroic devotion to the other acutes on the ward.