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Analysis of one flew over the cuckoo nest
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Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest uses a mental institution to contrive a daunting metaphor for society; epic power struggles, inequity, and inhumanity seep through the pages, painting a dismal image of society as a game that cannot be won. The novel is host to many, arguably crucial, conflicts; however, perhaps the most important conflict is one that, oddly enough, the character was not ever truly aware of until the end. Nurse Ratched, the head honcho on the ward, manipulates her patients’ psyches, eroding their self-worth, in an effort to accommodate her reign. From the moment Randle McMurphy, a new patient, arrives, he, unwittingly so, enacts an integral role on the ward, bearing the burden of undoing the ruinous effects of Nurse Ratched’s tyranny. …show more content…
McMurphy is introduced in the beginning of the novel as a man who hardly seems fit to have been relegated to residing in a mental-institute.
He is coming from a work farm, and even says that “[he] requested a transfer [to the ward]....to get [him] out of those damned pea fields” (12-13). Disregarding his woeful ignorance of his circumstance, McMurphy’s very attitude toward what he expects of the mental home is “inspiring” somewhat; it is in stark contrast to the despondent residents and the bleak undercurrent of the ward. This is McMurphy’s first act of chipping away at the damage done to the patients at the hands of the Big Nurse, however, the true extent of that damage is harrowing: it manifests itself in Harding’s revelation regarding what meagre esteem he and the patients hold themselves with. “[they’re] rabbits,” he says, “[they’re all rabbits,” and perhaps most disturbingly, “[they’re] happy [being rabbits]” (64-65). Harding latently enlists McMurphy’s assistance in pulling them up from the depths of their own low self-worth by declaring him a “wolf,” not unlike the Nurse, insinuating that they already perceive McMurphy to be on par with Big Nurse, essentially her only
match. Part two is rendered in an ambience of tension and frustration; at a meeting, Cheswick expresses discontent with “[having] cigarettes kept from [him] like cookies [are from children]” (172). This scene is quite demonstrative of the supportive and validative role that the patients expect McMurphy to satisfy; a vexed Cheswick and the other patients “[look] over at McMurphy’s corner…[but] all [they] got was silence” (172). His silence speaks volumes; McMurphy is conflicted. He is not primed to accept the duty being bestowed upon him by the other patients, at least not so consciously. Previously, he had no problem rebelling in part one, albeit for his own contentment; however, when posed with the opportunity to endorse and drive a purposeful opposition, his malcontentedness evaporates. The interaction between the patients as a unit, and McMurphy is sympathetic dialogue, and will remain so throughout the novel; they seek his assistance and when he fails to deliver, rather than being “mad with him, or even disappointed, [they understand]” (174).
He would always sneak in wine, gamble with them, and would have them play along on all his jokes. His need for freedom was refreshing to everyone else, that what kept them going. At points when he gave up from being a rebel, other patients gave up. McMurphy wins this war between him and Ratched because he helps other patients continue to be excited and helps them get out of there. McMurphy influences patients to stand up for themselves and not take orders from Ratched. Harding listened to McMurphy and did exactly that. He started to call her out on things and make fun of her, and she couldn't respond. It was clear that Nurse Ratched wasn't the same person and because of what McMurphy did, she couldn't get back in control. Ken Kesey writes, “She tried to get her ward back into shape, but it was difficult with McMurphy’s presence still tromping up and down the halls and laughing out loud in the meetings… she couldn't rule with her old power anymore… She was losing her patients one after the other” ( 320-321). McMurphy has always taught them to follow their own rules and not obey Ratched. In particular, he influenced Chief, a quiet patient that watches his surrounding carefully. After teaching Chief what it's like to follow your own rules, Chief begins to follow McMurphy’s role. After the incident of stripping Ratched’s identity, he learns that McMurphy was a hero to him and although he doesn’t physically help him out, McMurphy has taught Chief how to play this game. Chief tries to be like McMurphy by taking over. DOing so he tries on his cap, trying to be the new McMurphy. Ken Kesey writes, “I reached into McMurphy’s nightstand and got his cap and tried it on. It was too small” (323). Chief realized that no one could take over McMurphy's role, but that Chief would have to be in control over himself to make a statement. Chief does exactly that, he runs for it, making him happier than he has ever
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores the dysfunctions and struggles of life for the patients in a matriarch ruled mental hospital. As told by a schizophrenic Native American named Chief Bromden, the novel focuses primarily on Randle McMurphy, a boisterous new patient introduced into the ward, and his constant war with the Big Nurse Ratched, the emasculating authoritarian ruler of the ward. Constricted by the austere ward policy and the callous Big Nurse, the patients are intimidated into passivity. Feeling less like patients and more like inmates of a prison, the men surrender themselves to a life of submissiveness-- until McMurphy arrives. With his defiant, fearless and humorous presence, he instills a certain sense of rebellion within all of the other patients. Before long, McMurphy has the majority of the Acutes on the ward following him and looking to him as though he is a hero. His reputation quickly escalates into something Christ-like as he challenges the nurse repeatedly, showing the other men through his battle and his humor that one must never be afraid to go against an authority that favors conformity and efficiency over individual people and their needs. McMurphy’s ruthless behavior and seemingly unwavering will to protest ward policy and exhaust Nurse Ratched’s placidity not only serves to inspire other characters in the novel, but also brings the Kesey’s central theme into focus: the struggle of the individual against the manipulation of authoritarian conformists. The asylum itself is but a microcosm of society in 1950’s America, therefore the patients represent the individuals within a conformist nation and the Big Nurse is a symbol of the authority and the force of the Combine she represents--all...
Ken Kesey appears to show disgust for people of power in his book One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Throughout the novel, Nurse Ratched, the lady within whom lays all the power of the staff in a mental institution, frequently sends people who she has behavioral problems with off to the disturbed wing, like she did Maxwell Taber. It is there that they experience the pain of either electroshock therapy, or a full frontal lobotomy. Nurse Ratched uses this and her natural dominance to inspire fear in her patients. She tends to agree with old school of thought that a healthy dose of fear makes people easier to control. Thus she was able to easily putdown any uprising against her totalitarian rule before Randle McMurphy. Nurse Ratched tries to use the power that has been given to her as head nurse to change the patients as she sees fit. As Bromden puts it, "Working alongside others... she is a veteran of adjusting things" (p. 30). But to do this she has created a living hell for them. McMurphy, one of the rare man that dares to vocalize his opinion, shows his negative sentiment towards Nurse Ratched when he tells Harding, "Hell with that; she's a bitch a ball cutter..." (p. 58). The entire ward can see how power has corrupted Nurse Ratched into the pseudo-megalomaniac/sadist she now is.
People often find themselves as part of a collective, following society's norms and may find oneself in places where feeling constrained by the rules and will act out to be unconstrained, as a result people are branded as nuisances or troublemakers. In the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the author Ken Kesey conveys the attempt McMurphy makes to live unconstrained by the authority of Nurse Ratched. The story is very one sided and helps create an understanding for those troublemakers who are look down on in hopes of shifting ingrained ideals. The Significance of McMurphy's struggles lies in the importance placed on individuality and liberty. If McMurphy had not opposed fear and autocratic authority of Nurse Ratched nothing would have gotten better on the ward the men would still feel fear. and unnerved by a possibility of freedom. “...Then, just as she's rolling along at her biggest and meanest, McMurphy steps out of the latrine ... holding that towel around his hips-stops her dead! ” In the novel McMurphy shows little signs like this to combat thee Nurse. His defiance of her system included
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.
When norms of society are unfair and seem set in stone, rebellion is bound to occur, ultimately bringing about change in the community. Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest demonstrates the conflict of individuals who have to survive in an environment where they are pressured to cooperate. The hospital's atmosphere suppresses the patients' individuality through authority figures that mold the patients into their visions of perfection. The ward staff's ability to overpower the patients' free will is not questioned until a man named Randal McMurphy is committed to the mental institute. He rebels against what he perceives as a rigid, dehumanizing, and uncompassionate environment. His exposure of the flaws in the hospital's perfunctory rituals permits the other patients to form opinions and consequently their personalities surface. The patient's new behavior clashes with the medical personnel's main goal-to turn them into 'perfect' robots, creating havoc on the ward.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author refers to the many struggles people individually face in life. Through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the novel explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity. With these themes, Kesey makes various points which help us understand which situations of repression can lead an individual to insanity. These points include: the effects of sexual repression, woman as castrators, and the pressures we face from society to conform. Through these points, Kesey encourages the reader to consider that people react differently in the face of repression, and makes the reader realize the value of alternative states of perception, rather than simply writing them off as "crazy."
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
“Power comes from temperament but enthusiasm kills the switch”. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken kesey reveals how the struggle for power and authority is shown in the psychiatric hospital. Ken kesey expresses this mastery through Nurse Ratched and McMurphy and their effect on the patients in the ward. Nurse Ratched has all the power due to her technically being in charge of the ward. The patients “men” are powerless with their acceptance and obedience to her actions. However, everything changes when McMurphy arrives. His confidence and charisma give him some type of power that challenges and disrupts the Nurse’s drunkening thirst for power. Power in this novel is lost, gained and repossessed.
While McMurphy tries to bring about equality between the patients and head nurse, she holds onto her self-proclaimed right to exact power over her charges because of her money, education, and, ultimately, sanity. The patients represent the working-class by providing Ratched, the manufacturer, with the “products” from which she profits—their deranged minds. The patients can even be viewed as products themselves after shock therapy treatments and lobotomies leave them without personality. The negative effects of the hospital’s organizational structure are numerous. The men feel worthless, abused, and manipulated, much like the proletariat who endured horrendous working conditions and rarely saw the fruits of their labor during the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom and United States in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century (“Industrial Revolution” 630).
The patients on the ward lack esteem and status for themselves. Kesey’s show this particularly in the sit down talk between Harding and Mcmurphy. Harding tells Randle “existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak. The rabbits accepts their role in the ritual and recognizes the wolf as strong.” (64 Kesey). Dale associates the rabbits himself and the other on the wad as rabbits. He claims that they’re inferior
This comes as both a blessing but cost to the patients, who have been tortured countess times through processes such as electroshock therapy in order to be perfectly cooperative as the Big Nurse wishes. Throughout the novel, Chief Bromden analyzes the actions of McMurphy, who acts as sane as the “normal” people in society and how he plans to overthrow the “dictator” of the mental hospital through an objective opinion due to the fact he must not speak to maintain his reputation as both deaf and unintelligent. Over the course of six months, however, McMurphy had become successful in his quest, which did come at a cost. Without the rule of the Nurse, who, at the time, was planning her revenge, all functions of the hospital had ceased to continue, leading the men who had once wished to seek freedom with a blindside. As the novel progresses, many more of the members of the hospital seem to be out of character, as with Bromden who begins to speak. When the Big Nurse allows the men to travel out of the hospital on a boating trip, the men realize that the lack of being accustomed to society was the reason they had been “imprisoned” within a hospital and that their freedoms came at a
At this point in the novel, the other men of the ward are enamored by McMurphy. He provides them with a sense of what society is like outside of the ward. Thus, they back him up when he makes acts of rebellion against the Big Nurse, such as when he protested the men having their cigarettes taken away. With that in mind, the men’s question of his motives is a stark contrast from the relationship to McMurphy they had previously. In this passage it says that when, “matching her fixed plastic smile with his big ornery grin, they weren’t exactly laughing” (Kesey 262). Here the Big Nurse uses her power turn the men against Murphy who, prior in the novel, is established to be very close with the other men at the ward, as seen on the fishing trip they went on. The Big Nurse had, earlier in the novel, set up rumors about McMurphy and his intentions which, subsequently, made the men begin to question McMurphy. The sheer amount of power she wields as an authority figure is staggering when considering she was able to turn the men against McMurphy with a rumor, whereas McMurphy has been building his trust with the other ward mates since he arrived at the ward. By taking into context the plot of the novel, from before this passage took place; it is made clear how the Big Nurse embodies the theme of absolute power as an authority
McMurphy, wild and confident, is first introduced when he is admitted to the hospital. McMurphy acts as a symbol of freedom and is a complete contrast to nurse ratched's oppressed ward.
The plot of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest fluctuates between the individual and the role of authority during the 1960’s. The film questions the amount of power that authorities have and highlights what happens when authorities have too much power. In Dedria Bryfonski’s book, Mental Illness, in Ken Kesey’s Over Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, she writes that “evil is not exercising free will and that evil is always the thing that seems to control” (Bryfonski 38). In the film, Nurse Ratched is an authoritative figure who is in charge of the ward that McMurphy is in and she has full control of all of the patients.