Samuel Chiang Period 3 Major Works Data Sheet Title of Work: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Date of Publication: 1962 Genre: Novel Historical information about the setting: The novel was written in the 1960's during the Civil Rights movement when asylums and other mental institutions often abused patients with mental disorders. There were widespread rumors that patients were "treated" with lobotomies and shock therapy. As a result, President Johnson called for major reform in the form of deinstitutionalization which replaced long stay hospitals with community friendly mental services. In addition, author Ken Kesey experimented with LSD because it was a wide held belief in the psychological community that it offered the best "access to the …show more content…
human mind". Plot Summary: Biological information about the author: Kenneth Elton Kesey was born on September 17, 1935 in La Junta, Colorado. After living for 66 years, Kesey died on November 10, 2001 in Eugene, Oregon. After graduation from the University of Oregon, Kesey began writing the novel in 1960 publishing the novel two years later. After moving to California, Kesey hosted many parties with his group of friends (Merry Pranksters) that were known as "Acid Test", often involving LSD. Kesey was also a volunteer to take part in a medical study which focused on the effects of psychoactive drugs. His experiences inspired him to write One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Describe the author's style: Give examples in the text that demonstrate style: Memorable Quote Significance “Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy” On the fishing trip, patients are actually allowed to laugh openly and feel “human”. Bromden notes that the pressure placed by society often drives people insane when they become overly submissive. “I hide in the mop closet and listen, my heart beating in the dark, and I try to keep from getting scared, try to get my thoughts off someplace else” - Bromden This quote shows the absence of freedom in the ward. Each morning Bromden must go through the shaving ritual which he utterly despises. He is stripped of his free will and self determination. “The flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go to peckin’ at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, blood and bones and feathers.” After their first group meeting, McMurphy comes to the realization that Nurse Ratched actually instigates divisiveness among the fellow patients by pointing out their weaknesses. “They don't bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb” - Bromden Because people believe that Bromden is deaf mute and most likely crazy, he is able to continually fool them and listen in on their secrets. Character: Name Role in the Story Significance Adjectives Chief Bromden Narrator of the story who is Native American and has been the longest patient living in the hospital; other believe that he is deaf. Pretends to be deaf and mute which causes other to speak freely around him, plays a protective role over McMurphy Observant, knowledgeable, protective Miss Ratched “Big Nurse” Has control over all the patients in the ward. No one dares to question her authority except for McMurphy. Physical representation of the “Combine” in the eyes of Bromden. Manipulative, powerful, willful, controlling, destructive Randle McMurphy It’s McMurphy first time living in a mental hospital.
Arrested for accounts of drunkenness, assault and battery, and rape. Determined to change the ward for the patient by defying nurse ratched. Doesn’t realize that Nurse Ratched is a big threat. Intelligent, likable, rebellious, determined, ignorant, self sacrificing Dale Harding Natural leader of the Acutes before McMurphy, in the hospital voluntarily. Urges McMurphy to rebel, also warns him that he has the most to lose if he does not succeed against Nurse Ratched. Malicious, clever, influential Billy Bibbit Heavily influenced by nurse ratched, eventually commits suicide Desires for individualism yet strives to please everyone. Shy and fearful Doctor Spivey Often helps the patients by making life in the ward a little more bearable. Rebels against Nurse Ratched and will not resign unless he is fired. Brave, courageous, kind The Acutes Patients who have a chance at being cured Group of patients led by McMurphy that often challenges Ratched’s authority. Sociable, tight knit, The Chronics Patients who don’t have hope for a cure, will live the rest of their lives in the ward Waling Chronics, wheeler chronics, and vegetables Hopeless, incurable
Setting: -The majority of the novel takes place in the mental asylum ran by Nurse Ratched and Patient McMurphy (a role model whom the other patients follow after). - Towards the end of the novel, a lot of the acutes (patients who can be "fixed") go on a field trip to the fishing boat, but they stop at a gas station where they begin to gain self confidence in their ability to stand for themselves and speak out. Significance of the opening scene: Significance of the closing scene: Symbols: • The fishing trip symbolizes the rite of passage for the acute patients in the ward. After leaving the asylum, we can a stark transformation in the patients as they begin to act like normal people. Billy Bibbit, a patient who is widely known for his inability to speak clearly is able to confidently convey his feelings to Candy, a friend of McMurphy. • The fog: "The fog" is not a physical representation in the novel but is actually a mental hindrance in Bromden's mind which causes him to conform to nurse ratched, thus preventing him from leading the other patients in acts of rebellion and individualism. On some days, Chief Bromden is "lost" in the fog and would prefer to remain in it then fight to overcome it. At the end of the novel, Bromden and the other patients are free from the mental bondage brought by the fog. Patters of Imagery: Possible Themes: • Insanity and Madness: A majority of the characters in the novel are deemed mentally ill, but there’s a difference between being normal and abnormal, fear being the determining factor. Some patients can actually live on their own but they hide themselves in the “safety” of the mental ward. • Freedom in contrast to confinement: The ward can be compared to a prison because of its strict rules and confinement. Many patients voluntarily remain in the hospital because they feel comfortable and safe being confined. However, the patients begin to protest about their maltreatment, often leading to reprimands.
Randle McMurphy is in a constant battle within himself, he is portrayed as a sociopath. He does not base his actions off of whether they will affect those around him, instead does as he pleases. His actions are based off of what is best for himself. McMurphy was first introduced as a savior to the ward, He soon uses the patients for his own benefit, the patients look up to him as one of their new proclaimed leader. McMurphy inspires hope into them and make them want to stand up for themselves. This give
From the moment McMurphy enters the ward it is clear to all that he is different and hard to control. He’s seen as a figure the rest of the patients can look up to and he raises their hopes in taking back power from the big nurse. The other patients identify McMurphy as a leader when he first stands up to the nurse at her group therapy, saying that she has manipulated them all to become “a bunch of chickens at a pecking party”(Kesey 55). He tells the patients that they do not have to listen to Nurse Ratched and he confronts her tactics and motives. The patients see him as a leader at this point, but McMurphy does not see the need for him to be leading alone. McMurphy is a strong willed and opinionated man, so when he arrives at the ward he fails to comprehend why the men live in fear, until Harding explains it to him by
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
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...
During the first therapy meeting that McMurphy attends, Nurse Ratched begins by examining Harding's difficulties with his wife. McMurphy tells that he was arrested for statutory rape, although he thought that the girl was of legal age, and Dr. Spivey, the main doctor for the ward, questions whether McMurphy is feigning insanity to get out of doing hard labor at the work farm. After the meeting, McMurphy confronts Harding on the way that the meetings are run. He compares it to a 'pecking-party' in which each of the patients turn on each other. Harding pretends to defend Nurse Ratched, but then admits that all of the patients and even Dr. Spivey are afraid of Nurse Ratched. He tells McMurphy that the patients are rabbits who cannot adjust to their rabbithood and need Nurse Ratched to show them their place. McMurphy then bets him that he can get Nurse Ratched to crack within a week.
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.
In the end, they believe they have control over the other, but they do not realize that they both have lost control until it is too late. They both pay a harsh penalty for their struggle to gain control over the ward. Nurse Ratched forever loses her precious power status and authority over the institution, while McMurphy loses the friends he tired to help, his personality, and eventually his life. Throughout the novel, these two characters relentlessly fight to control each other. They both realize that control can never be absolute.
She controlled every movement and every person’s actions and thoughts. She made the doctors so miserable when they did not follow her instructions, that they begged to be transferred out if. “I'm disappointed in you. Even if one hadn't read his history all one should need to do is pay attention to his behavior on the ward to realize how absurd the suggestion is. This man is not only very very sick, but I believe he is definitely a Potential Assaultive” (). This quote from the book illustrated how Nurse Ratched controlled her ward. She manipulated people into siding with her regardless of whether it was the right decision. This was malpractice by Nurse Ratched because she did not allow the doctor, who was trained to diagnose patients, to do his job properly. Instead, she manipulated the doctor to diagnose the patients incorrectly in order to benefit her interests rather than those of the
“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.
By bringing in McMurphy, readers can see how truly changing the concept of power can be, but also show that power does not have to be evil and bad. McMurphy’s influence of the patients on the fishing trip shows that good power even has the capabilities of changing the lives of people. On the other hand, Nurse Ratched is also a symbol of power, but the power instilled by Nurse Ratched is very menacing and dark. An example of her power is when she “turns on the fog machine”. Nurse and her assistants are shown instilling their power like during moments “They’re at the fog machine again but they haven’t
The novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey depicts the ongoing war between the authoritative head nurse, Miss Ratched, and the cowardly patients in the psychiatric ward. This battle between staff and patients begins when Mcmurphy, a ………, is transferred to this mental asylum. He challenges Miss Ratched’s power and hardily reveals her intentions to the rest of the ward patients. Billy Bibbit, Harding, and Chief are some of the main patients in the story who are subject to her cruel and deceptive system. Nurse Ratched’s emasculates the patients in the ward by skill of manipulation in order to maintain control and power over the ward, yet her dominance is eventually defeated.
Nurse Ratched gains much of her power through the manipulation of the patients on the
There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "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 sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disruption to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine.
Nurse Ratched has such a control on the ward that she has gotten he patients to believe that their conditions are a lot worse than they actually are. The patient’s ultimate goal is to leave the hospital mentally stable and healthy, being told that their conditions are worse than they were before only strikes a panic. McMurphy is desperate for an escape from the ward but he knows the only way out is through Nurse Ratched. He knows that she can keep him in the ward for as long as she pleases, and he worries that will be a very long time. “Doctor—do I look like a sane man?” (Page 30). McMurphy has been set up to believe that he is extremely mentally unstable. This forces him to seek confirmation in his doctor. McMurphy does not let it show, but he deeply fears that is mental state will deteriorate during his time in the ward. Asking the doctor whether he thinks that he looks sane is McMurphy’s way of admitting that he is desperate for a release from the hospital and from Nurse Ratched’s controlling ways. “You seem to forget, Miss Flinn, that this is an institution for the insane."(Page 19). The way in which Nurse Ratched addresses the mental institution resembles her dehumanization of the patients in the ward. Nurse Ratched speaks of the mentally ill as if they should be ashamed and punished for something they have no control over. The nurse inflicts pain onto those whom are mentally ill as a way of treatment. McMurphy, who is originally the most mentally stable of the patients, is given pain treatments prescribed by Nurse Ratched. The treatment, in which Nurse Ratched gives McMurphy, is a punishment for not being in the right mental state. Because McMurphy’s mental state has not yet deteriorated tremendously, the pain treatment does nothing but make him internally fight with