The film that I decided to write about is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest because I was curious to how the movie adaptation was accurate to the book, which I had previously read 3 years ago. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the concept of “crazy” is challenged. The definition is subjective to the viewer and the settings the movie presents them with. The film explores the concepts of mental illness, rebellion, and the abuse of power and oppression by an institution. It shows that institutionalization can have very harmful, dehumanizing effects on our patients. The movie mainly focuses on the idea of mental illness and how it can be defined on a case-by-case basis rather than a unifying term. Different characters are perceived as mentally …show more content…
Nurse Ratched: the antagonist of the film is a cold-hearted controlling figure who oppresses all of the patients in the ward. Her philosophy emphasizes routine and structure while prioritizing conformity and suppressing any behaviors or ideas that stray from the established norms of the institution. Under her control, the hospital engages in several activities that violate the patients’ rights. These include forcing them to take medicine against their will, using electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) without obtaining informed consent, and manipulating and degrading them as a form of punishment. Nurse Ratched values control and discipline over the wellbeing of the patients and strives to keep everything in order by any means necessary. The “shock shop” room on the hospital’s psych ward was used to discipline Chief Bromden. The film demonstrates that sometimes when people are given positions of power over others, it is not always used in the best interests of the masses. Similar to other authoritarians, she is able to use psychological tactics such as public humiliation and …show more content…
He succeeds in motivating the other patients to defend their rights and rebel against the repressive regime. Despite not having a disability himself, he helped those who did. The guys on the ward felt like humans because of his positive attitude and treatment of them like men, who made them believe that their disability did not limit their abilities or enjoyment. Nurse Ratched, the primary adversary, represents the medical establishment's disregard for mental health illnesses and attitude toward them. She is a symbol of how mental health issues are perceived in our culture as something that can only be managed rather than cured because of her cruel and repressive actions. But McMurphy, our protagonist, is the complete opposite, he represents determination, freedom, and self-respect. Being in their own environment and surrounded by individuals who were similar to them made the other ward residents who did have a disability or difficulty feel safe. McMurphy's character served as a reminder to them that life is more than this and that you can make small changes and still enjoy yourself and stay safe. The patients became dependent on the institution despite the fact that the majority of the patients were perfectly capable of caring for themselves and making their own decisions. It demonstrated that Nurse Ratched had complete control of them, even being in control of
Mark Twain best described courage when he said that, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear” (Twain). Both in The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Watership Down by Richard Adams, the authors deal with the topic of courage and each share a similar view on it as this quote. Indeed, both authors suggest that courage is not accumulated simply by acts of heroism, but rather by overcoming fears and speaking one’s mind as well. These books are very similar in the way that bravery is displayed through the characters in an uncommon way. Firstly, an example of bravery
In the story, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, patients live locked up in a restricted domain, everyday taking orders from the dictator, Nurse Ratched. Once McMurphy enters this asylum, he starts to rally everyone up and acting like this hospital is a competitive game between him and Nurse Ratched. McMurphy promotes negative behavior, such as, gambling and going against the rules, to mess around with the nurses and so he can be the leader that everyone looks up to. McMurphy soon learns that he might not be in control after all. Nurse Ratched decides who will be let out and when. After realizing why no one has stood up to Nurse Ratched before, he starts to follow rules and obey the nurses. This changes the whole mood of the hospital,
I chose the subject about “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” written by Ken Kesey in 1962 for my research paper because my mother told me years ago of the accompanying film and how interesting it is. Two years ago a friend of mine came back from his exchange programme in the United States of America. He told me that he and his theatre group there had performed this novel. He was and still is very enthusiastic about the theme and about the way it is written. Although I started reading the novel, I didn’t manage to finish it till the day we had to choose our subjects at school. When I saw this subject on the list, which we were given by our English teacher Mr Schäfer, I was interested immediately. So I chose it.
Nurse Ratched is a former army nurse who works in the ward, she has manipulates the men in many ways. One way is having the patients “spy on each other” making them write things down, they think she would want to hear, or know. Bromden described Nurse Ratched as having the ability to “set the wall clock to whatever speed she wants”, a metaphor for her control, showing how the patients lose track of time. Nurse Ratched acts authority on the ward shows controls how superior over the person who would normally be her Superior, such as, Dr. Spivey.
This essay will be exploring the text One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey and the film Dead poet’s society written by Tom Schulman. The essay will show how the authors use over exaggerated wildcard characters such as McMurphy and Keating. The use of different settings such as an insane asylum and an all-boys institution. And Lastly the use of fore shading to show how the authors can use different texts to present similar ideas in different ways.
Nurse Ratched represents the dictatorial dehumanization, emasculation, and mechanization of society or, in Chief Bromden’s words, the “Combine”. The narrator, Chief Bromden, states that nurse Ratched comes into the ward with tools such as “wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills that gleam like porcelain, needles, forceps, watchmaker 's pliers, rolls of copper wire…” (P.4) with the intention of adjusting and fixing what society thinks is broken. Nurse Ratched’s name, similar to the tool ratchet, suggests that she is an “instrument of control” that is used to “ensure motion in one direction only” (Foley p.36). Through abuse (psychological and physical) and drugs, Nurse Ratched creates a mechanical or robotic feeling to
In the cinematic classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest expresses the idea that the inhibitory rights of freedom, sly manipulation, and misuse of power results in an oppressive authoritarian leader that misuses his/her own power in handling people. The setting is placed between the 1950’s and 1960’s in an insane asylum. The film challenges the view of what exactly determines someone to be “insane” or “sane” the main character sheds light onto the subject by showing how relative sanity can actually be. An exceedingly reckless, yet diligent individual named, Randle McMurphy, stands up to the oppressive leader known as Nurse Ratched in a rebellion to her repressive ways to stir up some “fun” in the mental ward. McMurphy intends to bring some life back into the patients who have been dehumanized by Nurse Ratched.
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.
Throughout the mid-twentieth century, America withstood a period of revolutions as younger generations started to challenge society’s standards and beliefs. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes place during the end of the 1950s and in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, a time when many citizens began to challenge conformity. This novel was set among patients and workers of a mental institution. The mental institution is designed to cure patients who are deemed “insane” as a result of lack of submission within society. However, the institution is controlled by society and operates in the same manner as the Outside world. Although the facade of the mental institution makes it appear to be successful through major advancements, the patients still suffer the consequences of being unique and not fitting perfectly into society. Ken Kesey uses black humor in order to expose the horrendous treatment that citizens endure within mental institutions when they do not conform to the deranged idealistic beliefs of an inhumane society.
Author Ken Kesey effectively reflects on the social climate of the 1960s in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By creating a fictitious mental institution, he creates an accurate and eye-opening mirror image of repressive modern day society. While it’s both a microcosm and exaggeration of modern day society, Kesey stresses society’s obsession with conformity, while demonstrating that those individuals who reject societal pressure and conformity are simply deemed insane. However, Kesey infuses the power of the individual in his portrayal of the charismatic outlaw Randall McMurphy, and proves that it only takes one to defeat the restrictions of a repressive society. McMurphy’s evident superiority among the other patients in the hospital immediately established his power and authority over the other patients.
Perhaps her cruelest action emotionally ruining Billy, a patient of hers that had recently lost his stutter, to the degree of which he killed himself. Her actions are cruel and deplorable none of which helped anyone but herself. She saw the hospital as her own domain and once it was threatened, she reacted defensively injuring many in the process. Maybe Nurse Ratched, who is often described as frigid and constantly wears a mask, acts the way she does to cover her own illness. The things she says and does are indicative of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Schizoid Personality Disorder, and could even have a smidgen of Antisocial Personality Disorder. It is a theory that Ratched dramatizes the illness of others to distract from her own
Everybody wants to be accepted, yet society is not so forgiving. It bends you and changes you until you are like everyone else. Society depends on conformity and it forces it upon people. In Emerson's Self Reliance, he says "Society is a joint stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." People are willing to sacrifice their own hopes and freedoms just to get the bread to survive. Although the society that we are living in is different than the one the Emerson's essay, the idea of fitting in still exists today. Although society and our minds make us think a certain way, we should always trust our better judgment instead of just conforming to society.
Throughout the sixties , America- involved in the Cold War at this time- suffered from extreme fear of communism. This caused numerous severe changes in society ranging from corrupt political oppression, to the twisted treatment of the minority. Published in 1962, Ken Kesey ’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , manages to capture these changes in the variety of ways. Kesey’s novel incorporates some of the main issues that affected the United States during the early and mid 60s. The government had no limits and was cruel to those who did not fit into society, including the mentally ill. The wrongful treatment of the people caused an eruption of rebellion and protest- thus the Beatnik era was born. The novel, written during this movement, sheds light on Kesey’s personal opinion on this chaotic period in US history . The treatment of mentally ill patients, the oppressive government, and uprising in the 1960s inspired Kesey while writing his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Fred Wright, Lauren's instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, "English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students learn about various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the literature and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the 1960s counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class also watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpretation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or another editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Lauren's essay in the next edition!"
The ability of police to exercise discretion was originally designed to allow officers to maintain the peace by allowing certain types of crime to remain unpunished in certain circumstances. This essay will aim to explore the issue of police discretion that suggests that the application of discretion works against the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In drawing this conclusion, this essay will examine the relationship between policing ideals and the use of discretionary powers and the relationship between policing attitudes and the use of discretionary powers. A discussion regarding the use of police discretion towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can scarcely be mentioned without making reference to arguably the greatest failing by a police officer since indigenous Australians were formally recognised as citizens. Further to this, the case of Mulrunji Doomadgee (Cameron) will be examined from the point of view of officer discretionary powers. The penultimate point to be made will involve the Anglo Australian response to this case as well as the ongoing relationship between indigenous Australians and the institutions that govern them. As mentioned, the first point will involve policing ideals and their relationship to discretionary powers.