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What did Ken Kesey want the reader to think about in One Flew Oer the Cuckoos Nest
Ken kesey's style in one flew over the cuckoo's nest
Critical essay on one flew over the cuckoo's nest
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Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest explores themes of oppression and conformity; these themes are challenged by the character R.P McMurphy, a new admission to the mental institute who challenges the major authority in the institute; nurse Ratched. Similarly in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight these themes are again challenged by the anarchist or villain simply known as the “Joker”, who wants to give Gotham a “higher class of criminal” (Nolan). The Joker challenges Batman a vigilante who is also known as the “Dark Knight of Gotham” (Nolan). Throughout both The Dark Knight and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest both the Joker and McMurphy respectively are described as people who manipulates others and disrupt the peace. In contrast, …show more content…
the characters Dale Harding and Harvey Dent accept their roles and fit into the role the “White Light” (Nolan). McMurphy and the Joker take both Harding and Dent’s realities and help them “spread a little anarchy” (Nolan). These character show how society is simply just a “Combine” (Kesey) and not what it seems to be, producing law abiding citizens and “silent guardians”(Nolan). Sadly through Dent’s inevitable demise and Harding’s sudden realisation of the truth, both texts reveal that by challenging the laws of Gotham and the combine respectively consequently results in the cost of one’s sanity and comfort in the fog. The role of the protector is not in fact for everyone but in fact falls to a certain group of people. These people are represented in two different aspects or roles in the worlds of Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Respectively these has characters are Batman and nurse Ratched. Batman is a Vigilante who is notorious for protecting the city of Gotham from crime and corruption. Nurse Ratched is the head nurse of the mental institute of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and runs the institute with a fair but firm mentality. These two characters both choose to accept their role as the symbol for what is right and what needs to be done to keep their respective roles as the guardian. Both Batman and nurse Ratched however use methods that could be seen as rash or unethical when it comes to dealing with the criminals or ward patients respectively, both Batman and nurse Ratched instill copious amounts of fear into their roles. Batman uses fear by upholding the idea that the “bat signal” a giant spotlight on top of the major crimes unit is a warning for criminals to be aware that he is patrolling the city “What you scared? You got a better chance of winning the Powerball then running into him” (Nolan). Nurse Ratched similarly instills fear into the patients by reminding them of what it was like for them outside of ward, when talking to Billy Bibbit after he indulges a prostitute she says to him “what would your mother think?” (Kesey). The ways that both Batman and Nurse Ratched instill fear reveal to the reader that both roles rely on that sense of fear, to prevent their wards from challenging their respective realities and keep them from reaching out into madness. Batman steps up to inspire the people of Gotham while nurse Ratched tries to keep the patients in the ward as calm and peaceful as possible, both do this by trying to maintain order and peace. Batman tries to maintain order by trying to inspire the people of Gotham to step up and fight the injustice. In the first encounter with Batman during The Dark Knight we see a drug deal featuring Dr. Jonathan Crane another villain from Gotham that is interrupted by imposter “Batmen”, after apprehending an imposter Batman is asked “what give you the right? What’s the difference between you and me?” (Nolan) by doing Batman maintains the peace by not having a civilian sink to criminal level and prevents the creation of another criminal. Nurse Ratched maintains peace by giving the patients a uniform schedule and introduces the idea of a “Therapeutic Community” (Kesey), this involves keeping the patients unable to talk to each other without raising their voices by playing music loud or keeping same schedule without making adjustments to “Ward Policy” (Kesey). These examples show through trying to maintain order and peace that both Batman and nurse Ratched are contributing to the combine and laws of Gotham to prevent cases like McMurphy or criminals like the Joker. The final comparison between Batman and nurse Ratched is how deal with criminal or the ward patients respectively. Batman uses all matters of force to try to apprehend the criminals of Gotham, The Rivalry between both Batman and the Joker escalates to the point where either party wishes to finish the events that have unfolded between them. During Harvey Dent fake arrest the Joker tries to get Batman to hit him with his “Bat-pod” a motorcycle in the bat mobile. “Come on, I want you to do it, I want you to do it. Come on, hit me. Hit Me!” (Nolan). Batman however swerves at the last second; this shows that Batman simply does not to kill the Joker while the Joker has been nothing but hostile towards him. This interaction between both Batman and the Joker also shows that Batman only wants to end this with any more lives lost. Nurse Ratched however simply only turns McMurphy down by not accepting his suggests to improve the ward. Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value.
A good many of you are in here because you could not adjust to the rules of society in the Outside World, because you refused to face up to them, because you tried to circumvent them and avoid them (Kesey 2.8.11) This shows that nurse Ratched reminds the patients and McMurphy why they are there in the ward in the first place. Both Batman and Nurse Ratched play their roles of the “protectors of peace” (Nolan) and try to prevent people like McMurphy and the Joker from disrupting the peace that they try so hard to …show more content…
uphold. In The Dark Knight the city of Gotham is introduced to its latest villain in the form of the Joker, a maniac who wears makeup to scare people and is described as someone with simple tastes of “dynamite, and gunpowder, and gasoline!” (Nolan).
R.P McMurphy is admitted into the mental institute in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and is introduced as someone who “Fights and Fucks too much” (Kesey). Both McMurphy and The Joker adapt to their surroundings fairly quickly by utilising their fellow criminals or patients to get to the authority figures; the Joker does this by introducing himself in front of the mob after robbing one of their banks, he does this to show that he means business and that business is to “Kill the Batman” (Nolan). McMurphy on the other hand uses the other patients to get to Nurse Ratched and the other staff by getting the patients to sign up for a fishing trip and leave the ward for a while. Both the Joker and McMurphy also give their respective people the choice to continue to lives their lives and challenges the laws and systems of Gotham. The Joker traps two ferries; one full of civilians and one full of “Gotham’s finest criminals” (Nolan) and gives them the choice to blow the other boat up or have both boats blow at midnight. In the end however neither boat blows up as one of the convict on the throws out their detonator proving the Joker wrong. McMurphy gives the ward patients the choice to realise the lie their living or to continue living under the
will of nurse Ratched The Characters of Dale Harding and Harvey Dent in Ken Kesey’s one Flew over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight fit in to idea of the being the role model, the sense of what is right with the world Joker and McMurphy However in the end the ward ends up closed and Nurse Ratched is stripped of her power over the ward while Batman covers up Harvey’s death and those that he murdered to prevent from proving the Joker right, this shows that both the Joker and McMurphy were right in saying that “The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules” (Nolan). These examples of how Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight explore themes how when oppression and the idea of challenging the “Combine” comes at a cost of one sanity of level of comfort in society and its roles.
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...
The imagination is the reader’s most important tool on the path to enjoying a good book. One can only hinder their enjoyment of the story by disregarding the vivid images created by the mind. Nothing can compare to a landscape so exquisite that it would make a cinematographer jealous, or a prison so cold that you can see the inmates’ hot breath. However, some authors offer help for those who are creatively impaired. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey builds such an effective tone, that the shifts in the attitudes of the characters can be detected.
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 the film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Milos Forman, the character of Randle McMurphy is portrayed as being a reckless and carefree man who eventually becomes a symbol of strength and determination in the mental hospital that the film takes place in. This film shows how an individual that can start off with an insignificant and unimportant purpose, but then becomes improved by the environment that they are placed in that they establish ambitions and aspirations that radically impact both themselves and others around them.
Some people are what you may call "normal", some are depressed, some are mentally ill, and some are just plain old crazy. In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey, the author shows how people can act so differently and have different ways of dealing with their problems. The story is narrated by Chief Bromden who is thought to be deaf and dumb. He tells of a man by the name of R. P. McMurphy, who was a con man, and was convicted of statutory rape. He told the officials that, "she was 18 and very willing if you know what I mean."( ) He was sent to a work farm, where he would spend some time, working off his crime. Since he was so lazy, he faked being insane and was transferred to a mental ward, somewhere near Portland, Oregon. On his arrival he finds some of the other members of the asylum to be almost "normal" and so he tries to make changes to the ward; even though the changes he is trying to make are all at his own expense. As time goes on he gets some of the other inmates to realize that they aren't so crazy and this gets under the skin of the head nurse. Nurse Ratched (the head nurse) and McMurphy have battle upon battle against each other to show who is the stronger of the two. He does many things to get the other guys to leave the ward. First he sets up a fishing trip for some of them, then sets up a basketball team, along with many smaller problems and distractions. Finally Nurse Ratched gives him all he can handle and he attacks her.
R.P. McMurphy is a lively, rebellious, and rational patient that has recently been escorted into the insane asylum. Once in the bin, Randle becomes the self-proclaimed champion of the rights of the other ward patients, his adversary being Nurse Ratched (New York Times). He scrutinizes the asylum and the patients deciding that he needs to lighten the atmosphere. According to Filmsite, Movie Review McMurphy encourages the patients to participate in activities that will heighten their spirits and change their monotonous routines. McMurphy decides to challenge Nurse Ratched when he notices that the patients of the ward are overly organized and controlled through a rigid set of authoritarian rules and regulations that McMurphy questions: “God Almighty, she’s got you guys comin’ or goin’. What do you think she is, some kind of champ or somethin’?”--- “I bet in one week, I can put a bug so far up her ass, she don’t know whether to s—t or wind her wrist watch” (OFOTCN). Entertainment Weekly implies that McMurphy is unwilling to surrender to Nurse Ratched’s belittling power and rebels against corr...
Many authors use allusion in an effort to give a deeper meaning to a story by referring to another work, which has a similar theme. It can also be a way to further emphasize the main point and help the reader better understand and think more deeply about what they are reading. Throughout the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, he incorporates many references to the Christian Faith. Although it isn’t direct, his strong use of allusion and symbolism force us to infer. Randle McMurphy, an intelligent and observant asylum patient, makes his way into the Oregon State Hospital. Kesey utilizes the Christian Faith and Jesus Christ through the characterization and development of the main character, Randle McMurphy. This dominant, yet reformative asylum patient comes to the aid of his fellow men in attempt to change the ways of the ward.
...s control through power, authority, and fear. 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. This idea does not occur to either of them until after they have lost everything they sought to control. This is what makes the element of control such an important theme in One Flew over the Cuckoo?s Nest.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) The character McMurphy as played by Jack Nicholson, McMurphy’s is a criminal who is troubled and keeps being defiant. Instead of pleading guilty, McMurphy pleads insanity and then lands inside a mental hospital. Murphy reasons that being imprisoned within the hospital will be just as bad as being locked up in prison until he starts enjoying being within by messing around with other staff and patients. In the staff, McMurphy continuously irritates Nurse Ratched. You can see how it builds up to a control problem between the inmates and staff. Nurse Ratched is seen as the “institution” and it is McMurphy’s whole goal to rebel against that institution that she makes herself out to be.The other inmates view McMurphy like he is god. He gives the inmates reason to
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.
One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a movie that portrays a life story of a criminal named McMurphy who is sent to a mental institution because he believes that he himself is insane. While McMurphy is in the mental ward, he encounters other patients and changes their perception of the “real” world. Before McMurphy came to the mental ward, it was a place filled with strict rules and orders that patients had to follow; these rules were created by the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. However, once McMurphy was in the ward, everything, including the atmosphere, changed. He was the first patient to disobey Nurse Ratched. Unlike other patients who continuously obeyed Nurse Ratched, McMurphy and another patient named Charlie Cheswick decided to rebel
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.
In the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the audience is shown the character of Mc Murphy who brought out the conflict of authority, obedience, and disobedience. The film introduces Nurse Ratched as head of the ward and the main authority figure. What this essay will focus on is if Nurse Ratched really ever is negligent? She is simply just doing her job. Would Mcmurphy be considered to be the so-called “evil” character in the film? When he arrives he causes so much chaos between the patients and the nurses. Would the audience agree Mcmurphy is even responsible for a patient's death within the ward?
Behind the destructiveness and psychopathic things that go inside his head, McMurphy is a brisk and dynamic character; throughout the novel he proves to others that he is worthy of being the main person in charge along with being a healer to the patients. He goes from being perceived as an arrogant person who only wants his ways, to a trustable person by the patients. McMurphy is the light of hope that the patients need in order to get their attention drawn away from the austere regulations of Nurse Ratched. In the novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, critics say that McMurphy is a destructive and psychotic character; I say that he is a larger than life character who appreciates the patients around him, is a deity, and someone was doomed to change the ward that he would soon die in.
In the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy, a man with a criminal past has once again gotten himself into trouble and is sentenced to prison by the court. In order to avoid prison, he pleads insanity and is sent to an asylum for the mentally ill. Once here, McMurphy suffers and witnesses the abuse and exploitation of Nurse Ratched who is known to be the best nurse at the institution. McMurphy and the other patients ban together to rebel against the nurse and the institution, but end up failing miserably.