Similarities Between One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest And The Crucible

The tragic death of a flawed hero can redeem and save both the hero and those who look up to him/her. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a man named Randall Patrick McMurphy saves a ward and its patients from self destruction. The power hungry Nurse Ratched rules as Chief Bromden narrates. In a similar fashion, Abigail Williams reigns over Salem. Her and her group of girls will eventually be taken down by John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Both novels end with the downfall and deaths of McMurphy and Proctor, helping to save the ward and Salem. Randall Patrick McMurphy and John Proctor begin their journey as selfish but grow to become heroes along the way.

McMurphy and Proctor begin the novels with selfish personalities.

McMurphy take advantage of the patients through unfair gambling schemes and John proctor withholds vital information from Salem. McMurphy comes in saying he’ll trim the patients- take their money- like, “little lambs” (Kesey 12). Proctor keeps from the town that the girls and Abigail are falsely accusing others of witchcraft until his wife is arrested because he did not know that, “the world is gone daft with this nonsense” (Miller 72). McMurphy’s words show he does not care that the patients are less experienced and competent with gambling compared to himself. Proctor shows he needed more than just knowing of the girls’ lies to out them, it took finding out his wife was accused, even then he still waits to tell the correct person. These words and actions show the selfishness the two men hold.
Despite selfish beginnings, the two men grow and change on their journeys.

McMurphy and proctor eventually become heroes. In the end the men choose to do what is right, defending others, giving their lives in the process. In Kesey’s novel, McMurphy defends George, a patient afraid of dirt and the hospital soap that an orderly tries to force George to use. He tries to defend George by reasoning with the orderlies but this does not work so he fights them (Kesey 272-275). He later tries, partially succeeding, to choke Nurse Ratched and destroy her and her power. He is lobotomized for his actions so, to end his suffering, Chief smothers him (Kesey 319, 321, 323). Proctor chooses to die instead of confessing to a crime he didn’t commit (Miller 149-150). Both men’s deaths cause them to become martyrs, saving both the ward and Salem from complete and total destruction. Proctor and McMurphy’s martyrdom shows them to have grown to become heroes rather than selfish.

Even though they are selfish in the beginning, John Proctor and McMurphy have become heroes. In the beginning they are selfish. McMurphy takes advantage of the patients. Proctor retains the knowledge of the girls’ lies. However, they both die and in doing so they save those around them and redeem themselves, becoming

martyrs.