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

Power emanates and reverberates through every aspect of our lives, the influence and control that an individual has is often an indicator of their rank in life. Three of the more prominent factors that affect your power and influence are: gender, roles and relationships and conflict. These aspects influence your control over others, structural and institutional power exist in the forms of access to educational, economic, political resources and opportunities. These ideas are presented as truths, in the novel The Crucible which was written by Arthur Miller and the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest directed by Milos Forman.

Both The Crucible and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest investigates the connection between power and gender. In most societies, access to the structural forms of power are aspects of male privilege. The society of Salem is a very masculine society where the men have the power over the women. Due to this power the males control the high court and the church however during the events of the novel the

power is shifted extensively transferring all power to the unmarried girls of the village at which normally are the lowest of the society. During the novel the complete opposite happens where the court believes every word the girls say and take no note of what the male characters; proctor, hail and Paris were saying. This happened when Abigail was telling the court that they are witches and the males of the town don’t believe it however the girls are not second guessed and fully trusted.

Within all societies there are hierarchies created by power and influence that determine which person or persons are the most important and influential.

In the film one flew over the cuckoo’s nest Nurse Retched control over the patients being absolute at the begging of the film and slowly decomposing as McMurphy begins to break it down. As head nurse, Retched is granted a tremendous amount of power over the inmates. She is in control of a majority of what goes on within the institute her powers include recommending those who are in need of electroshock therapy, when patients are released home ,when medication is given, what privileges the inmates are granted and the amount of cigarettes they get. In the novel .The crucible has a very structural and acceptable hierarchy this is why it is such as disturbance when the girls turn this structure into chaos. The church and the court are both run by the men and this gives them the highest

power.

Power has a tendency to make even the nicest people evil. Both texts present certain truths about the way power functions in society. The truth presented is that too much power can be a destructive and deadly force in society. Power she is given the power of She runs group meetings almost like medieval torture sessions, where men are broken down by the constant barrage of questioning from their peers. Everyone does what she wants most of the time, because they're too afraid of her not to comply. The Big Nurse's control over the men is so exquisite that she can get them to abase themselves by mere silence. The new found power the girls have in the novel crucible consumes them. These girls reverse the order of the village going from the bottom of the society to being in control of the whole town even the high court is wrapped around their fingers believing ever word these girls say. In particular the power overcomes the character Abigail who destroys people reputations, takes land, sends people to jail and gets many sentenced to death.
In conclusion