The power of manipulation is a very powerful tool and can easily be misused to benefit
the person who uses it, while harming the people who are subject to its effects. If left
unchecked a large group can be controlled by a single person. Much of this manipulation has
been seen through nations seeking to control the populous, such as in Germany during World
War II, in order to maintain an illusion. The manipulation used by Nurse Ratched and
McMurphy in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is used primarily to benefit
themselves, while harming the other patients. This causes harmful events to later befall the
other patients.
Nurse Ratched gains much of her power through the manipulation of the patients on the
ward. One tactic that she uses is through the disclosure of patents personal information.
While the group therapy sessions are supposed to bring the patients problems out in the open
for others to help, each one turns into a "bunch of Chickens at a peckin' party". (Kesey 57) The
nurse manipulates the patients by forcing them to give up many of their personal secrets. They
do so because of the fear developed by Nurse Ratched from their own years living in the ward.
This is counterproductive towards the patients’ own recovery from the ward to a normal life
outside of the ward. Instead, the information is used to keep the patients under her complete
control by taking away their sense of power and ultimately their own manhood. A direct
consequence of this maneuvering was the loss of control by old Pete who after exclaiming
several times "I'm tired", (Kesey 51) finally hit one of the black boys attempting to take him to
bed. Ratched also u...
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...r to increase their own
respective standing in the ward in multiple ways. McMurphy looks to increase his financial
status, while Nurse Ratched looks to enforce her totalitarian dominance over the ward. Their
own actions against each other have consequences negative to the other patients on the ward.
While many lose a portion of their life savings, others feel the increasing tension of the nurse as
more drastic measures are taken to control the patients. One of these methods even leads to a
patient's death. This leads to the assumption that both nurse Ratched and McMurphy are not
acting completely in the patients interest and each of them are committing these actions to
first and foremost, benefit themselves.
Works Cited
Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. New York: Signet, 1962. Print.
going to therapy is because they think that they are going to be judged, but once they get over
Out of all the duties of a nurse, one of the most important duties is how the nurse honors the trust of a patient by maintaining the patient’s privacy and safeguarding the patient’s information confidentially. Privacy is the ability of the patient to make the choices in how to handle information regarding him or herself that other individuals are not aware of. As an example, prior to releasing the patient’s private information, the nurse must notify the patient on how their information will be handled and get consent from the patient
Each nurse has a duty to protect the patient as well as their right to privacy and confidentiality (ANA, 2011). Each nurse should advocate for an environment that provides sufficient physical activity, including privacy for discussions of a personal nature (ANA, 2011). It is a nurse’s responsibility to maintain confidentiality of all patient information. If this standard is not maintained, the patient’s well- being could be jeopardized. The patient’s rights, well-being, and safety should be the primary factors concerning information received orally, written, and electronically (ANA, 2011). It is the nurse’s responsibility to be...
Nurse Ratched is the villain, the antagonist of the novel. She is a scheming, evil manipulating character and ends the same nasty women, though she lost her power and is small in the patient’s eyes. Chief often describes her as a doll on the outside, but a machine underneath saying her expressions are always "calculated and mechanical."(p.48). Chief having been under her rule for 10 years, says Ratched, "tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury."(p.30). She rules over her ward with an iron hand and hides her humanity and femininity behind a stiff, scornful front. She hand-picks her staff for their submissiveness, disposing of the other through mental intimidation, leaving her in complete control of her ward. She renders her patients incapable through a psychologically manipulative program aimed to destroy any self-esteem they have. Her ways slowly drain all traces of humanity from her patients. McMurphy refers to her as a “ball-cutter”(p.61). expressing her ability to emasculate
The majority of the patients have resided in the ward for a long period of time, which causes them to constantly be in the range of Nurse Ratched’s control. Throughout their time there, she observes them, taking note of any distinctions about their personalities. After a certain time span, she is able to learn each of their weaknesses and use them in her own favor. She manipulates them to the point where the patients begin to voluntarily believe that everything done at the ward “is done solely for therapeutic reasons” and for their “own benefit” (Kesey58). The patients take pride in the treatments and service that they go through. They do not realize Ratched’s hidden intentions, which is to achieve unwavering loyalty. This, in turn, prevents
Once in a while, she makes a firm attempt to help the patients while sometimes she behaves in such a manner that she wants to aggravate them. Patients encounter the diverse sorts of treatments and therapies; sometimes they would experience electroshock while sometimes they would get lobotomy treatment. Nurse Ratched wants to maneuver her patients under her strict
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
I don’t agree that he should be sent up to Disturbed, which would simply be an easy way of passing our problem on to another ward, and I don’t agree that he is some kind of extraordinary being - some kind of “super psychopath.” She waits but nobody is about to disagree.” (Kesey 157). Nurse Ratched is the authoritative figure surrounded by men who are inferior due to their mental stability. This role reversal in the book is unusual, especially since the novel was written in 1962. For the most part, in the present day, we see more women being able to prove stereotypes wrong and break the glass ceiling. No one responding to Nurse Ratched’s statement because they fear her shows the mark she’s made in the hospital, proving she’s able to do something that she stereotypically cannot do. Although Nurse Ratched is seen as someone in power, the patients still sexualize her and comment on her curvaceous features. However, Nurse Ratched is able to ignore the names she’s called and the way she’s treated. The ropes in the visual shows how an individual was restricted to break free and be powerful and it represents everything that weighed Nurse Ratched down, such as the sexualization of her and others previously questioning her
As Dr. Spivey tries to discuss his theory she puts an end to it because she is focused on trying to find dirt on each patient. Nurse Ratched uses the Therapeutic Community as a scapegoat to find ways to torture and manipulate the patients. In the meeting she asks the patients if they have done anything that they kept secret, which leads to them opening up and confessing many secrets. After each confession it was clear that she was pleased because she kept saying “Yes, yes, yes.”
She determines when they take their medication and even tells them when they are able to bathe. Nurse Ratched takes control by taking away a man’s masculinity and making them feel small when they are there. She tells the patients that they aren’t real men and she treats them like they are children. The article “Fixing Men: Castration, Impotence, and Masculinity is Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” by Michael Meloy states, “Nurse Ratched—a sterile, distant, and oppressive feminine force who psychologically castrates the male patients” (3). Nurse Ratched is able to dominate every man in the ward because they are all afraid she will shame them and break them down in front of the other men on the ward and take away their character. Meloy proves this by explaining, “That to castrate a male is to take away the very essence of his being, or his ‘spirit’” (4). The men on the ward are afraid of what she might do or say to them if they go against
As health care providers, nurses strive to instill confidence in their patients and their loved ones. A nurse is respectful to their colleagues as well as their patients. Nurses promote patients’ independence, patients can be confident in the knowledge that a nurse will do what is best for them, respecting their privacy and dignity. This means that a nurse does not share the patient information for personal reasons nor does the nurse get involved in a patients personal relationship if it is not medically relevant (NCSBN, 2011).
Within the mental health profession, psychotherapeutic group processes have become increasingly popular. In this age of managed care, therapeutic group have proven to be a timely a cost-effective alternative to individualized treatment. Furthermore, group therapy has been shown to be, “as effective as individual therapy in treating a range of psychological and psychiatric problems” (Markus & King, 2003, p. 203). However, just as group treatment can provide powerful therapeutic change and growth when properly facilitated, if poorly planned, it can have the opposite effect. Furthermore, in addition to the conventional ethical dilemmas and concerns posed by individual therapy, group work presents its own unique challenges, which must be taken into consideration (Kottler, 1994). Given the recent rise in group therapy utilization, it has become increasingly imperative for mental health professionals to make themselves aware of these potential challenges, as well as maintain a solid grasp of the ethical standards that guide therapeutic group work.
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
The ward is governed by nurse ratchet and her rules. Not following nurse Ratchets rules would eventually lead to get punished with electroshocking and other similar punishments. A hospital generally a place for health giving, becomes an unsafe place in this story. This particular hospital under Nurse Ratched’s administration is not about healing, but about dehumanization and manipulation, in order to take complete control of the patients. Until Randie Mc Murphy arrives and decides to put a stop to the situation by going against nurse Ratched’s rules and convincing the rest of the patients to do the same. After revealing against Ratched and convincing the men to do things that went against the rules. After Ratched causes multliple men of the ward to commit suicide and blames Mc Murphy for it , claiming that he thinks and acts as if he were God. Mcmurphy attempts to attack nurse Ratched, and as a result he was sent for a lobotomy. Weeks later when he returns to the hospital, his image is the same but he is gone forever as he is now in vegetable state. Chief, another patient of the hospital then suffocates Mc Murphy in order to save him from being trapped in his own body and under nurse Ratchets control. Chief then escapes the hospital. Mc Murphy is an important character because in the play because he sacrifices his own freedom in order to stop injustice at the hospital and help his friends, even though he also had the choice to obey the rules in order to save
In the beginning, of your exposure to your power you may have to deal with