Chief Bromden, the narrator of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, has been a paranoid-schizophrenic patient in the psychiatric hospital as he suffers from hallucinations and delusions. Everyone believes that he is deaf and dumb, although this is merely an act on his part that he has kept up due to the fear of huge conglomeration. Nurse Ratched is a nurse who runs the ward with harsh and systemized rules for the mental patients. For an example of what happens in the daily life of patient in her ward, she encourages the patients to attack each other in their most vulnerable places, shaming them during daily meetings, which she concludes as “therapy”. In any case patient rebels against the rules set by her, he is sent to receive electroshock treatments. This leads to ethical violations that slowly build upon each other with empathic breaches and sadistic interventions to the mental patients by Nurse Ratched; which actually seek to impose order and exercise control, sometimes at the expense of the individual 's (mental) health, but certainly at the expense of each patient’s independence and freedom. Through death; McMurphy spirit and inspiration have developed well beyond any influence that came by that he might have been able to exercise as a "patient". The mental patients, …show more content…
Nurse Ratched appears to be caring and well intentioned but she may still believe strongly that in spoiling McMurphy plans for change and various other schemes she is acting for the greater good of her patients. However, when McMurphy challenges against her she become even more "dangerous", she shows her resilience against his plans and doesn 't flinch from taking measures to ensure continued devotion to the rules she has set. Indeed it is only at the end that we see just how far she will go to enforce her authority which include the rules set by her for the ward, leaving aside individual patients interests; rights and welfare merely in an effort to establish her own position as the head of the
He is sent away for three weeks as a result, but when he returns, he is wheeled in on a gurney and is left over by the Vegetables, as he had been lobotomized. In lieu of his seeming defeat, his memory stayed with the patients while he was absent and provoked them to change things for the better at the ward. Nurse Ratched does not have the same power over the hospital that she used to given that she temporarily loses her voice, as “she tried to get her ward back into shape, but it was difficult with McMurphy’s presence still tromping up and down the halls...” (321). The patients learned to grow out of their fear and used the spirit of McMurphy as reassurance of their actions; Nurse Ratched’s little written commands could not effectively control the patients anymore.
There is much debate on whether or not Nurse Ratched, the head nurse portrayed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is mentally ill, or if she is just harsh in order to maintain control over the patients in the ward. Many believe she has a form of PTSD that has been used by her working in the ward for many years, while others argue that she may only have an extremely severe case of antisocial personality disorder, also known as ASPD or sociopathy. The reader can, without a doubt, determine for themselves that Nurse Ratched is not your ordinary nurse. There is definitely a psychiatric problem with her that makes her stand out from other nurses.
Throughout Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the balance of power is challenged in the psychiatric ward. Out of the several leaders that appear in the novel, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are the most prominent. During Nurse Ratched and McMurphy struggle for power, they share many of the same qualities. It is argued that: “McMurphy and Ratched are alike in intelligence, military service, distinctive (if opposite) clothing, and conventionally masculine qualities” (Evans). These small similarities; however, do not distract the characters from fighting for their individual beliefs.
In the novel “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest”, the narrator, Chief Bromden, tells the reader a terrible tale. At the end of the first chapter, he prepares the reader for what is to come. With the saying “But it’s the truth, even if it didn’t happen”(8), he says that even though what he will narrate sounds too horrible to be true, it is. This harbinger points to how the institute tears down the patients so much that they will come to find laughter as something to help them take back their freedom.
The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey, presents the ideas about venerability and strength by using his characters and the way they interact with each other to establish whether they are a submissive or a dominant, tamed or leading, venerable or strong. Kesey uses strong personalities to show the drastic difference between someone who is vulnerable and someone who is strong. Nurse Ratchet is a perfect example of how Kasey presents the idea of strength over the venerability of others (the patients). Keys also exhibited vulnerability throughout characters such as Chief Bromden and his extensive habit of hiding himself in all means possible from Nurse Ratchet. Another idea presented by Kesey is a character’s false thought on what
Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, published in 1962, is one of Kesey’s most popular works. It helped America realize the cruel way that psychiatry and psychology were being practiced. The story is about a group of guys committed to a men’s mental hospital in the 1950’s. Throughout the plot, a new patient named Randle P. McMurphy shines light on the otherwise dull lives of his fellow patients while he is committed. On the other hand, Nurse Ratched and the staff seem to be doing everything they can to make the patients' lives miserable and foil all of McMurphy’s patient supported schemes.
In the drama film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, Patrick McMurphy was moved from a prison farm to a mental institution to get evaluated for his erratic behavior. Upon being transported to the institution, all his assumptions about his new home were completely wrong. The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, has the whole hospital under her control with little to no freedom for the patients. All the inmates at the institution go through rigorous training to become obedient to Nurse Ratched and her strict schedule and rules. The institution was a very controlled environment with the patients having no control over their own life’s while there.
Throughout the beginning of the novel it is evident that some characters over use their powers, one of these characters being Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched uses her position in the ward to take advantage of the patients and make sure that they adhere to everyone of her daunting commands. Nurse Ratched “tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine” (Kesey 28) because she has been on the ward for so long that when something doesn 't go according to her plan, she starts to get mad and will often try to use her power to come down on the patient 's. Nurse Ratched is in control of the whole ward and when someone does something that isn 't in her manuscript she gets irritated. The ward will be run her way and only her way, “ under her rule the ward inside is almost completely adjusted to surroundings” (Kesey 28).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written, by Ken Kesey, is a novel that takes place in a psychiatric hospital during the 1950s and is told through the perspective of Chief Bromden, a schizophrenic patient within the ward. Patients in this ward are divided into two categories. There are Chronics. These are patients that have no hope of being treated or cured. Secondly, there are acute patients who are still treatable and capable of some independent functioning.
Imagery is a major theme in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The narrator of the novel is Chief Bromden, a patient at the ward who pretends to be deaf and dumb. Chief has a mental illness where he relates everything to machines, he believes that everything is one big machine to be controlled by another person. The ward is a dismal place, with two distinct groups separated at the middle. One group is the Acutes, people who have a chance at rehabilitation and release to the outside world.
It can’t be caused by anyone else, an accident, or a twist of fate. McMurphy’s downfall was brought about by his own actions. If he just sat back and did nothing none of this would have ever happened. The final action taken by McMurphy that really sent Nurse Ratched over the edge was when he ripped open her shirt and tried to choke her after the party. He acted completely by his own free will and let all his built up emotions take over.
Ken Kesey uses his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to describe the lives of patients in a mental institution, and their struggle to overcome the oppressive authority under which they are living. Told from the point of view of a supposedly mute schizophrenic, the novel also shines a light on the many disorders present in the patients, as well as how their illnesses affect their lives during a time when little known about these disorders, and when patients living with these illnesses were seen as an extreme threat. Chief Bromden, the narrator of the novel, has many mental illnesses, but he learns to accept himself and embrace his differences. Through the heroism introduced through Randle McMurphy, Chief becomes confident in himself, and is ultimately able to escape from the toxic environment Nurse Ratched has created on the ward. Chief has many disorders including schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in addition to these illnesses, he pretends to be deaf and dumb.
Bromden states “A former army nurse, Nurse Ratched represents the oppressive mechanization, dehumanization, and emasculation of modern society.” She is the basis of the conflict within the book ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST which involves Randle McMurphy struggles to go against her and the tyranny she imposes upon the mental hospital. This conflict resembles the internal struggle within the Harry Potter films of Harry Potter and Voldemort. Randle P. McMurphy, a criminal sent to a prison instead of a working farm to a mental institute for evaluation of his mental status. However, he decided to go to a psychiatric hospital because going there would be less work than going to the farm.
His rebellious and free mind makes the patients open their eyes and see how the have been suppressed. His appearance is a breath of fresh air and a look into the outside world for the patients. This clearly weakens Nurse Ratched’s powers, and she sees him as a large threat. One way or another, McMurphy tends to instigate changes of scenery. He manages to move everyone away from her music and watchful eye into the old tube room.
The movie was mostly focused on the feud between the warden/nurse Ms. Ratched and McMurphy. McMurphy tried to go against the hard-set plan set by the institution. More he tried to establish dominance and leadership within the group. This threatened the nurse’s ways of subduing patients, and they felt of less importance in their own institution. This led to a bitter rivalry and because of it the nurse tried to subdue, with same techniques as with other patients, McMurphy even after realizing that he was not a mentally unstable person.