Examples Of Faith In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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Show how belief or faith is represented in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and discuss how this aspect might be interpreted or understood in different historical, cultural, or social contexts.

In this story McMurphy gets committed to the ward and as soon as he gets there he is happy as can be and full of energy. He explains to the patients that he is not afraid of what Nurse Ratched could do to him because he’s not really insane but just chose the hospital over the work farm. That shows the patients his self-confidence and belief that he will control his experience. McMurphy then meets Cheif Bromden, he has always been the outsider, he was a 280 pound, 6’7 Indian of mixed heritage whose identity has been broken down by the pressure of society. …show more content…

McMurphy sacrifices himself for the benefit of the group and while doing that, he loses his free will. He truly does become a Christ figure for the patients. Under the invisible but heavy pressure of the other patients expectations he makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that Nurse Ratched can’t use Billy’s death to undo everything they have gained. “Only at the last, after he’d smashed through that glass door, her face swinging around, with terror forever ruining aby other look she might ever try to use again, screaming when he grabbed for her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front.” (Page 318) He attacked Nurse Ratched and rips her uniform, he permanently breaks her power but also forfeits his own life. I think that Kesey is using this trait to show that McMurphy is not insane and that he is only a normal man who is just trying to help the patients and be free from the …show more content…

McMurphy is the glue to all of the men in the hopsital because he shows them that they have to be strong. McMurphy represents freedom and self-determination throughout this reading. Freedom; the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint, he shows this characteristic by helping the patients in the ward find their way back from the fog and return back to the real world. He always laughs and jokes along with the patients to help cure their mental illnesses and his personality is very laid back and positive. McMurphy has a change of heart after he learns that most of the patients have voluntarily committed themselves and stay by choice. Self-determination; taking action in your life to get the things you want and need, McMurphy shows this act by deciding he must become their saviour and show them they can function outside the hospital. He makes his comeback statement by smashing the glass of the Nurse's station. Therefore, McMurphy slowly becomes a force that is driven not by this own will but by the needs of the forty other

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