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How Is Power Presented In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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Ken Kesey and Peter Weir use levels of power to symbolise different positions in society in their texts One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Dead Poet’s Society. Both texts are microcosms - small, contained reflections of society and therefore reflect Kesey and Weir’s views of society in the time period in which both texts are set. Both authors explore the power in assigned positions of power, the power of those who are deemed powerless, and the people who use power to help create a better situation for those around them. In both texts, the characters in assigned positions of power are depicted as controlling, manipulative, and tyrannical. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Nurse Ratched or “The Big Nurse” (p. 4). as described by the Chief, …show more content…

In the aforementioned opening scene of Dead Poet’s Society, the students are shown with a high camera angle symbolising their inferiority. When the students are seen in classes, the teachers speak and the students repeat. There is no room for freethinking students or anyone trying to resist conformity. Discipline is enforced so heavily throughout the students’ lives at Welton that conformity comes naturally. This is displayed in Mr Keating's courtyard experiment, when Pitts, Cameron, and Knox all end up marching in unison; a scene that is literally looked down upon by Mr Nolan in his office. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the patients are the powerless, forced to undergo the same routine daily, dictated by Nurse Ratched. Kesey shows the patients’ lack of power by often contrasting them against people with power like McMurphy, or Nurse Ratched. When McMurphy first enters the ward “he’s got iron on his heels and he rings it on the floor like horseshoes” (p. 10). He is presented as a cowboy-like character bursting with confidence, a direct juxtaposition against the meek and submissive patients on the ward. In both texts the “general masses” are the powerless. This carries significant meaning as both texts are microcosm, therefore reflecting, both Weir and Kesey’s belief was that the general masses in 1950 -1960’s society were having their everyday lives dictated by people in assigned positions of

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

541 Words | 3 Pages

2. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, Kesey uses images of machinery to compare to Big Nurse, Miss Ratched, and the black boy because of the control they maintain in the ward and destroy the patients individuality. As Chief Bromden, the narrator, is thinking about over the years with Miss Ratched, he describes, “I see her sit in the center of this web of wires like a watchful robot, tend her network with mechanical insect skill, know every second which wire runs where and just what current to send up to get to the result she want” (Kesey 29). Miss Ratched is conveyed as a robot by the Chief with how she controls and knows how to control the ward and the people in it.

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Nurse Ratched Quotes

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Describe Nurse Ratched. How does she treat patients like Billy Bibbit? Why does she treat him this way? And why would Kesey create a character like Nurse Ratched? What is he trying to say about authority?

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

1499 Words | 6 Pages

In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the prolific Christian imagery serves not only to align the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, with Jesus Christ, but to provide an overarching allegory: only God can rescue mankind from the inexorable, bleak future it will spawn. The novel suggests that the bleak, oppressive future is caused by the presence of societal constraints, since government is inherently flawed as are the humans that created and maintain it. The depraved future is fully realized through the careful, populist affectations of the Combine which bely its emasculating ways. Functioning as a modern-day version of Christ, McMurphy, persists in his contrarian, self-immolating efforts to deliver his peers--his disciples--from the evils

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Mcmurphy Transformation

1427 Words | 6 Pages

In Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the main character and narrator, Chief Bromden, is noticeably stuck inside his own head as he acts deaf and dumb to escape the pressures of being a part of something. As the novel moves on, for someone who’s perception of living is to stay transparent and withdrawn totally inside himself the Chief takes a transformation from his delusional mind and gains strength physically and mentally, creating a journey towards freedom and finally, breaking free from the ward and from himself. Kesey uses the story of the transformation to unravel ideas about how the pressures of society can lead individuals to conform within themselves, resulting in them to feel weak and insignificant, separating

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Transformation In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1311 Words | 6 Pages

It is often said that in order to gain something of value, something of equal or more value must be sacrificed. Throughout Ken Kesey’s book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, many things are gained, such as relationships, power, self-confidence, and independence while many things are lost to compensate for that gain, such as power, identity, control and people. The last chapter of the book brings the issue/conflict of gain and loss to a resolution. In chapter 29, the patients complete their transformation into independent and self-confident men with the help of McMurphy and the loss of the Big Nurse’s power, while McMurphy completes his transformation into an immortal ideal, rather than an individual. The independence and self-confidence gained

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Leadership Analysis

778 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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Mccarthyism In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1026 Words | 5 Pages

In Randle Patrick McMurphy’s life, it is a constant struggle with authority. When he is transferred to a mental institution, he realizes the oppressive control placed by Nurse Ratched. McMurphy notices that Nurse Ratched's

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Mcmurphys Transformation

1024 Words | 5 Pages

In Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ the main character and narrator, Chief Bromden, is noticeably stuck inside his own head as he acts deaf and dumb to escape the pressures of being a part of something. As the novel moves on, for someone who’s perception of living is to stay transparent and withdrawn totally inside himself the Chief takes a transformation from his delusional mind and gains strength physically and mentally, creating a journey towards freedom and finally, breaking free from the ward and from himself. Kesey uses the transformation to unravel a number of ideas about the importance of freedom and explores how the pressures of society can lead individuals to conform within themselves. The theories Chief believes

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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis

993 Words | 4 Pages

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

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Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

1468 Words | 6 Pages

Ken Kesey author of the fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest published in 1962 has taken the opportunity to write about the hippy culture and how society shames difference. Readers are taken to a mental institution in Oregon in the 1950’s and experience what it is like for the outcast people. The men in the ward are run by Nurse Ratched and have lost control of themselves. Majority of these men are in the mental hospital because they have checked themselves in, but not McMurphy he is a convict there for psych evaluation. Do to Nurse Ratched the men loses control over themselves and they haven’t realized till McMurphy walked through the door.

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Similarities Between Catcher In The Rye And One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

1123 Words | 5 Pages

Rebellion and Manipulation in Catcher in the Rye and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest In J.D Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, both authors present similar lead characters who struggle to accept society’s standards. Both Holden Caulfield and McMurphy respectively attempt to change society through manipulation and rebellion in order to have society reflect their personal opinions and values. They try to counteract these struggles through their rebellion against and manipulation of objects, authority figures and friendships. Both characters use chosen objects to demonstrate their individuality from society. In Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Holden expresses his individuality and highlights his rebellious

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866 Words | 4 Pages

One normal day everything was going how it was supposed to, the ward was following the schedule, just like Nurse Ratched liked it. The patients were following her rules and did everything she said. But that day R.P. McMurphy was introduced into the ward. He was in there because he committed a crime and said that he was insane, so he got put in there for evaluation. In the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" two characters, Randall McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, had this sort of competition going on to gain the allegiance of the patients.

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Gender Inequality In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

999 Words | 4 Pages

Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.

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1124 Words | 5 Pages

The Beat Generation of the 1950’s and early 1960’s encouraged a new lifestyle for young Americans striving for individualism and freedom, which included rock and roll music, long hair, relaxed style attire, vegetarianism, and experimenting with drugs (“Beat Movement”). Many young Americans of this era wanted to experiment with new social and cultural concepts, rebelling against “normal” American life. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, portrays the gruesomeness of conformity through the lives of patients in one of the asylum’s wards. The novel shows how the patients are confined to strict rules and limited freedom because of Nurse Ratched’s power.

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1459 Words | 6 Pages

These elements keep the nurse in power, as many of the patients fear being the target of one of these meetings and worry that they will again be betrayed by others. By introducing order through these activities, Nurse Ratched undermines the safety of the patients that should be under her care and keeps them silent. Nurse Ratched's oppressive order is not only seen in a literal sense, but also through the attitudes of the patients under her care. Chief Bromden describes the nurse as being “able to set the wall clock at whatever speed she wants just by turning one of those dials“ (Kesey 70). Nurse Ratched’s control over the patients’ lives extends to the point where

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