Nurse Ratched In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo
Nurse Ratched’s desire for control, in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, allows her to manipulate the entire hospital ward into believing her work is for the betterment of the patients. Significantly, Nurse Ratched appears doll-like: hair in a tight bun, a neatly pressed uniform, and “too-red” lipstick (48). Traditionally, dolls, like other toys, are made to occupy the unruly minds of young children. By comparing Nurse Ratched to a child’s toy, Kesey implies she is a mere distraction to the patients from their mental impairments. While the Big Nurse may look flawless, her porcelain exterior is a mask to her true personality. Her appearance indicates a polished, helpful treatment for incoming patients, but this twisted perfection …show more content…
However, to Nurse Ratched, this window illustrates her dominance over the ward. “The Big Nurse watches all [that the patients do] through her window” (42). Kesey’s glass division between the sane and the insane demonstrates Nurse Ratched’s overall want of authority. Correspondingly, the Big Nurse is a wolf amongst the hospital full of rabbits. As Harding explains to McMurphy that the patients are essentially small rabbits in the forest that is the mental institution, he also notes that Nurse Ratched is the “strong wolf” that teaches the rabbits their place, much like the hierarchy of nature (61). Kesey argues that wolves are the threatening forces that dictate the lifestyle of rabbits. The wolf asserts her dominance over the rabbits and controls their potential for freedom. All the while, Nurse Ratched’s dominance is found in her direct control of the machine that is the mental hospital. According to Chief Bromden, Nurse Ratched can “turn that dial to a dead stop and freeze the sun” or “set the wall clock at whatever speed she wants” (71, 70). Here, Kesey gives Nurse Ratched literal control of the settings of the hospital to imply she desires social or spiritual control of the ward as
Power In Nurse Ratched
363 Words | 2 PagesNurse Ratched is the enermy of the worst kind in this book Nurse Ratched feeds on order, and she wants total power , she plans mind games with her patients. Ratched as the head nurse and as a woman. she is able to move things so that most situations fit her ideas. If Nurse Ratched needs to, she uses the force to get things done. She smiles a lot and verbalizes.
Is Mcmurphy Presented In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
958 Words | 4 PagesChief characterizes the Nurse as almost robotic in her manipulation and intimidation. In the first chapter of the book, Chief Bromden illustrates how Nurse Ratched uses her position in the ward to control the patients. Chief says, “The big nurse recognizes this fear and knows how to put it to use; she’ll point out to an Acute, whenever he goes into a sulk, that you boys be good boys and cooperate with the staff policy which is engineered for your cure, or you’ll end up over on that side” (18). Nurse Ratched uses her power in the ward to manipulate and control the patients. This is important because with the Nurse's control, the patients are unable to think and act for themselves.
Examples Of Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1014 Words | 5 PagesPart one of the novel is an in-depth explanation of Nurse Ratched’s authority and the power she holds over the ward. Part two is an illustration of how fearful
Allegory In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1409 Words | 6 PagesOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest What would one expect if one's idea of society and normality was manipulated and engineered by someone else? This is the case in Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The novel is articulated by Chief Bromden, a schizophrenic patient, and is set in an insane asylum with a strict tyrannical administrator, Nurse Ratched. The significance of “Big Nurse Ratched” is how she is considered to be the representative of society as she tries to mold everyone directly into her picture- perfect vision.
Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
991 Words | 4 PagesAll of these negative external forces on the patients’ lives all lead to Nurse Ratched. For the patients to be able to leave the ward and realize her restrictions on them “- it reveals that the mental hospital is hindering, not aiding, their recoveries and ultimate return to life outside the institution” (Cyclopedia of Literary Places 2015). This provides a strong argument showing how Nurse Ratched truly does not try to better her patients, but she just tries to keep them under her
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Manipulation Analysis
1542 Words | 7 PagesManipulation and the struggle for control in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, the role of manipulation is integral to showing the complexities of each character, and creates a set of standards in which right and wrong become indistinguishable in a human struggle for dignity and survival. The characters of McMurphy and Nurse Ratched show this most vividly, and the complex combination of manipulation and a human lust for survival come together in the end, in which the dignity of all involved is compromised. As a strategy of self-preservation and a grab for power,, manipulation comprises both good and evil: both the deep human need to survive and the deep human desire to maintain control. This is shown through McMurphy’s manipulation of the other patients, Nurse Ratched 's manipulation of everyone, and the patients manipulation of McMurphy.
Cuckoo's Nest: Authority And Power
951 Words | 4 PagesMeadow Neubauer-Keyes Kozak 2nd Hour - Prompt 1 19 April 2023 Graded Essay #3 Authority and power are some of the most abused concepts in any society, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey exhibits this dynamic flawlessly. Kesey portrays a microcosm of American society in a mental institution led by a woman called Nurse Ratched. The administration of the mental institution manipulates the population of the hospital into subordination. Through the lens of a schizophrenic man with a warped sense of reality and his perception of a feisty peer, Kesey communicates the necessity of confrontation and rebellion when there is injustice and the consequences of blind acceptance of biased and ill-intentioned authority.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Quotes
718 Words | 3 PagesThe nurse used her calm composure to manipulate the men in the ward. In one part of the novel, Chief, the main character, observes that the nurse’s expression is “smiling, pitying, patient, and disgusting all at once---a trained expression” (Kesey, 176). This shows that Nurse Ratched is deceitful. She isn’t honest with her actions and she put on an act to trick people into trusting her. The quote illustrates Kesey’s hatred for women in power by showing the nurse’s character in such a negative light; it makes light of the fact that he, Kesey, doesn’t believe that a powerful woman would use her influence for good.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Leadership Analysis
778 Words | 4 PagesThroughout 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.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis
993 Words | 4 PagesKesey has used characterisation to get the idea that in this novel there are aspects of venerability and strength. In Nurse Ratched’s case, Kesey has made it so that she is shown with strength and power over the whole ward, including the black men in white, other nurses, and mainly the patients. An example of Nurse Ratched’s power over the patients is when she says to Billy Bibbit, “What worries me, Billy, ' she said- I could hear the change in her voice- 'is how your mother is going to take this.” This shows how one sentence was able to debilitate Billy into begging Nurse for forgiveness and restraint of telling his mother.
Controlled Environment In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
725 Words | 3 PagesIn 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.
Women In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
994 Words | 4 PagesKen Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, published in 1962, tells the story of men in a psychiatric ward and focuses on two characters called McMurphy and Bromden, and their defiance towards the institution’s system. A critical factor in this novel are the women. The 1960’s played a significant role in changing the norms of social issues, and the perfect idea of women was changing too. Women were no longer just stay at home wives, but had their own voice in society, and many people did not agree with these untraditional views. Kesey’s representation of women in this novel illustrate them in a poor light that makes it obvious that they don’t fit the ideal womanly persona.
Examples Of Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1124 Words | 5 PagesThe 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.
Nurse Ratched Quotes
766 Words | 4 PagesWe learn on page 38 that Nurse Ratched has many connections and will use them to her advantage to get what she wants. On page 38, it reads, “the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor, and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s; they were Army nurses together in the thirties. We are victims of a matriarchy here, my friend, and the doctor is just as helpless against it as we are.” This proves that Nurse Ratched uses this relationship with head supervisor to her advantage.
Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1275 Words | 6 PagesOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Historical Lens Essay Over 20,000 people received lobotomies in the 1950’s and over 100,00 people received electroshock therapy in the 1960’s. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a very well known literary work due to the surprising way it showed social problems at the time. In the novel the author, Ken Kesey, introduces the reader to what life at a hospital ward during the 1960’s where these kind of treatments were performed. The story follows Chief, a big Native American, as Kesey critiques the cultural view of the late 50’s and early 60’s on gender roles and conforming to, and rejecting, authority by showing the negative effects these can have on characters through Nurse Ratched and McMurphy.
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