Nurse Ratched In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the mental patients were not able to view Nurse Ratched as a woman, despite her physical features. This was because of her ruthless demonstrations of authority, and strength. Nurse Ratched is the all-powerful nurse in the ward of a mental hospital, during the years of the 50s and 60s. The men are fearful of her and always complied with her rules accordingly until Randall McMurphy swaggered in. Nonetheless his power was still minor to Nurse Ratched’s.

“She’s impregnable herself, and with the element of time working for her she eventually gets inside everyone. That’s why the hospital regards her as its top nurse and grants her so much authority” (73). The nurse is a figure head of the hospital, which was quite unusual for women during the 50’s and 60’s. Most women were “Largely limited to jobs as teacher, nurse, or secretary. Women were generally unwelcome in professional programs” (Tavanna). As Nurse Ratched was seen as a professional figure in the hospital, the men saw a professional, rather than a woman. During the time frame these characters lived, women were regarded as delicate creatures and sometimes silly when pursuing a career. However Nurse Ratched had a career so she was not viewed as most women would be during this time frame

This ad shows that women were viewed to be emotional over little things, although Nurse Ratched showed little to no emotion and did not get upset over little things. Let alone, she did not panic when her patient Mr. Sefelt had a seizure. She simply stood above him, “Her face is smiling, pitying, patient, and disgusted all at once- a trained expression” (176). As the men see little to no emotions from Nurse Ratched they see her more as a male figure because her emotions are hidden under the