Nurse Ratched's Panopticism

Journal #1 One main event that occurs in the first third of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is the first group meeting Mr. McMurphy joined on the ward. Nurse Ratched begins to talk about another patient named Harding, and his issues with his wife. After listening to what the nurse had to say, McMurphy made an inappropriate joke concerning the matter of Harding’s wife. Everyone was amused with his joke, except for Nurse Ratched.

The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

The whole asylum could be described as one big machine that creates an unnatural state for human beings and is running smoothly, until one day an outside force comes in to shake things up. Rather than being an evil person, Nurse Ratchet is a part of this perfect machine, like a cog in a watch, who represents authority and power in an oppressive society. Jack McMurphy is the free-spirited outside force that does what he wants, when he wants, disrupts order and constantly undermines Nurse Ratchets authority. The patients in the ward are the by-product of the manufacturing process and represent the weak individuals in a society that cannot fend for themselves. The patients believed they were already in a utopia, until McMurphy introduces his ideal

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey tells the story of a group of patients in a 1960s psychiatric hospital. The novel is told from the perspective of one of the patients who, up until the very end of the story, is mute. This character is named Bromden and because of the fact that he doesn’t speak, people think he is deaf. Bromden is in the psychiatric hospital because, although its is unclear whether he actually is skitzophrenic, he has been diagnosed as such. Bromden and many other psychiatric patients live in this ward, under the “command” of Nurse Ratched, nicknamed “Big Nurse”.

A flashlight not only allows people to clearly see something, but can also help a person be seen in a dark place. The artist successfully transfers the message to suggest audiences pay more attentions to every little thing by using the flashlight. The generator that activates twelve motionless people, once the explorers use the flashlight to observe them. The flashlight lets explores find the mysterious place with magic. If they do not use the flashlight, they will never have the same opportunity to pay a close attention to find out the place.

Harris, Sam. Free Will. New York: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2012. Print In Free Will, Sam Harris discusses free will

Power is a fundamental characteristic of any system which governs a group of people such as prisons. Incarceration systems require a strict flow of power to run functionally and carry out their duties to control their inhabitants. Because the understanding of our prison systems is an important one, it is necessary to carefully examine the power structure within these settings. In his text “Panopticism”, Foucault claims that power rests within the central operating organization of a governmental structure.

Foucault’s third element of disciplinary power is the examination, the combination of the techniques of hierarchical observation and normalizing judgments. It is a mechanism that establishes the individual as the subject and object of the power. Where Foucault described the examination as: “Disciplinary power, on the other hand, is exercised through its invisibility; at the same time it imposes on those whom it subjects a principle of compulsory visibility. In discipline, it is the subjects who have to be seen. Their visibility assures the hold of the power that is exercised over them.

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.

The world described by Frederick Douglass in his autobiographical writing shows a different image of America. After the proclamation of independence from Great Britain, slavery seems to become “the Other” and brings about a change in the way of perceiving America and the American dream. This work will attempt to provide a clear understanding of this shift of perspective. In the first part of the paper we will address the concept of power by making reference to one of Michel Foucault’s work and then we will discuss about “the Panopticon”, using critical sources pertaining to the same author. The second part of the paper will make use of the concepts already discussed and apply them to the narrative, disclosing the existing power relations as well as the mechanisms of creating and maintaining them.