1. After reading the first portion of the novel, “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” my first impression was that the narrator, who serves as also the main character of the story, lives in a psychiatric ward and is referred to as Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is an individual who is faking to be deaf and dumb to all of those around him, so he pretty much is an observer. For this reason, he overhears a lot of what is going on in the asylum. Because everyone believes he cannot understand what they discuss, they talk freely around him. It was clear from the beginning of the novel, Chief suffers from hallucinations and most likely has some sort of mental issue. It was also indicated that the main authority figure in the psychiatric ward was Nurse
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel that features Randle McMurphy as an unscrupulous anti-hero in a mental hospital ward. Harrison Bergeron is a short story that highlights the main character, Harrison Bergeron, as an anti-hero in a fully dystopian society. McMurphy can be classified as charismatic and charming at times, but is very rebellious and wants to suppress his arch nemesis, Nurse Ratched. Harrison Bergeron has an unmatched obsession for overthrowing the government which attempts to suppress individual talents and people’s unique abilities. Both Randle McMurphy and Harrison Bergeron are what are known as unscrupulous anti-heroes.
Chief is an example of someone that had their individuality destroyed by her through too many sessions of EST. After Miss Ratched is described, the reader is informed about the black boys and is made known, “They are in contact on a high-voltage wave length of hate, and the black boys are out there performing her bidding before she even thinks it” (Kesey 31). Shaped by Miss Ratched, the black boys are described by Chief Bromden as machines that automatically attend to what she wants done. Often they are part of the destroying of the individuality of the patients and shaping them into society.
Final Exam: Prompt 1 In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey he discusses the harsh reality of living in a mental institution in the 1950’s. Kesey looks at the world from Bromdens view point a schizophrenic patient who the other patients view as deaf and dumb, despite his ability to hear and understand them just fine. The patients being use to their routines, or living “in the fog” as Bromden calls it. This lead to an uneasy change when McMurphy arrives from a work farm, pretending to be mentally ill, and disrupts their whole way of life.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) Some films have been particularly noteworthy for breaking the Indian stereotype. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest featured an important contemporary role played by an Indian actor. In a scene where McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson) gives a supposedly mute Indian Chief named Bromden (played by Indian actor Will Sampson) some Juicyfruit gum, “what the audience heard was far removed from the stereotypical ‘hows’ and ‘ughs’ and ‘kemosabes’ of tinsel moviedom” (Rollins and O’Connor, 1998:12): Bromden: Ahh Juicyfruit.
R.P. McMurphy exemplifies a modern day tragic hero in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. McMurphy follows the traditional outline of a tragic hero in that he has a fatal flaw, a reversal of fortune due to this flaw, and experiences his own downfall due to his fatal flaw. R.P. McMurphy’s biggest flaw was his insubordination. McMurphy’s insubordination was exemplified when he first arrived on the ward, and demanded to see the “bull goose loony.”
Harding then states “perhaps the more insane a man is, the more powerful he could become” which supports Kesey’s suggestion. Many of the patients stay at the hospital voluntarily out of fear of the outside world and the
For example, when McMurphy came as an Admission to the hospital, Chief said that he has never heard that “free and loud” laughing. (Kesey, 1962, p.10). We can’t understand this during watching the movie, because in the movie we are not supposed to know Chief’s thoughts. Chief plays the role of eyes and ears in the novel, as well as the one who guides us into and out of this strange, mysterious, crazy
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest English Essay Conflict is a disagreement that happens naturally due to the clashing of thoughts and ideas. Conflict, as a literary element, is essential in enhancing the understanding of characters, themes, and symbols. Ken Kesey's, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, suggests that the power of an institution ultimately wins over any individual challenge to its authority in pursuit of independence and freedom. Conflict in the novel is fuelled by the power struggle between the institution's administrator, Nurse Ratched, who rules everything and everyone on the ward until R. P. McMurphy opposes her control.
Describing the state of the ward following this decision, Chief says, “It’s quiet in the tub room, just the sound of the speaker drifting in from the day room. It’s so quiet you can hear that guy upstairs in Disturbed climbing the wall, giving out an occasional signal… like a baby yells to yell itself to sleep” (Kesey 120). Kesey intentionally repeats the word “quiet” to emphasize the absence of conversation, laughter, and other human elements from the ward. Additionally, he describes that the Disturbed patient
This clear sign of improvement highlights the extremely positive effect McMurphy has on Chief. Additionally, this leads you to question the validity of the ward because in the many years Chief has been in the mental hospital, he has only shown improvement in the past few weeks with the help of McMurphy. Similarly, Chief has had more confidence and taking part in the rebellion, as he describes that “there were times that week when I’d hear that full-throttled laugh… and I’d quit worrying about the Big Nurse and the Combine behind her” (Kesey 139). McMurphy’s laughter highlights the vast change Chief has gone through in regards to his mental health. Also, it is made obvious in the novel that the Big Nurse is intimidating, so the fact that Chief has learned to ignore it shows McMurphy’s true effect on the
I can understand why the team would write and shoot from McMurphy’s perspective, as he’s the character that evokes the change in the ward. But from a stance of character development, it doesn’t make much sense. In the original novel by Ken Kesey, the Chief is the protagonist, which actually clarifies a lot. Even in the film, the Chief is the most dynamic character who evolves from not interacting with anyone to being the first to successfully escape the institution. Although I understand the decision, I think the film could have been stronger if the Chief was framed as the
Through the story he transforms into a man who finally realises his own physical and mental power and uses it to prove his worth to himself and society. During the ending scene where the Chief noticeably breaks free from the Big Nurse and her machinery, Kesey is proving the importance of freedom and the possibility for people to overcome what defeats them. McMurphy is a pivotal character within the novel, as his journey through destruction as he receives a number of electro shock therapies makes patients aware that lives can be changed and deteriorate no matter how big you appear to be or where you sit in society. There are clear signs of change in the Chief’s perceptions on McMurphy’s power also as he sees past his tough appearances and understands how much the EST is effecting his mind and body, he watches McMurphy go from a religious image upon the EST table to watching him lose his pattern of memory and fall under the rest of acutes who because of his influence begin to understand their
The question of sanity becomes apparent when McMurphy, a confident gambler, who might have faked psychosis in order to get out of the work farm, is assigned to the mental hospital. He quickly stirs up tension in the ward for Nurse Ratched by encouraging the men to have fun and rebel against her rules. Brodmen appears to be sane for the most part, despite his hallucinations of a fog, which seems to be the result of something both the ward and the world has done to him. He is able to think logically and though others believe him to be deaf and dumb, he uses this to his advantage. Chief states, “They don't bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb.
Imagery is a major theme in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” The narrator of the novel is Chief Bromden, a patient at the ward who pretends to be deaf and dumb. Chief has a mental illness where he relates everything to machines, he believes that everything is one big machine to be controlled by another person. The ward is a dismal place, with two distinct groups separated at the middle. One group is the Acutes, people who have a chance at rehabilitation and release to the outside world.
“Paranoia is the belief that people are conspiring against you and deliberately trying to harm you” (Mirowsky, Ross 228). It is only natural for a man who had everything taken away from him to be wary of his surroundings, and find it difficult to trust anyone or anything. However, Chief’s association of the Nurse's station with a control panel that keeps the entire ward running, reveals his deepest layer of paranoia. Chief has always felt as though he was being controlled, and his paranoia regarding those running the ward shows readers that he does not trust them in any way.