One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Power Analysis
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, power/control is a very significant theme that is portrayed greatly, especially through the power struggle between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, a new patient on the ward. McMurphy is a strong male figure who possesses the natural male tendency to be in control while Nurse Ratched is a dominating and emasculating female who challenges McMurphy’s need for control. This thirst for power and refusal to submit to female control causes McMurphy to go against Nurse Ratched, ensuing chaos in the ward and ultimately, resulting in his own death. McMurphy is a new patient who enters the ward as a kind of “natural” man; he is sane and still free of the combine’s control, unlike the other patients …show more content…
Not only does he begin to realize how much control Nurse Ratched truly has over the ward and the patients, but he notices that she emasculates them. This irritates him and he wants to make changes to the ward; he wants to be in control. McMurphy first notices Nurse Ratched’s power at the first group therapy meeting that he attends, which he calls a “pecking party” (Kesey, 55). During the meeting, they focus on one man at a time and essentially humiliate him. After the meeting, McMurphy and Harding get in a fight over what happens during the group therapy meetings. Harding insists that what they do is normal and that Nurse Ratched is doing nothing wrong, but McMurphy disagrees completely. McMurphy says, “What she is is a ball cutter… people who try to make you weak so they can get you to follow their rules, to live like they want you to. And the best way to do this is by gettin’ you where it hurts the worst” (Kesey, 57). In this quote, McMurphy essentially states that Nurse Ratched wants the patients to follow her rules and continue to be under her control so she gets them where it hurts the worst, that is, their manhood. She derives a great deal of her power from her ability to infantilize, humiliate and emasculate the men - to render them sexless (Vitkus, 77). Later, during their same fight, McMurphy says, “What I want to know is am I safe to try to beat her at her own game” (Kesey, 68)? By saying this, McMurphy implies that he is going to try and go against Nurse Ratched and make some changes to the ward. He is set on making changes and gaining power, therefore, beginning his “conquest” against Nurse
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Research Paper
841 Words | 4 PagesIn both novels, the situation that the characters are placed in is fertile ground for any unscrupulous anti-hero’s perfect rebellion. In McMurphy’s case, Nurse Ratched has a chokehold on all the patients and almost all the staff, even though she isn’t the formal leader. She is a master manipulator, and through this, creates a sense of total powerlessness. “All twenty of them, raising not just for watching TV, but against the Big Nurse, against her trying to send McMurphy to Disturbed, against the way she’s talked and acted and beat them down for years” (Kesey 81). McMurphy constantly disobeys her wishes and plots events, ranging from minor to major, that rebel against the Nurse.
Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
991 Words | 4 PagesAnd you want to take that away from them. We like to hear suggestions and requests whenever we can, but I should think you might at least give some thought to others before you make your requests” (Kesey 106). This interaction shows how Nurse Ratched can easily manipulate a conversation into a respect battle. She uses every fault a patient has against them, and makes them believe it is all because of what they were admitted for. This further supports how Ratched abuses her power as she then turns to more physical terms of manipulation over the patients.
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 Dialectical Journal
1474 Words | 6 PagesAt some time-- perhaps in your childhood-- you may have been allowed to get away with flouting the rules of society” (Kesey171). Nurse Ratched said this to all the patients at the ward one day regarding them rebelling against the rules. This quote really showed how manipulative and mean Nurse Ratched could be. Ever since McMurphy came to the ward, everyone there decided to start a rebellion against Nurse Ratched and the ward policy. Many examples such as when McMurphy was carousing around the halls in his underwear, people not doing their chores, asking to change the schedule to watch the baseball game and breaking the nurse’s window to take back their cigarettes show there is a difference in the air at the ward.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis
993 Words | 4 PagesThe 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
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.
Nurse Ratched Power Quotes
710 Words | 3 PagesThroughout the beginning of the novel it is evident that some characters over use their powers, one of these characters being Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched uses her position in the ward to take advantage of the patients and make sure that they adhere to everyone of her daunting commands. Nurse Ratched “tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine” (Kesey 28) because she has been on the ward for so long that when something doesn 't go according to her plan, she starts to get mad and will often try to use her power to come down on the patient 's. Nurse Ratched is in control of the whole ward and when someone does something that isn 't in her manuscript she gets irritated. The ward will be run her way and only her way, “ under her rule the ward inside is almost completely adjusted to surroundings” (Kesey 28).
Madness In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
688 Words | 3 PagesThe patients dont question his violence with Nurse Ratched because no one has ever standed up to her. Nurse ratched is the reason they dont have confidence in themselves. As McMurphy stays longer, the other patients become more aware as to what is happening. Before McMurphy came in the ward the men believed everything that was done to them was for their own good Nurse Ratched was able to manipulate the men and had full power to boss them around. After McMurphy came he was able to show them that Nurse Ratched uses their weakness against them and was just a manipulator.
Nurse Ratched In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo
447 Words | 2 PagesKesey 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
Conformity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Essay
1380 Words | 6 PagesIn the struggle between freedom and power, McMurphy’s sacrifice allows freedom to prevail. His leadership in a rising rebellion parallels many of the countercultures that arose during the 1960s. His rebellion fights against Nurse Ratched in the way that the countercultures fought against the government and society in the past to the present. The men in the asylum are unknowingly unhappy before the arrival of McMurphy. Through his antics, the men are saved from society in the form of Nurse Ratched’s regime.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Should Be Banned Essay
1669 Words | 7 PagesIn the novel, McMurphy attacks the nurse brutally and attempts to kill her, “doctors and supervisors and nurses prying those heavy red fingers out of the white flesh of her throat as if they were her neck bones, jerking him backward” (Kesey 319). Also, the narrator shows mercy towards McMurphy by smothering him in his sleep, “and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face. I lay there on top of the body for what seemed days. Until the thrashing stopped” (323).
Cuckoo's Nest Psychoanalysis
1052 Words | 5 PagesMcMurphy arrives to the ward thinking he is different from the other patients on the ward, but throughout the novel his hidden subconscious thoughts of his true mental state are revealed. While introducing himself to the patients, McMurphy tells the background story of how he ended up where he was. He says that the “court ruled that [he’s] a psychopath” (13), and he didn’t argue with that ruling. Although he doesn’t deny that he belongs on a mental ward, he claims that he only acted the way he did to leave “those damned pea fields” (13) and quit working. Because he is a true gambler at heart, he bets the patients that he can get under Nurse Ratched’s skin and shake up things on the ward.
Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1459 Words | 6 PagesThese 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
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Analysis Essay
1288 Words | 6 PagesHis rebellious and free mind makes the patients open their eyes and see how the have been suppressed. His appearance is a breath of fresh air and a look into the outside world for the patients. This clearly weakens Nurse Ratched’s powers, and she sees him as a large threat. One way or another, McMurphy tends to instigate changes of scenery. He manages to move everyone away from her music and watchful eye into the old tube room.
Psychological Issues In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1010 Words | 5 PagesThe movie was mostly focused on the feud between the warden/nurse Ms. Ratched and McMurphy. McMurphy tried to go against the hard-set plan set by the institution. More he tried to establish dominance and leadership within the group. This threatened the nurse’s ways of subduing patients, and they felt of less importance in their own institution. This led to a bitter rivalry and because of it the nurse tried to subdue, with same techniques as with other patients, McMurphy even after realizing that he was not a mentally unstable person.
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