Power Figures In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest the women are portrayed as the power figures and have the power to manipulate, or control the men in the ward, as shown by the one of the main character whom is Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched is a former army nurse who works in the ward. Ratched is a harsh female that can make men feel stupid and weak in able to gain control over them. She uses power with her strength and is very successful at getting people to do what she wants. She has desires to order men in the ward, and she wants complete power, so she control her patients and the staff to do fulfill her desires. However the arrival of a new patient, McMurphy’s makes other patients to rebel against authority that Ratched uses to control them. Through out the book Nurse Ratched actions shows how an authority figures like her can often abuse their power by enforcing rules on “less” inferior individuals which leads to problems.
Nurse Ratched is known as the authority figure in the hospital. The patients see no choice but to follow her rules that she had laid down for them. She uses the force of her hatred and fear to get things done. For example the narrator (Chief) whom has spent years pretending to be deaf and dumb, says that “But like always when I try to place my thoughts in the past and hide there, the fear close at hand seeps in through the memory. I can feel that least black boy out there coming up the hall, smelling out for my fear.” Fear gives the nothing but pain that