Power Struggle In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo

Due to the structure in place by Nurse Ratched’s orders, all patients must participate in therapeutic meetings, where they have a group discussion with the nurse and Dr. Spivey. These discussions specifically target one patient where the others proceed to humiliate them. When Bromden narrates a meeting of this nature, Harding, another patient, is the one under harsh criticism, “The group is still tearing into Harding when when two o’clock rolls around” (Kesey 53). In the ward, the nurse has created an environment where the patients do not feel safe. She pits them against each other using methods such as the therapeutic meetings, which cause the patients to feel as though they cannot trust one another. These 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” is a book written by Ken Kesey about a group of men living in an unforgiving mental ward, filled with many unjust guidelines and rules. In that book, it tells the story of Chief Bromden, a patient at a mental ward, and Randle McMurphy, another patient who has recently been admitted into the mental ward. When McMurphy arrives, he begins to stir up trouble with Nurse Ratched, who controls everything and everyone in the ward. McMurphy goes against most, if not all, the rules that the nurse has in place because he realizes that her rules are unfair, and that her actions and behavior are not justifiable. McMurphy doesn't believe in a world full of conformists, where everyone is the same, and where life revolves

As soon as he sees Billy laying there dead, he is speechless. He looks at Nurse Ratched and she tells McMurphy that he is the one at blame. McMurphy freaks out on Ratched and begins to grab her neck with both of his hands and strangle her. Randle McMurphy rips open Nurse Ratched’s uniform, revealing her breasts, which shows her femininity (The Litcharts Guide To One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). Ratched’s “tyrant-like” personality is no longer powerful in the institution. The manipulative behavior of the Nurse is finally defeated and all of the victims are now powerful and willing to fight against her power.

Commonly the protagonist of a story is the hero, showing the typical characteristics of bravery, strength, and ingenuity, while always undertaking dangerous tasks to help others. However, there are different kinds of heroes, who range in their attributes. An anti-hero has both good and bad qualities to their character and generally has moral flaws. The personality of anti-heroes is more of a villainous nature and is the character of a story that is more relatable. R.P. McMurphy from Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of literature’s favourite characters and is a classic example of an anti-hero. His character is not perceived as the heroic type in the beginning of the novel, yet by the end of the story the reader will realise

A Christ figure is an element of literature that draws an allusion between a character and Jesus. A Christ figure is often used in to demonstrate how one should act in society. The idea of a Christ figure is presented in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey through the character Randal McMurphy. The idea proven in this novel is that sometimes one must sacrifice himself for the greater good. In the beginning of the novel, like Christ, McMurphy came from wilderness and he begins to collect followers by rebelling against Ratched. In the middle of the novel, McMurphy takes the men on a fishing trip and creates miracles. At the end of the novel, McMurphy proves to be a messiah because of how he sacrificed his life for the men.

In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the main character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. Throughout the novel McMurphy sets himself up to be the tragic hero by resenting Nurse Ratched’s power and defending the other patients. He can be classified as a contemporary tragic hero, but he also includes elements of Aristotle’s tragic hero. McMurphy’s rebellious nature and ultimate demise are what truly makes him as a tragic hero.

Literature, old or modern, has always been subject to criticism and judgement due to the issues that exist within classic novels. Whether the issue contains profanity, violence, or content too mature for young readers, award-winning books’ existences receive threats to be banned and forgotten. Unfortunately for Ken Kesey’s classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, this may be the only course of action. While the novel displays violence unsuitable for high-school curriculums, Ken Kesey’s classic should be in every library for adult readers. Although the novel teaches valuable life lessons about individuality and is mild compared to modern media, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest should be banned in all high school curriculums because it incorporates

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. She retaliates by reading Mr. McMurphy’s file out loud for everyone to hear. This was the first time as a reader I got to hear about McMurphy’s history and why he was put on the ward. She reads how Mr. McMurphy is 35, never married, was dishonorably discharged from war in Korea, has a prolonged history of street

“One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest” is a film directed by Miloš Forman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey. The Film was released in 1975. It is the story of a convicted man, trying to outsmart the American legal system by playing mentally ill. The film starts at the beginning when the main character, Randle McMurphy, enters the mental institution. It won 6 Golden Globes as well as 5 Oscars and many other nominations. What separates this film from others is its’ use of movie devices and techniques, as well as the emotionally charged story.

The conflict between the two main character's Nurse Ratched and McMurphy serves as a bridge for the overarching theme of sexuality. Or to be more specific the battle of sexuality. In the book the two main characters represent both sides of the spectrum when it comes to sexuality concerning genders. Nurse Ratched represents feminism and McMurphy represents masculinity. With the two conflicting views of how the character’s believe the institution for the mentally ill should be run you can see more of the juxtaposition between the two. Nurse Ratched who ruled with an iron handed fist to keep her distance away from the patients of the ward and establish her role of a women in power in the institution. This from the beginning of the book sets a

A Christ Figure is a literary character whose actions are homogeneous with that of Jesus Christ. A Separate Peace, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Cool Hand Luke are all works that incorporate a Christ Figure as one of their characters. Some of the actions exhibited by these characters include the performing of miracles, a last supper, a death and resurrection, and the betterment of their fellow peers.

Kesey has created Nurse Ratched as a representation of how the ward works. Nurse Ratched works the ward like a combine, when something goes in; broken pieces become the end result. When Nurse Ratched loses her first battle with McMurphy, she ends up “hollering and squealing” about the “discipline and order” she has instilled throughout her years working in the ward (128). Here, Kesey presents how this small act of rebellion affects Ratched system she has perfected over the years. Even though she is screaming about discipline and order, the patients continue to ignore her pleas and sit in front of the television watching nothing. The small act of rebelling and Ratched losing signifies that even though McMurphy’s achievement was small, ruining the combine brings hope back to the patients that there is a slight chance they can save themselves from total destruction. Nurse Ratched emitting the fog to continue running a perfect “combine” has caused a continuous destruction of the patient’s life, and with McMurphy on their side, the patients have a slight chance of saving themselves from Nurse Ratched and the combine

In Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ the main character and narrator, Chief Bromden, is noticeably stuck inside his own head as he acts deaf and dumb to escape the pressures of being a part of something. As the novel moves on, for someone who’s perception of living is to stay transparent and withdrawn totally inside himself the Chief takes a transformation from his delusional mind and gains strength physically and mentally, creating a journey towards freedom and finally, breaking free from the ward and from himself. Kesey uses the transformation to unravel a number of ideas about the importance of freedom and explores how the pressures of society can lead individuals to conform within themselves. The theories Chief believes

The film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, prompts very important aspect of the human condition. In the movie, the protagonist, Mac McMurphy, is deemed dangerous, so the mental institute tries to suppress him (Kesey). The film highlights various aspects of human conditions like psychology, sociology and philosophy. The mental institute tries to suppress the mentally challenged people rather than to try to communicate with them. The warden employs subtle humiliation tactics to subdue the patients, which was challenged by Mac McMurphy (Kesey). The movie shows that there is a fine line between being normal and acting normal. The protagonist was forced to become a mental patient to make him less dangerous. The movie

The most important of these characters was McMurphy himself, after fighting Nurse Ratched for a while, he realized he can't just fight for himself, but everyone in the ward. So he convinced the others in the ward to join his crusade, and soon he was fighting for them, not himself for once. One of this ward inmate whose life changed forever was Chief, the Native American who everyone thought was deaf and dumb. When McMurphy first came to the ward chief was insane, thinking the whole ward was actually a machine and everyone in there was a cog in it. He was so full of it, at one point he said “ I been silent so long now it’s gonna roar out of me like floodwaters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God…...But, please. It’s still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it.” This is just one of the many things he said, and this was how he thought in the beginning of the story. As more interaction happened between McMurphy and chief the more sane he became, and eventually he was able to get out to the outside world; while, the opposite happened to Cheswick during this battle.Cheswick was one the first patients to support McMurphy in his battle for dominance, and actually got a lot of the other patients to join. But when Cheswick acted more bold than usual and McMurphy didn't support him it lead to his eventual demise. Cheswick died due to drowning shortly after, but