The Big Nurse In 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'
The lust for power is something that can drive every single action of a person. This is the case of the Nurse Ratchet, or the Big Nurse in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey. She is the head of a mental institution ward inside a hospital and she runs it like a military operation. She controls all the men in the ward and gives them enough fear that they would never stand up against her. However, everything changes when a new patient McMurphy is admitted. He, unlike the other patients, stands up to the Big Nurse. This creates a power struggle as they pull and push against each other. McMurphy illuminates the corruption of the ward and bands the men together to try and fight against this. The men of the ward are highly hesitant to fighting back, though, as they have been …show more content…
Yet McMurphy leads a revolution against the Big Nurse to show her power is not almighty and the men have their own power inside. The Big Nurse had taken control of the ward long before many of the patients had went in. Her rein of power was strong enough to scare most of the men and leave never to question ward policies. She ran all group meetings with the patients but when McMurphy enters the ward he begins to dominate the meetings. This is his first attack against the Big Nurse as he tries to oppose the controlling tendencies. He takes any action to give her a hard time and find a way around the rules. By setting his own new rules and trying to change whatever he can in the ward McMurphy brings chaos in a new way. However, the Big Nurse does all she can to stop him before he becomes too powerful. Instead of sending him off to another ward creating a martyr she tries to show him the consequences of his action. She believes by showing the other men he can be stopped that she is truly
Examples Of Mcmuurry In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's '
376 Words | 2 PagesIn this passage McMurry has the ability to completely shut down the Big Nurse's character too, I wonder if that will be useful to him later on in the story. Eh, probably. Ah! I find it really interesting how the author depicts this whole scene as a clash, they use "sizing up" to make it seem like they're about to fight. They aren't simply looking at each other, they're "sizing up.
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Voice Analysis
586 Words | 3 PagesHowever, one does not successfully communicate anything if their voice is not heard. For example, the Big Nurse is the one who controls the ward and imposes her voice upon the patient's. On the other hand, Mcmurphy uses his voice to have power over the
Why Is One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Be Banned
1702 Words | 7 PagesIn the novel, McMurphy attacks the nurse brutally and attempts to kill her,
The Role Of Nurse Ratched In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
643 Words | 3 PagesNurse Ratched’s strongest power is refusal to fancy McMurphy, who has claimed to be the archetypal ‘ladies man’. This makes Nurse Ratched an out of the ordinary nurse or
Theme Of Control By Nurse Ratched
640 Words | 3 PagesThis shows how little significance they show the ward members. Instead of focusing on their recovery to become apart of society; there is a deeper concern for gaining power and exploiting the ill to become untouchable. The process of manipulating the mentally ill will cause inhibition towards recuperation instead of rehabilitation. McMurphy causes change within men on the ward because of his goal to allow the inmates to pursue happiness. The men don’t change under nurse Ratched’s control because her primary goal is to use manipulation to exert dominance for
Theme Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
179 Words | 1 PagesA main theme in Ken Keesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is rebellion. In the book, rebellious actions by the main character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, representing the carnival side of society, goes against the Big Nurse who represent the strict chains of society. However, what I find ironic is the fact that a woman, in fact the most feminine character in the book, is the enemy or the oppressor. During the 1950’s this was the complete opposite. The feminist movement hadn’t taken a prominent standing yet and men were in power.
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
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 PagesHowever, to Nurse Ratched, this window illustrates her dominance over the ward. “The Big Nurse watches all [that the patients do] through her window” (42). Kesey’s glass division between the sane and the insane demonstrates Nurse Ratched’s overall want of authority. Correspondingly, the Big Nurse is a wolf amongst the hospital full of rabbits. As Harding explains to McMurphy that the patients are essentially small rabbits in the forest that is the mental institution, he also notes that Nurse Ratched is the “strong wolf” that teaches the rabbits their place, much like the hierarchy of nature (61).
Quotes From One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1953 Words | 8 PagesThis impacts each of the characters, as McMurphy strives to free his fellow men from Nurse Ratched and her debilitating schemes. She demonstrates emasculation by singling out and embarrassing the patients, punishing them with Electro Shock Therapy for the slightest misdoing, and enforcing the completion of traditionally female household tasks. Moreover, she maintains authority by threatening to expose Doctor Spivey—her rightful superior—for having an opioid addiction. These actions cause the men to feel weak, and the longer they spend in her company the more self-conscious they become. Although the Big Nurse is the prime figure of emasculation, women like Billy Bibbit’s mother, Chief Bromden’s mother, and Dale Harding’s wife are held accountable of “damaging” some of the mentally disturbed men.
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).
Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
1459 Words | 6 PagesBy weakening McMurphy’s power in the ward, she creates an environment where can continue to thrive in her power through the systems she has set in place. However, Nurse Ratched’s plan does not succeed and McMurphy is allowed to proceed with his fishing trip. He continues to undermine the nurse’s authority to the point where he physically assults her after she blames Billy’s death on him. His actions give Nurse Ratched an opportunity to give him the ultimate punishment, a
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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