The Tyranny Of Nurse Ratched By Randel Mcmurphy

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The concept of justice is dependent on a character’s view point on a situation. Randel McMurphy is the latest addition to the psychiatric ward, and is able to witness the extent in which the patients are being neglected with fresh eyes. In response to the injustices that McMurphy observes, he takes it upon himself to be the one to stand up to the authority of Nurse Ratched, as Kesey writes, ““Just what I said: any of you sharpies here willing to take my five bucks that says that I can get the best of that woman—before the week’s up—without her getting the best of me?”” (Pg. 66). While it is in McMurphy’s nature to gamble, he is also a man of justice. He has seen the effects of the tyranny of Nurse Ratched on the patients, and finds it necessary to see to what extent he can make a difference. …show more content…

This sense of justice causes McMurphy to put his own self-preservation at the bottom of his list of importance, as Kesey writes, “—light arcs across, stiffens him, bridges him up off the table till nothing is down but his wrists and ankles and out around that crimped black rubber hose a sound like hooeee! And he’s frosted over completely with sparks” (Pg. 245). McMurphy stood up for the wellbeing of George and his fellow patients, and ultimately paid the price of numerous electro-shock therapy sessions. McMurphy put his well-being behind that of those in the facility because he knew that without him, the patients would not have stood up for themselves. McMurphy’s influence through his search for justice prompted an overall positive change for the

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