Sixth, McMurphy lacks remorse; for example, he does not care if it disturbs the other patients' schedule because he wanted to watch the world series. He was always rationalizing when he mistreats or hurts someone; for example, when he raped the girl apparently, she wanted it (American Psychiatric Association 659). The Patient’s Bill of Rights under Wyatt v. Stickney, the following patients’ rights were violated in the movie. First, “Patients have rights to refuse excessive or unnecessary medication. In addition, medication may not be used as a form of punishment” (Nevid et. al. 572). When McMurphy refused to take his pill, Nurse Ratched told him they could give him the medication some other way. Which implied that they could give it to him through a shot. Second, “Patients have the right to refuse potentially hazardous or unusual treatment, such as lobotomy, electroconvulsive shock, or aversive behavior treatment” (Nevid et. al. 572). McMurphy also learns that uncooperative patients can be physically restrained, given treatment with electroshock, or even worse can be involuntarily lobotomized. Several of the uncooperative patients were given electroshocks because they were being disobedient. At the end of the …show more content…
Should McMurphy be considered insane? McMurphy was aggressive, disobedient, loud, obnoxious, and manipulative. He also engaged in brawling, gambling, and chicanery. However, he was in his right state of mind because it was not like he was hallucinating. He made poor choices and acted like he was crazy to get out of work detail. In addition, he does show signs of antisocial personality disorder, but most people have an underlying mental health issue. Which means McMurphy does not need to be committed. McMurphy was not insane, he just likes to break the rules and push the
Albert Einstein once said, “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything”. The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey portrays this quote through the main character McMurphy’s internal and external conflicts of falling into Nurse Ratched’s trap of becoming an obedient patient and being under her control or rebelling and fighting for the patients’ rights and freedoms. McMurphy’s actions can lead the reader to assume that he is an evil character, but he redeems himself by partaking in the selfless acts he does for other patients. One way it can be proven that McMurphy is a morally ambiguous character in this novel is that Nurse Ratched uses McMurphy and forcefully puts an idea in other patients minds that McMurphy has purely evil motivations. After McMurphy takes the patients from the ward on a fishing trip, Nurse Ratched has a
All of the patients on the ward presume that Mcmurphy
McMurphy was able to defy authority and break down the ward’s structure. He knew that standing up to Nurse Ratched would help all of the patients. “She must be conquered before the men can evolve into psychologically healthy individuals. McMurphy, as the embodiment of the Hero, accomplishes that task for them, leading to the liberation of Chief Broom, Harding, and the other men who gain strength from his sacrifice and flee on the trail that McMurphy blazes for them. In his conquest of the Shadow, he has provided the men a rite of passage into personal power and individuation that they obviously skipped in the normal course of development.
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
The question of sanity becomes apparent when McMurphy, a confident gambler, who might have faked psychosis in order to get out of the work farm, is assigned to the mental hospital. He quickly stirs up tension in the ward for Nurse Ratched by encouraging the men to have fun and rebel against her rules. Brodmen appears to be sane for the most part, despite his hallucinations of a fog, which seems to be the result of something both the ward and the world has done to him. He is able to think logically and though others believe him to be deaf and dumb, he uses this to his advantage. Chief states, “They don't bother not talking out loud about their hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb.
The Movie Character’s behavior In the movie “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Randle McMurphy is a rather sane man who chose to be institutionalized instead of residing at a "prison farm"(1975). McMurphy is a risk taker with a vulgar mouth, endless energy, and he enjoys challenging
The main characters of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest have very distinct and different traits that in return make the novel the classic that it is today. One of the main characters is Chief Bromden. He is basically narrator of the book. Chief Bromden is the son of the chief of the Columbia Indians and his wife is a white woman. He has suffered from paranoia and hallucinations, has endured many electroshock treatments, and has been in the hospital for ten years, the longest patient to ever be in the hospital.
In 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).
McMurphy 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.
By 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
In the book “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” Ken Kesey shows that the “insanity” of the patients is really just normal insecurities and their label as insane by society is immoral. This appears in the book concerning Billy Bibbits problem with his mom, Harding's problems with his wife, and that the patients are in the ward
Some cases people kill over simple things, but some people enjoy killing others. As they would be considered psychopath, they accomplished their goal of taking the life of others. I think that McMurphy is pretty sane, even pretending that he isn’t.
The quote “Now they’re telling me I’m crazy over here ‘cause I don’t sit there like a goddamn vegetable. It doesn’t make a bit of sense to me. If that’s what crazy is then I’m senseless: out of it, gone down the road, wacko”(3) which is said by McMurphy to his Doctor represents his character and view of the world shown throughout the colloquial and humorous language. The colloquial language “wacko” that is used demonstrates Murphy’s idiolect containing humor and sarcasm. Making it difficult for both the reader and Doctor to decide if he is intelligent and sane playing the system or actually has a level of mental illness.
His 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.
Another point to note was that McMurphy seems abnormal among the patients. Especially with his laugh, I kept thinking that he might be mentally ill and not fake it (Kesey). But if you just imagine his behavior outside of the asylum, then it seems normal. This phenomenon is well known in psychology. It says that person once convicted of mental illness have an uphill battle to prove that he is not.