In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, written by Ken Kesey, Randle McMurphy, a new patient, plans to take control over the ward and seize power from the strict and manipulative Nurse Ratched. Upon his arrival the patients begin to feel comfortable around McMurphy. He acts as a savior, standing up for himself and for the rest of the patients against Nurse Ratched. Despite the ward being a dismal and limited place, the presence of McMurphy's leadership gives the patients encouragement, individuality, and freedom. Throughout the story, McMurphy encourages the patients in different by speaking to them and by experience. When talking to Harding, McMurphy says "You're no damned rabbit!" (58). McMurphy does not think that anyone is a rabbit and that …show more content…
He was confident, brave, and rebellious. These characteristics soon began to rub off on the other patients. "The other Acutes were beginning to follow his lead. Harding began flirting with all the student nurses …and when the window in front of her desk got replaced again …Scanlon did it in by accidentally bouncing our basketball through it…" (177). McMurphy has had a huge influence on the patients. They begin to act more aggressively and are start to gain more confidence and they become more comfortable in the ward. "While McMurphy laughs. Rocking farther and farther backward against the cabin top, spreading his laugh out across the water… (214)." Since McMurphy laughed at the events happening, everyone else began to laugh, which shows how he is a leader among the patients. Despite all the problems they had, like Chief cutting his thumb and George crashing the boat, they all just let loose and laugh, beginning with McMurphy. Before McMurphy entered the ward, the patients never laughed. He was able to bring out the goodness of the patients and not make the ward so sad and dismal. The leadership of McMuprhy gives the patients hope. He helps them people of society rather than prisoners of the
Moment: “He twisted and thrashed around like a fish, back bowed and belly up, and when he got to his feet and shook himself a spray came off him in the moon like silver scales.” Pg 164 Fate. The one aspect that people try to change the most. The dappling with fate throughout Ken Kesey’s novel One
Nurse Ratched’s Truth One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel with a clear engagement shown toward the reader regarding Nurse Ratched’s measures. Author Ken Kesey expresses Ratched’s actions through multiple altercations with other leading characters. The main conflict in this novel is how Nurse Ratched manipulates her power in the ward, and inevitably does not want to better her patients.
Although he attempts to get the other patients to turn on Nurse Ratched, she still overpowers him. McMurphy refuses to follow the asylum's strict rules which causes tension between him and Nurse Ratched. Robert C. Evans alludes to this in his essay and states, “He also loves to gamble, and, partly to win a bet, he immediately begins to antagonize Nurse Ratched, also known as "the Big Nurse" among the men. Using a combination of humor and insolence, McMurphy continuously defies Ratched in ways both large and small, often making her lose both her temper and her composure.” His personality makes it hard for him to let Nurse Ratched get her way.
“Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy.” (214). Henceforth, McMurphy, in an attempt to bring the genuine laugh back to all the patients, continuously breaks the rules. Remarkable that by the end of the fishing trip, Harding, Scanlon, Doctor Spivey, and Sefelt are all finally able to participate in real laughter, which can be regarded as a sign of their physical and psychological recovery. McMurphy is a prominent example of a
In a way, McMurphy recruited his own “twelve disciples” and brought them on his fishing trip, boosting their confidence and fuelling their sense of self-worth. He led and taught the patients countless times how to laugh more and stand up for themselves as well as paying the ultimate sacrifice for his actions: giving up his life. However, it is evident in characters like the chief that McMurphy will not be forgotten because there is no doubt that he can be perceived as a humorous, dynamic messiah
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s, McMurphy disagreed with many of The Ward’s policies and was the first patient to stick up for their freedom. This brought out the antagonist Nurse Ratched who tries to stop him.
R.P. McMurphy as a character is representative of the individualism and autonomy that the patients lack. From the moment he is introduced, he is depicted as a powerful, unrelenting force. His physiognomy evinces this claim with his well built, muscular body, corresponding directly to his headstrong attitude and independence,
In the film Cool Hand Luke produced by Gordon Carroll and the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey , there are many similarities. Both of these works were portrayed in an institution of some time either mental or prison camp. Both of the works were set to be in the 1960s. The most important similarity of both Cool Hand Luke and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s, is their theme of one man fighting the power, which was also a main theme of the 1960s.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, Randle Patrick McMurphy, the protagonist, leads a rebellion within a mental institution and helps the patients learn the importance of self-worth and not conforming to rules that violate their natural rights. Kesey employs many biblical allusions in the novel that serve to build deeper meaning of the character McMurphy, who on the surface comes off as harsh and unpleasant at times to the reader. However, he is key in helping bring real change to everyone in the hospital. By alluding to the bible to establish Randle McMurphy as a Christ-like figure in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey is able to soften the hard edges of McMurphy, which is essential in the novel because it is ultimately
“There was times that week when I’d hear that full-throttled laugh, watch [McMurphy] scratching his belly and stretching and yawning and leaning back to wink at whoever he was joking with, everything coming to him just as natural as drawing breath, and I’d quit worrying about the Big Nurse and the Combine behind her. I’d think he was strong enough being his own self that he would never back down the way she was hoping he would. I’d think, maybe he truly is something extraordinary. He’s what he is, that’s it. Maybe that makes him strong enough, being what he is.
In 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.
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.
McMurphy’s whole demeanor and personality diminished after receiving the lobotomy operation. His fellow patients exclaim that the man wheeled in on the gurney looks like McMurphy but it cannot possibly be him because he is not acting the same: “’But they can’t do that look. There’s nothin’ in the face. Just like one of those store dummies, ain’t htat right, Scanlon?’” (Kesey 277-78).
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.
The 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.