McMurphy’s Impact on the Ward
After two patients commit suicide shortly after McMurphy’s arrival, one may question, did McMurphy have an overall positive impact on the ward? The psychological drama, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey is told through the point of view of patient Chief Bromden, a schizophrenic man who has been in the ward for over ten years. Nurse Ratched, the head nurse of the ward, abuses her power by utilizing several therapy techniques which are debilitating to the patients. However, her power is challenged when new patient Randle McMurphy arrives on the ward. McMurphy is loud, talkative, and confident, a direct contrast to the rest of the patients. He quickly becomes an influential figure for the patients and
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After a day of freedom and fun during the fishing trip, Chief recalls his happier past and how the day’s events reminded him of it. “I noticed vaguely that I was getting so’s I could see some good in the life around me. McMurphy was teaching me. I was feeling better than I’d remembered feeling since I was a kid, when everything was good and the land was still singing kids’ poetry to me.” (256) Chief realizes the significant change in his morale and happiness due to the events of the fishing trip. He recalls the last time that he felt happy, when he was still a kid still living on the land with his family and community. During the fishing trip, Chief spent the day drinking alcohol, catching fish, and laughing with his friends, just like a “normal” man would. The sense of community and peace he feels during this trip reminds him of simpler memories from when he was a child. He realizes that he doesn’t have to constantly live in fear and numbness under the jurisdiction of the ward. Instead, McMurphy teaches him that he can make the most out of his life and enjoy it to the fullest. This is likely to be the first time he felt truly happy since he entered the ward almost ten years ago, and he recognizes that it is all thanks to McMurphy. “McMurphy helps to build the Chiefs confidence by signing his name to the fishing list, and by convincing him that he can once again feel tall and strong—strong enough, in fact, to lift the cement console in the tub room.” (“One Flew”) At first, Chief was hesitant to sign up for the fishing trip because he was scared, but McMurphy talked him into it and signed Chief’s name on the list. McMurphy helps Chief take the first step in improving his self-confidence and strength. By doing this, he also inspires Chief to take initiative for himself the next time he wants something. So, the next time Chief gets “stuck in the fog”, he takes it upon himself to regain
Both works emphasize that social relations have a wide impact on our mental well being. This being said, McMurphy, a main protagonist in the book, became close with chief, the narrator of the story. McMurphy had helped Chief come out of his shell and had gained a relationship with him. Doing so, McMurphy made Chief comfortable enough to talk, “Thank you.”(Ken Kesey 217) being the first thing Chief said.
He left his house and drove towards West. McCanless was inventing a new life. He was determined, adventurous, and brave young man. He was trying to find a new horizon each day. He lived how he wanted to live, but without an unplanned and unexpected finale.
At the end of the book, after McMurphy has been lobotomized, the acutes in the ward decide that they will no longer be subdued to the cruelty of Nurse Ratched. As Chief says, “Sefelt and Fredrickson signed out together Against Medical Advice, and two days later another three Acutes left, and six more transferred to another ward” (246). Although McMurphy is no longer able to fight the Big Nurse, he has left a lasting impact that motivates the other patients to escape the system. McMurphy inspires change in the ward by showing the acutes that Nurse Ratched is less powerful than they believe, and that they have
He is big, loud, sexual, and confident, is an obvious foil for the quiet and intimidated Bromden and the sterile and mechanical Nurse Ratched. His loud, fee laughter stuns the other paitents, who have grown accustomed to repressed emotions. Throughout his introduction of the film, not a single voice rises to meet his. MacMurphy’s self-sacrifice on his behalf echoes himself on the cross to redeem humankind. He slowly gathers the patients around him as he increases his rebellion against Nurse Ratched.
Kesey uses McMurphy to pull the Chief away from the shadows by encouraging him to use his voice and help him understand his ability to put it into practice. Chief first begins his development to himself and the rest of the ward when he raises his hand to be the last vote for McMurphy’s determination to watch the World Series. Although Kesey portrays McMurphy as a powerful intimidation against the Chief, the reader inevitably understands this moment as the beginning of Chief regaining his ‘bigness’ which makes him stand out from the other Chronics and start a journey with the Acutes. Kesey uses this scene as a pivotal point within the story as the moment becomes the first time Chief finds himself clear from the thickness of the fog flooding his mind. The impression that is made on Chief is that he is controlled by McMurphy to do as he says, but what is revealed is that this idea within the story marks the Chief’s first individual decision to be seen.
He tells him about his crazy dreams, his beliefs about the ward, and all about his childhood and how his silence came to be. He tells him that he used to be big - and now he is small. McMurphy, who had also grown a certain affection for Chief, is quick to help him. He tells Chief he is not small and assists him in becoming strong. Once again, Chief’s “small” feeling has nothing to do with his physical state.
The ward, in many ways, fails to help the men feel safe and secure in their environment. Throughout the entire beginning of the book, until part three, Chief is afraid to reveal his big secret of being “deaf.” The orderlies think Chief is deaf and dumb. In reality, he hears just about everything that goes on in the ward. In the book, after Nurse Ratched ordered him to complete a task, Chief states “But I am too scared to get out of my chair.”
would fundamentally change the way the patients of the ward would act, and be treated by the hospital staff. McMurphy has the spotlight for the majority of the novel, and embodies the very meaning of individuality. Throughout the book, he displays numerous times the positive effects standing up for oneself can have, as well as the negative ones. The narrative builds an interesting picture around the theme with intruiging character building, evolution, and the completion of many story arcs.
It shows he has psychological problems. In the film audiences were not given this information, therefore it give the impression that Chief does not have any psychological abnormalities. This makes the film less effective because throughout this story mental illness of Chief plays a huge part. It helps readers understand why Chief is a patient of the mentally ill and it indirectly created a bond between him and McMurphy. For example, if Chief was not mentally ill, he wouldn’t think he was “small in size” and McMurphy wouldn’t offer to help Chief gain back his size; “make him
This made a fight break out which involved one of the nurses, McMurphy, Martini, and Chief. They got punished and had to go into shock therapy, while they were there Chief opented up to radal. Turns out he could talk and was not mute. Chief made plans with McMurphy to run away to Canada back to his family, that plan was going all good until McMurphy crossed the
In both cases, McMurphy's deception and disregard for the rules ultimately lead to his downfall, showing that even the most charismatic and rebellious individuals are not immune to the oppressive forces of
He is a normal being of society and is not insane. Just as Chief finished his dose of Electroshock Therapy ,or EST, he says “And when the fog was finally swept from my head it seemed like I’d just come after a long, deep dive, breaking the surface after being under water a hundred years”(289). Here Kesey conveys that even though living under the comfort of the fog does seem applicable to many, it is in fact a rather dreadful living situation. Chief is now “cured” and can at last see the reality of life. Being under water represents how Chief was under the influence of authority over his own ideas.
When some of the Comanches gets lost in the vast city, the Chief always finds them. He cares and treats them with dignity, in return, he earns their respect. Each one of them loves him, all in all he is a “very memorable person” (TLM, X). The Chief has a talent for storytelling, he “demonstrated, rather than
He also takes all of the patients out on a fishing trip, and one night he turns her whole ward into a party room. These changes of setting help the patients of the ward escape some of Nurse Ratched’s domination. In the end, thanks to McMurphy, Chief is able to instigate a change of scenery for himself, and he escapes the ward
Since the Chief expresses himself in the character the Laughing Man, he shares many qualities with him, such as the child-like nature and his dynamic progression. At the beginning of the story the Chief is child-like just like the Laughing Man is. As certain series of events unfold, the Chief becomes less of a happy child-like character and he changes into more of an adult-like one. After the knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy, the Chief is forced to face the adult world and “push off his mask” (Salinger 68). The Chief expresses this sad progression through his installments of the Laughing Man’s fictional story.