Examples Of Mr Harding In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In the the novel ¨One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” some of the characters have personalities that are outside the norm of their gender. Mr. Harding, for example, has feminine tendencies and seems to be a closeted gay. His character is very weak and full of anxiety. One of the main characters of the novel is the stern Nurse Ratched. She is very masculine and it seems she knows how to beat a man down with her facial expressions and words. In the novel it is made very clear that acting outside of what is expected of your gender will render you powerless. Mr. Harding is one character, mentioned earlier that did not act like a typical man of the 1960’s. Being a man with feminine attributes was unheard of and lead to further isolation of the individual.