OFOTCN Essay
Erin Dahlman-Oeth
1/13/15
Period 1
Styles of Matriarchy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Women usually do not have the highest authority positions in today’s society. Women (in the work place) are typically treated with less respect and are paid less to work the same jobs as men. However, in some instances women have unlimited authority over their counterparts. This was the case, and a theme, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the novel, a character named Dale Harding explains that all patients in the ward were victims of a matriarchy. The main matriarchs in the book are Mary Louise Bromden, Mrs. Bibbit, and Nurse Ratched; they use their power and effect relationships differently, but ultimately are similar in that they have the same backgrounds, style, and positions. Out of all the relationships in the book, Mary Bromden’s relationship with Chief is by far the most emotionally-distant. Part of this is because of her status. As a white female in a family of Native Americans, societally, she holds all the control. Chief even took her last name, instead of his father’s. The authority is given to her automatically, which is unlike any of the other two matriarchs. The fact that she is white causes Chief to feel alienated because he is neither Native American nor white, neither one nor the other. He feels as if he is “in-between” and nobody shows him attention. At one point during Chief’s flashbacks, he remembers a government women telling her fellow male officials, “You recall the record we have shows the wife is not Indian but white? White. A woman from town. Her name is Bromden. He took her name, not she his. Oh, yes, I think if we just leave now and go back into town, and, or course, spread the word with the townspeople about the government’s plans so they understand the advantages of having a hydroelectric dam and a lake instead of a cluster of shacks beside a falls, then type up an offer—and mail it to the wife, you see, by mistake” (182). Everyone
1/13/15
Period 1
Styles of Matriarchy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Women usually do not have the highest authority positions in today’s society. Women (in the work place) are typically treated with less respect and are paid less to work the same jobs as men. However, in some instances women have unlimited authority over their counterparts. This was the case, and a theme, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the novel, a character named Dale Harding explains that all patients in the ward were victims of a matriarchy. The main matriarchs in the book are Mary Louise Bromden, Mrs. Bibbit, and Nurse Ratched; they use their power and effect relationships differently, but ultimately are similar in that they have the same backgrounds, style, and positions. Out of all the relationships in the book, Mary Bromden’s relationship with Chief is by far the most emotionally-distant. Part of this is because of her status. As a white female in a family of Native Americans, societally, she holds all the control. Chief even took her last name, instead of his father’s. The authority is given to her automatically, which is unlike any of the other two matriarchs. The fact that she is white causes Chief to feel alienated because he is neither Native American nor white, neither one nor the other. He feels as if he is “in-between” and nobody shows him attention. At one point during Chief’s flashbacks, he remembers a government women telling her fellow male officials, “You recall the record we have shows the wife is not Indian but white? White. A woman from town. Her name is Bromden. He took her name, not she his. Oh, yes, I think if we just leave now and go back into town, and, or course, spread the word with the townspeople about the government’s plans so they understand the advantages of having a hydroelectric dam and a lake instead of a cluster of shacks beside a falls, then type up an offer—and mail it to the wife, you see, by mistake” (182). Everyone