The movie is based on Ken Kesey’s best-selling novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. We discover in the film that the Chief is not really dumb and deaf, Billy can speak without stuttering and others do not have to live under the harsh rules of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy will cure them, not by giving them pills and group sessions but by encouraging them to be guys. To go fishing, play basketball, watch the World Series, get drunk, get laid, etc. The message for these mental disturbed men is to be like R. P. McMurphy.…
Thesis: In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratched exposes the patients to electro-shock therapy and lobotomies, drug therapy, and group therapy; while McMurphy teaches the men to stick up for themselves using laughter, resistance to the Big Nurse, and a fishing trip.…
“Power is the strength and the ability to see yourself through your own eyes and not through the eyes of another. It is being able to place a circle of power at your own feet and not take power from someone else’s circle.” In John Knowles A Separate Peace Finny has the power to do whatever he set his mind to without having to second guess himself or listen to what others tell him. Finny’s physical attributes and popularity made him someone that others looked up to and someone who wasn’t ever bothered. In the form of his roommate Gene however it didn’t come so naturally. Gene wasn’t like Finny so what Gene would do was try and be more powerful by becoming more like Finny. Similar to Finny, R.P McMurphy was also a powerful man in his own way. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy’s attitude and actions make him someone for the other people in the mental institution to look up to. His power of resisting Nurse Ratched was one that other patients tried to develop and want to do on their own. What the quote states is something that I agree with and is seen through out novels in history. In both Ken Kesey’s and John Knowles novels, a hint of jealousy or envy could be showing which in time could lead to others some being so power hungry that it my lead to some others demise.…
The significance of allusions in literature is further seen in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Kesey’s most apparent biblical allusion is seen within Bromden’s depiction of the Combine, he states, “... endless machines…swarming with sweating, shirtless men running up and down catwalks, blank faces and dreamy in firelight thrown from a hundred blast furnaces,” (Kesey 86). The gloomy atmosphere as well as the mechanical and brutal nature of the ward, is perhaps an allusion to Hell and Dante’s novel Inferno, as the character Virgil guides people through Hell which parallels the role of the Public Relation’s man who guides visitors through the ward. The ward, of course, is symbolic of Hell itself as it is the center of the machine which attempts…
The concept of power almost automatically denotes the idea of undeniable strength and might. In societal terms, it results from the fear of force, in which the ruler (or state) possesses a high level of strength, and thus the individual behaves based on concern for the penalties of noncompliance. According to Socrates, however, true power involves more than mere physical force, and this philosophical argument becomes the main focus of "Gorgias," his dialogue with Greek philosopher Callicles. Basically, the question arises as to whether a powerful ruler is one who controls based on his/her personal will, backed up by the force of an army, or one who fairly uses power to help his/her subjects. In the realm of literature, Nurse Ratched of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest provides a more dramatic example of this dispute regarding the true definition of "just power."…
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a book about falsely diagnosing mental illnesses. McMurphy primarily came to the ward to receive the perks of living in the ward and escaping reality. Little did he know that he would still be perceived as an insane person with a mental illness but is able to determine right away that he isn’t the worst of the patients, “This new redheaded Admission, McMurphy, knows right away he’s not a Chronic. After he checks the day room over a minute, he sees he’s meant for the Acute side” (18). Not only is McMurphy continuously mistaken for the typical insane patient in the ward but he’s mistaken for his character. McMurphy is probably the most sane person in the ward and most of the people in the ward are able to fend for him and agree that he is the light that has gone off in their minds. In the beginning of the novel Chief is able to prove the sanity of McMurphy with one determination, “But it’s not that way that Public Relation laughs, it’s free and loud and it comes out of his wide grinning mouth and spreads in rings bigger and bigger till it’s lapping against the walls all over the ward” (12). By the premature inference of being admitted to the ward solely for the reason of being insane, probably wasn’t the best idea for Big Nurse because little did she know she would be dealing with a fully capable man. McMurphy was able to figure out the sanity in not only himself but helped the others in the ward determine that they weren’t alone in the self-conscious state that they thought only affected themselves. McMurphy was the sanity within all of the patients.…
There have been many struggles in history between authority and those who oppose it. The most obvious and most common example is revolutions against governments. We live in a society where stability and assimilation are not just recommended, but also enforced. We have the right for civil disobedience, so long as it is non-violent and within reason. In the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, R.P McMurphy, a "brawling, gambling man" enters a mental asylum in Oregon, and begins to wage war "on behalf of his fellow inmates". However he finds himself at odds with Nurse Ratched, a strict, manipulative and methodical woman who runs the ward like a "precision-made machine". The book follows McMurphy's actions that constantly clash with the Nurse, and what she represents: authority. By the end of the book, there are many…
To match confidence, the theme power is shown through Nurse Ratched, as she has the ward under lock and key. As McMurphy tries to suggest different ideas, her ward will not change, not for anyone. She controls every single aspect of the place, even when the patients use something of their own, like toothpaste. When he asks why something is the way it is, or something happens the way it happens, he just gets the same answers: “It’s ward policy, Mr. McMurphy.” (Kesey 82). Of course those policies are put in place by Nurse Ratched. The patients only have the rights she decides to give them (“One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” 9). She is quite intimidating for her size. She tries to get McMurphy under control with the famous “Mr. McMurphy, I’m warning…
In the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “Mac” McMurphy, a man with several assault convictions to his name, finds himself in jail once again. Rather than spending his time in jail, he convinces the guards that he's crazy enough to need psychiatric care and is sent to a mental hospital. It is found out early in the movie that McMurphy is not actually "crazy" or mentally ill. He came to the mental institution because he did not want to participate in his work detail at the jail any longer. In order to get out of it he faked being mentally ill. When McMurphy arrives at the mental institution he admitted to Dr. Spivey, the institution's head doctor, that he was in fact sane: “I’m a god-damn marvel of modern science.” The doctor still had to go through with the evaluation to prove to the penitentiary he came from whether or not McMurphy was mentally ill and therefore, McMurphy joins the ward. As the movie progresses, McMurphy becomes friends with a number of the patients and actually becomes a hero-like figure for them because he does as he pleases and does not let Nurse Ratched order him around. Although the patients look at McMurphy adoringly, they do not participate in the same courage that he has in escaping the institution. An ongoing conflict…
One of the most despicable aspects of Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is the lengths that Nurse Ratched and the Combine are willing to go to instill order and power in their favor. At first glance, Nurse Ratched appears to be a nice, attractive, and respectable lady who takes care of mentally-ill men for a living, but underneath that initial layer is a deeply cruel, passive aggressive, power hungry menace that is willing to destroy the lives of anyone if someone poses any kind of threat to her position. She uses many tactics to maintain power and authority over the ward that cover both the patients and the other staff members. Some of the tactics she uses is routine and schedule to break down the patients to a point where…
When McMurphy comes into the ward the first thing he does in belittle people in his own sense of the way by playing on their emotions. He makes people feel uncomfortable and then wants to know who the “bull goose loony” is , as in who the craziest person there is, because he wants to overshadow that person.…
n One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses the ward as a representation of society as a whole. The patients are the citizens and the nurses and aides the government. Within this society, many of humanity's inherent freedoms are taken away in the name of security and mental health. The restriction of these freedoms are actually detrimental to the health and standard of living of the patients. This can be plainly seen in the depictions of the patients themselves. Some important characters to examine are Billy Bibbit, Chief Bromden, and McMurphy. Each patient mentioned represents a specific freedom taken away from the patients, in addition to the rest, that has a profound effect on their mental health and well-being.…
Have you ever had a teacher, coach, family member, or even a friend who wants to have complete control over everything you do? Nurse Ratched (Ratched) is the type of person who wants control, but at the same time she wants everyone to think of her as a nice woman. Ratched wants her mental institution to be like a dictatorship. The only difference is that Ratched wants it done more secretly, so that all of Ratcheds’ patients think that they are in great hands. Throughout the book Ratched starts to lose her authority, because of Randle McMurphy (McMurphy). When McMurphy first comes to Ratcheds’ institution McMurphy informs all the other patients that at that point he was going to be the top dog.…
There are many significances to this that allows the reader to get a better understanding of what it is like to be in the psych ward. A symbol that is most prevalent is laughter. In the book and in the movie, it is used as a sign of the pain going away and realizing your self worth. At the beginning, McMurphy says there was absolutely no laughter on the ward so one of his main goals from the start was to get them to laugh. “You know, that's the first thing that got me about this place, that there wasn’t anybody laughing. I haven’t heard a real laugh since I came through that door, do you know that? Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing,” (Kesey 70). Another symbol that is present is Nurse Ratched’s uniform. In the novel, it is fresh white, ironed, and spotless. She takes great pride and the fact that she has power when wearing it. She also uses it to hide her humanity because with this uniform, the men cannot see her breasts. Toward the end of the book when McMurphy attacks her and rips her uniform, Nurse Ratched’s femininity is exposed and she no longer has as much power because she is a girl. During this scene, she is kicking and screaming and is just in shock that McMurphy took her power away. In the movie, McMurphy does not attack her and rip her uniform, but they do have a party and ruin Nurse Ratched’s cap. This causes the cap to become dirty and wrinkled. When Nurse Ratched sees it, she asks Cheswick to pick it up but she seems pretty calm about…
In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest the ideas of Institution and Individual Experience are explored deeply. The ideas are conveyed through the characters of the story. They include Randle Mcmurphy, Chief Bromden, Billy Bibbit and a number of side characters.…