Does Ken Kesey Use Direct Characterization In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Throughout the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, a psychoanalysis is made through the character, McMurphy. There are several things you can infer from McMurphy through his speech and actions. McMurphy instantly perceives himself to be something he is not. When he first walks into the ward he says, “Since I'm thinking about taking over this whole show myself...maybe I better talk with the top man,” (19). Typically when someone is introduced to a new place, they are hesitant on how to respond.
Nurse Ratched’s desire for control, in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, allows her to manipulate the entire hospital ward into believing her work is for the betterment of the patients. Significantly, Nurse Ratched appears doll-like: hair in a tight bun, a neatly pressed uniform, and “too-red” lipstick (48). Traditionally, dolls, like other toys, are made to occupy the unruly minds of young children. By comparing Nurse Ratched to a child’s toy, Kesey implies she is a mere distraction to the patients from their mental impairments.
Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.
In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the main character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. Throughout the novel McMurphy sets himself up to be the tragic hero by resenting Nurse Ratched’s power and defending the other patients. He can be classified as a contemporary tragic hero, but he also includes elements of Aristotle’s tragic hero. McMurphy’s rebellious nature and ultimate demise are what truly makes him as a tragic hero.
Relationships with authority figures in our lives can be incredibly complex. This can be seen in the passage from Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, between the narrator, Chief Bromden and Nurse Ratched. By using literary elements such as dehumanizing word choice, objectifying characterization, and an unreliable narrator , Kesey is able to convey the respecting yet fearful power dynamic in Chief's mind. Throughout the entire passage, the words chosen are used to make the Nurse seem like a monster, and an inhuman machine. Her finger and lips are a "funny orange", compared to a soldering iron, which is able to bring on extreme pain with just a touch.
Throughout Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the balance of power is challenged in the psychiatric ward. Out of the several leaders that appear in the novel, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are the most prominent. During Nurse Ratched and McMurphy struggle for power, they share many of the same qualities. It is argued that: “McMurphy and Ratched are alike in intelligence, military service, distinctive (if opposite) clothing, and conventionally masculine qualities” (Evans). These small similarities; however, do not distract the characters from fighting for their individual beliefs.
In order for Kesey to enable McMurphy to fix the system he needed McMurphy to ‘break’ Nurse Ratched. Kesey enabled McMurphy to do this by pushing all the rules, eventually exposing Nurse Ratched to the rest of the patients to prove she is only a woman and does not have the power over the patient's. Kesey then shows how determined McMurphy is to help the patients as McMurphy has the opportunity to leave and save himself but instead stays which inevitably kills himself but saves the patients on the ward. This sacrifice is what an anti-hero does sacrifices himself for the benefit of the other people around them. Kesey included this sacrifice for the greater good of the patients as it truly does show how McMurphy is an anti-hero as his intentions changed from being selfish to caring about his friends in the ward and putting their lives and future above his.
One of the most heavily battled disputes in literature is whether Randle Patrick McMurphy, protagonist of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, is a valiant man who displays heroic traits, or if his personality predominantly reflects anti-heroism. Kesey shows indications of both aspects throughout the novel, although essentially denotes that R.P McMurphy is an anti-hero, with an amalgamation of key reasons. A traditional anti-hero, or anti-heroine, is somebody who lacks foreseeable heroic qualities like principle, bravery, and integrity, but much rather makes, and goes through with, decisions constructed on self-protection instead of doing it for the right reasons. They are noticeably contradictory to an archetypical hero, and a genuine
McMurphy is the joker needed to save the men from paralyzing angst and lack of self-confidence. He accomplishes this by exposing the men to new experiences and stirring conflict with the nurses and guards. The antagonist of the film is Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) who is the chief caretaker of the patients. Her character is the antithesis of McMurphy as she is cold and follows the rules absolutely. At every instance McMurphy tries to free the patients of routine Nurse Ratched is there to corral the men back to mundanity.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.
Having an effective narrative allows the writer to engage the reader in such a way as to excite and entice the reader so they will want to continue to read. Effective narratives are able to set a mood, draw a mental picture, or induce an emotion. They can be used to introduce the reader too hard to understand subjects, to persuade readers to agree with the reader’s opinion, or simply to entertain. They are typically done in a chronological order, which allows for organizing the story, and providing the reader a means to follow the story. In the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, witten by Ken Kesey is a book which uses effective narrative style to draw in the reader.
The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey, presents the ideas about venerability and strength by using his characters and the way they interact with each other to establish whether they are a submissive or a dominant, tamed or leading, venerable or strong. Kesey uses strong personalities to show the drastic difference between someone who is vulnerable and someone who is strong. Nurse Ratchet is a perfect example of how Kasey presents the idea of strength over the venerability of others (the patients). Keys also exhibited vulnerability throughout characters such as Chief Bromden and his extensive habit of hiding himself in all means possible from Nurse Ratchet. Another idea presented by Kesey is a character’s false thought on what
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.
Ken Kesey author of the fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest published in 1962 has taken the opportunity to write about the hippy culture and how society shames difference. Readers are taken to a mental institution in Oregon in the 1950’s and experience what it is like for the outcast people. The men in the ward are run by Nurse Ratched and have lost control of themselves. Majority of these men are in the mental hospital because they have checked themselves in, but not McMurphy he is a convict there for psych evaluation. Do to Nurse Ratched the men loses control over themselves and they haven’t realized till McMurphy walked through the door.
Ken Kesey uses his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to describe the lives of patients in a mental institution, and their struggle to overcome the oppressive authority under which they are living. Told from the point of view of a supposedly mute schizophrenic, the novel also shines a light on the many disorders present in the patients, as well as how their illnesses affect their lives during a time when little known about these disorders, and when patients living with these illnesses were seen as an extreme threat. Chief Bromden, the narrator of the novel, has many mental illnesses, but he learns to accept himself and embrace his differences. Through the heroism introduced through Randle McMurphy, Chief becomes confident in himself, and is ultimately able to escape from the toxic environment Nurse Ratched has created on the ward. Chief has many disorders including schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in addition to these illnesses, he pretends to be deaf and dumb.
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