In literature Christ figures are often used literary technique. A Christ figure is a martyr who sacrifices themselves for the betterment of those around him. In the novels A Separate Peace, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and the movie Cool Hand Luke, Phineas, Mcmurphy, and Luke are all prime examples of Christ figures.
The novel A Separate Peace follows the story of best friends, Gene and Phineas. Phineas is a very charismatic individual always able to get out of trouble, a miracle to his fellow peers at school. Even when he is caught wearing a tie as a belt by a teacher he is able to talk his way out of trouble. Furthermore, Phineas is able to break the school swimming record with no prior training. Gene takes the role as the betrayer in the novel as Judas was to Jesus Christ. Phineas falling out of the tree and breaking his leg was because of Gene. When Mcmurphy is put into a mental hospital he ends
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This is also the case with Candy Star a prostitute, and friend of Mcmurphy. When Candy and another prostitute by the name of Sandy break into the ward the have something similar to the last supper. They drink vodka with cough syrup which represents the blood of christ. And after the last supper instead of escaping Mcmurphy accepts his fate and ends up be lobotomized. He sacrifices himself opening the way for Chief’s own escape. Luke is able to gain the respect of his fellow inmates through doing thing that were thought to be impossible. In poker he was able to win with nothing, on a dare he was able to eat fifty hard boiled eggs in an hour, and he was able to motivate the other prisoners into working so hard they finished paving the road with two hours of sunlight left. Moreover eating fifty eggs in an hour in also an example of taking on suffering and Luke laying on the table afterwards is an example of images of