Hierarchy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

A hierarchy is highly important to any societal structure. It establishes a ranking that allows individuals to fall into their specific role, which society gives to them.When the top of the hierarchy becomes too dominant, the members at the bottom can feel like an injustice has developed. This presents the opportunity for riots and lawlessness when a hierarchy becomes too controlling. During this period of confusion for the community, rioters often give an individual the chance to lead them to liberty. This is exactly what character Randle McMurphy strives for in Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In his novel, Kesey emphasizes just how important yet disastrous a hierarchy can be to society.
In an Oregon psychiatric hospital

When McMurphy arrives, the men on the ward are given a strict schedule to follow, one that includes specific times for bruising their teeth and going to the bathroom. They also are forced to take certain medications, and have regular meetings scheduled for specific times each day. McMurphy was not a fan of this strict schedule that Nurse Ratched gave them, and oftentimes spoke up about his displeasure. He thought of this schedule as cruel and unnecessary, because the men could not even go to the bathroom when they needed to. However, this schedule was helping Nurse Ratched control the men because it gave her a sense of power over them. When she walked out into the real world she had no control over men, so this was her opportunity. McMurphy was not going to let this happen, so he fought back against it. McMurphy is slowly bringing down the reign of Nurse Ratched because he understands that she is similar to a totalitarian leader, and she had an enormous amount of power in her ward. Because McMurphy is a hard headed man, he cannot live with being controlled by anyone, which drives his actions of rallying the men against the Nurse. This is also seen when McMurphy breaks the glass window that protected Nurse Ratched from the patients on the ward. It was her own little sanctuary, and it was quickly destroyed. McMurphy had the desire to break the hierarchy