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Essay on one who flew over the cuckoo's nest
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In addition to setting, McMurphy did what wanted, when he wanted, always being loud and disruptive (“One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest” 3). He admits himself into the ward only to get out of working on the work farm. Because McMurphy is not actually insane, he’s not fond of the rules of that are set in place on a daily basis; He doesn’t follow the “god damned policy” (Kesey 89). By acting the way he does, he gets under the skin of the Big Nurse, who is in charge of keeping a set routine Acutes and Chronics, such as “Six-forty-five the shavers buzz and the Acutes line up in alphabetical order at the mirrors, A, B, C, D….” (Kesey 26).
The Origins of Madness in One Who Flew Off The Cuckoo's Nest The book, One who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is an eccentric story on the cruel treatment of patients within psychiatric wards in the 1960s. It is told from the narration of an indigenous man, named Chief Bromden, a character who is deeply conflicted and wounded inside, as he narrates the story of another patient McMurphy. McMurphy is not like Chief, nor any of the other patients for that matter, for he is a man who refuses to follow the wards rules and does whatever it takes in the book to strip the head nurse, Miss Ratched, of her power, in a fight for the patients, sovereignty within the ward. His rebellious attitude unfolds and the consequences begin unveiling
Through the story he transforms into a man who finally realises his own physical and mental power and uses it to prove his worth to himself and society. During the ending scene where the Chief noticeably breaks free from the Big Nurse and her machinery, Kesey is proving the importance of freedom and the possibility for people to overcome what defeats them. McMurphy is a pivotal character within the novel, as his journey through destruction as he receives a number of electro shock therapies makes patients aware that lives can be changed and deteriorate no matter how big you appear to be or where you sit in society. There are clear signs of change in the Chief’s perceptions on McMurphy’s power also as he sees past his tough appearances and understands how much the EST is effecting his mind and body, he watches McMurphy go from a religious image upon the EST table to watching him lose his pattern of memory and fall under the rest of acutes who because of his influence begin to understand their
Ryan Abbott 6th Period 8/20/15 How to Read Literature Like a Professor and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are Connected a lot More than You Might Think There is only one word that ties everything together in a story: connections. That is how piece of literature is formed.
Through training with McMurphy Chief also regains his ultimate physical strength which pushes him closer to his escape. Through his complete transformation Kesey reiterates the idea that someone filled with so much self-doubt and fear can overcome defeat and find themselves being heard and acknowledged. As the Chief continues to grow and becomes a stronger man, McMurphy dwindles down into a vegetable as he attacks Nurse Ratched and receives a lobotomy which erases his memory and becomes powerless under the rest of the Acutes. That same night Chief suffocates him with a pillow and uses his strength regained with the help of McMurphy to lift the control panel up off the floor that he once could only move half a foot. He throws it through the main window, shattering it and escaping from the ward.
Moral Lense Literary Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950s, the context of which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Ken Kesey, was written, was called the Era of Conformity. During this time, the American social atmosphere was quiet conformed, in that everyone was expected to follow the same, fixed format of behavior in society, and the ones who stand out of being not the same would likely be “beaten down” by the social norms. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that it is immoral for society to simply push its beliefs onto the people who are deemed different, as it is unfair and could lead to destructive results. First of all, it is unjust for people who are deemed unalike from others in society to be forced into the preset way of conduct because human tend to have dissimilar nature.
McMurphy sacrifices himself for the benefit of the group and while doing that, he loses his free will. He truly does become a Christ figure for the patients. Under the invisible but heavy pressure of the other patients expectations he makes the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that Nurse Ratched can’t use Billy’s death to undo everything they have gained. “Only at the last, after he’d smashed through that glass door, her face swinging around, with terror forever ruining aby other look she might ever try to use again, screaming when he grabbed for her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front.” (Page 318)
McMurphy had been close to breaking down, evident in Chief’s description, “He looked sick and terribly tired,” and Harding’s description, “It was us that has been making him go on for weeks, keeping him standing long after his feet and legs have given out, weeks of making him wink and grin and laugh” (318). McMurphy breaking down would have destroyed what he had worked so hard for, so before he broke, his golden image, his ideas had to be preserved through his death. Chief also says that what happened would have happened and that McMurphy, “Would have had to come back” (310), and that, “he could no more have sat around outside the hospital, playing poker in Carson City or Reno or someplace, and let the Big Nurse have the last move and get the last play, than he could have let her get by it rough under her nose. It was like he’d signed on for the whole game and there wasn’t any way of him breaking his contract.” The fact that McMurphy would have come back no matter what shows that his sacrifice was meant to happen, something that was unavoidable.
Weather in literature is often used to symbolize the mood or mental state in which a character experiences. For example, rain is commonly associated with sadness. As it is commonly identified, fog is a cloudy element of weather that affects one’s ability to see clearly, however, it is also used in literature to represent a character’s lack of clarity. Throughout One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the motif of fog is used to represent the mental instability and confusion Bromden experiences under Nurse Ratched’s ward. As the story progresses and Bromden gains confidence, the fog diminishes and he is able to overcome the Big Nurse.
He is a wild card, a con-man, and an insubordinate, who is foul mouthed. He defies authority and gets into fights. He’s been in and out of jail for numerous reasons until he lands into the hospital ward due to “diagnosis and possible treatment”, even though he is just getting out of jail time. McMurphy enters the ward and completely changes the patients’ ways of life. He brings gambling, booze, sex, defiance, and hustling into the ward.
The patients dont question his violence with Nurse Ratched because no one has ever standed up to her. Nurse ratched is the reason they dont have confidence in themselves. As McMurphy stays longer, the other patients become more aware as to what is happening. Before McMurphy came in the ward the men believed everything that was done to them was for their own good Nurse Ratched was able to manipulate the men and had full power to boss them around. After McMurphy came he was able to show them that Nurse Ratched uses their weakness against them and was just a manipulator.
In the novel, McMurphy attacks the nurse brutally and attempts to kill her, “doctors and supervisors and nurses prying those heavy red fingers out of the white flesh of her throat as if they were her neck bones, jerking him backward” (Kesey 319). Also, the narrator shows mercy towards McMurphy by smothering him in his sleep, “and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face. I lay there on top of the body for what seemed days. Until the thrashing stopped” (323).
By weakening McMurphy’s power in the ward, she creates an environment where can continue to thrive in her power through the systems she has set in place. However, Nurse Ratched’s plan does not succeed and McMurphy is allowed to proceed with his fishing trip. He continues to undermine the nurse’s authority to the point where he physically assults her after she blames Billy’s death on him. His actions give Nurse Ratched an opportunity to give him the ultimate punishment, a
He also takes all of the patients out on a fishing trip, and one night he turns her whole ward into a party room. These changes of setting help the patients of the ward escape some of Nurse Ratched’s domination. In the end, thanks to McMurphy, Chief is able to instigate a change of scenery for himself, and he escapes the ward
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, prompts very important aspect of the human condition. In the movie, the protagonist, Mac McMurphy, is deemed dangerous, so the mental institute tries to suppress him (Kesey). The film highlights various aspects of human conditions like psychology, sociology and philosophy. The mental institute tries to suppress the mentally challenged people rather than to try to communicate with them.
