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Mcmurphy Case Study

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McMurphy: According to the behavior and mental processes displayed by the patient, one may ascertain that McMurphy is suffering from a manic episode. Bipolar disorder is characterized by an individual having cycles of both manic and depressed episodes. McMurphy’s irritability, sex drive, and reckless behavior all point to him experiencing a manic episode. First, McMurphy is very quick to anger; not only does he make it his mission to fight Nurse Ratched, he also is quick to anger with the other patients. He gets frustrated with Martini while they are playing cards and he becomes very angry with the others around him when they do not tell him that he is not going to be released when his sentence is over. McMurphy is also addicted to sex. When he first enters the hospital it is said that he is one to, “fight and fuck too much.” Secondly, the first action he takes after escaping from the hospital is to go get his …show more content…

Symptoms include a disregard for right and wrong, violating the rights of others, and a lack of empathy. The main indication that Nurse Ratchet has antisocial personality disorder is that she hurts others to achieve her means and does not feel any remorse about it. She plays people’s biggest weaknesses against them, like she always does with Billy. In the moments after Billy had sex and he was actually feeling confident, she brought up his mother so that she was able to control him; it was this mention of his mother that made Billy kill himself, yet Nurse Ratchet felt no remorse for her actions. Something else that she does that proves she has no idea of right and wrong is that when people do not do what she wants, she sends them to get electroshock therapy or lobotomies. This woman literally tortures and kills people and feels nothing from it: no guilt, no empathy, and no

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Another character comparison from the book and the movie was the Chief and Nurse Ratched. First Nurse Ratched was the leader or person in charge of the psych ward she wanted everyone to obey her and not question what she was had to say. If people or her patients questioned her

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379 Words | 2 Pages

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).

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361 Words | 2 Pages

The conflict between the two main character's Nurse Ratched and McMurphy serves as a bridge for the overarching theme of sexuality. Or to be more specific the battle of sexuality. In the book the two main characters represent both sides of the spectrum when it comes to sexuality concerning genders. Nurse Ratched represents feminism and McMurphy represents masculinity. With the two conflicting views of how the character’s believe the institution for the mentally ill should be run you can see more of the juxtaposition between the two.

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990 Words | 4 Pages

All of the patients on the ward presume that Mcmurphy

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1274 Words | 6 Pages

Shortly after this act, McMurphy then brings the patients of the ward on an unauthorized fishing trip. Not only is McMurphy rebelling against Nurse Ratched, he is rebelling against the ward and the associated doctors like Dr. Spivey. For the men of the ward, this acted as an unconventional therapy and appeared to be effective. This method is not accepted by Nurse Ratched or the ward. “McMurphy 's twelve followers grow physically and spiritually as they appreciate the humour and pain of the human predicament” (Safer. n.d).

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1075 Words | 5 Pages

His scars also inform us, you guessed it, that McMurphy is different from the other patients in the ward in a sense that the damages of life have toughened him up as opposed to other the patients who are very weak minded and subservient. This is shown to us throughout the book by the fact that McMurphy is the one who opposes Nurse Ratched's tyrannical rule while the other patients just follow his

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846 Words | 4 Pages

After some time, McMurphy realizes how Nurse Ratched is in control of the patients and if any patients get out of hand or questions something, Nurse Ratched immediately shut the patients down. In one scene, Nurse Ratched sends McMurphy and two other patients to be given the ECT treatment when McMurphy and some other patients sneaked out for a fishing trip. McMurphy is trying to get the patients who voluntary are in the institution to experience how wonderful life is and not to fear the “real world.” The institution has kept McMurphy in the mental institution to keep a close eye on what mental conditions he may have for being sent there. Therefore, McMurphy has not been officially diagnosed as mentally unstable and yet he was given the ECT treatment.

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529 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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938 Words | 4 Pages

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)

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688 Words | 3 Pages

This madness in Mcmurphy gives the men hope throughout the novel. The irrational behavior can be judge as reasonable in many cases. Mcmurphy is a big, loud and confident man. He’s different from many other patients in the ward. When he first entered the ward he was laughing and telling jokes.

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1669 Words | 7 Pages

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).

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1459 Words | 6 Pages

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

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1288 Words | 6 Pages

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.

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1010 Words | 5 Pages

Another point to note was that McMurphy seems abnormal among the patients. Especially with his laugh, I kept thinking that he might be mentally ill and not fake it (Kesey). But if you just imagine his behavior outside of the asylum, then it seems normal. This phenomenon is well known in psychology. It says that person once convicted of mental illness have an uphill battle to prove that he is not.

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520 Words | 3 Pages

Determining what defines an abnormal behavior is not simply black and white. To evaluate and diagnose someone it takes clinical assessment and observation of their character and behavior. This paper will review the character of Randle McMurphy from the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By utilizing the DSM-5 criteria for Personality Disorders Randle could be diagnosed as Antisocial Personality Disorder because of the behaviors he exhibited throughout the movie.

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