McMurphy specifically wants to know why they accept her power of them (“One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” 3). He is so set on the plan to get under her skin that he bets the ward on it only giving himself a week. He is persistent on changing things about the ward at every meeting with the doctor and/or Big Nurse’s staff, such as changing tv times, and setting up a seperate room for different things. “You could unlock that room and let the card players go in there, and leave the old men out here with their radio…”
Throughout the entire book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are always in constant battle. Mack was the only person who challenged her. “She tried to get her ward back into shape, but it was difficult with McMurphy’s presence still tromping up and down the halls and laughing out loud in the meetings and singing in the latrines. She couldn’t rule with her old power any more, not by writing things on pieces of paper. She was losing her patients one after the other”(Kesey 320-321).
Randle P. McMurphy represents freedom, life, joy, and hope to the patients in Big Nurse's ward. He comes from the Outside, loud, seemingly perfectly sane, and wreaks havoc on the orderly world imposed on the patients. As Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest progresses, McMurphy displays the power of the individual against a repressive establishment. He brings many of the patients in the ward that were self-admitted to the hospital full swing, showing them what life can be like outside of the ward. Chief Bromden, Harding, and even Billy Bibbit end the novel as completely changed men.
From what the Big Nurse calls one of the black boys, it seems the- I like to call them sex fiends- are her aides. It's quite strange she'd call one of the crazed thermometer probers one of her "aides. " It seems sort of formal too, calling them her aide. It's almost as if she were a tyrant that needs right hand men.
When McMurphy first enters the ward he uses humor to mock Nurse Ratched and undermine her authority. After
McMurphy successfully tears away not just Ratched’s clothes, but also any shred of sway and fear she had over the patients; her control effectively gone: “. . . he’d smashed through that glass door, her face swinging around, with terror forever ruining any other look she might ever try to use again” (305). . McMurphy’s fate is sealed by this action however, and is taken away to receive a lobotomy. Many of the patients leave the ward as a result.
It can’t be caused by anyone else, an accident, or a twist of fate. McMurphy’s downfall was brought about by his own actions. If he just sat back and did nothing none of this would have ever happened. The final action taken by McMurphy that really sent Nurse Ratched over the edge was when he ripped open her shirt and tried to choke her after the party. He acted completely by his own free will and let all his built up emotions take over.
This the type of rebellious chaos is what the men in the facility need because the patients are so scared to laugh or even speak on their own beliefs without getting punished in the
McMurphy dies both literally and figuratively when he receives the lobotomy, further depicting him as Christ. He sacrifices himself for the benefit of the other patients and saves them from their inevitable future in Hell (Miss Ratched’s ward). Kesey chooses McMurphy to fulfill this position because he himself was escaping his own Hell, the work camp, and incorporates irony through the fact that he avoids one terrible situation to enter another, but has a large unpredicted impact. Although McMurphy does not embody an ideal protestor, his tactics of violence and rebellion are enough to defy the authority Miss Ratched holds to the point that she can no longer "rule with her old power anymore" (Kesey
The nature of man, beyond the black-and-white differences, are clearly portrayed between the characters in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, as Ken Kesey continuously alludes to the bible. McMurphy is portrayed as a Christ-like figure throughout the novel. The ward symbolizes the broken world filled with sin and death. In the beginning, when McMurphy enters the ward, he is baptized with a shower. “16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.
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
The ward is not doing anything to help them, it is just making them worse. Billy could have gotten a wife and gone off to college if the insecurity of stutter did not scare him so much. Harding would have had it difficult but he did not even try to live that life he was so afraid of. When McMurphy brought them on the boat trip it was a huge turning point for the characters, mentally. There is still the question if mental institutions really help people with there “insanity” or keep them
How would it feel like for one to be a child trapped in a man’s body? In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Billy Bibbit’s past of being raised by his overprotective mother and childlike behavior results in his lack of confidence in the ward. He is shown to be dependent upon others and unable to act on his own terms. Thus, he lacks the strength to survive in society and is left on the ward’s care. The entrance of McMurphy sparks a catalyst which allows his change into a more confident individual.
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.
The movie was mostly focused on the feud between the warden/nurse Ms. Ratched and McMurphy. McMurphy tried to go against the hard-set plan set by the institution. More he tried to establish dominance and leadership within the group. This threatened the nurse’s ways of subduing patients, and they felt of less importance in their own institution. This led to a bitter rivalry and because of it the nurse tried to subdue, with same techniques as with other patients, McMurphy even after realizing that he was not a mentally unstable person.
