Recent events throughout the country have shown that mental illness is rampant in our nation. One simply needs to pick up the newspaper, watch the television or read the events on the internet to find out how the mentally ill are treated. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Kenneth Kesey it is we, the members of society that judge whether people are sane or insane. Some may say that others are insane, but we are all a little bit crazy. The main character of the book is Randall Patrick Mc Murphy, who would rather spend his time in the mental institution than do his prison time on a work farm. He is described by the narrator. Chief Bromden as a “gambling fool”. He was convicted of statutory rape, but the indication is that the sex was consensual. Nurse Ratched, who is the head nurse in the novel and would be considered the major authority figure, describes Murphy as a” manipulator” who will use people to get what he wants. Mc Murphy’s rebellious ways challenge the set authoritarian Ratched rule, and tries to have the other patients realize that they might be able to be functional members of society and do not need to be controlled by Ratched. When Mc …show more content…
More specifically, he benefits from his meeting and interaction with Mc Murphy. Chief Bromden was half-Native American, half Irish. He was the longest resident in the institution at the time of Mc Murphy’s arrival, yet none of the staff realized that he could talk. They all thought that he was a deaf mute. He does this as a protection against the wrath of Nurse Ratched. It is his relationship with McMurphy, not the treatment of then doctors and nurses of the institution that bring him back to normalcy and allow him to earn the courage to break free from the institution safety. Chief not only frees himself but frees a lobotomized Mc Murphy by smothering him with a