One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

Critical Analysis Power only holds relevance when there are people who submit to it. Ken Kesey wrote the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which showcases the idea that power is never absolute. Narrated by Bromden, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was set in a mental hospital in the 1950s. Bromden tells the story in the first person. Throughout the book, the patients, whom McMurphy led, began to believe that they could stand up to the power that was Nurse Ratched. A seed of doubt can completely destroy the ideology of power. At the beginning of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the reader learns that the patients are scared of Nurse Ratched. Before McMurphy entered the hospital, the characters were all scared of Nurse Ratched because

In the second part, reality began to set in for McMurphy. During an allotted pool time, McMurphy learned that the only way for people committed to the hospital to leave was through Nurse Ratched’s discretion. “I was picked up for drunk and disorderly, and I been here eight years and eight months” (Kesey 132). Nurse Ratched decided how long McMurphy spent in the hospital, which led to McMurphy letting the seed of doubt wither away. McMurphy quit acting like a leader to the other patients and stopped backing them up on their arguments with the nurse. Shortly after McMurphy stopped backing the other patients, Cheswick argued with Nurse Ratched over cigarettes. Without help from McMurphy, Cheswick’s argument got shot down. After Cheswick lost the quarrel, he died by drowning in the pool. Cheswick’s death reignited the flame within McMurphy, and he began acting like a leader again. McMurphy understood the severity of his actions and that he had planted the seed of doubt in all of them. Regardless of the setbacks in part two, parts three and four demonstrated that seeds grow under any circumstances. At this point, McMurphy had enough leverage to take nine patients on a boating trip. On the boating trip, the patients started to regain confidence in themselves and believe in Nurse Ratched’s rule even less. While on the trip, the patients got to experience the outside world, where they got to catch fish and get drunk. After