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One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Theme Analysis

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In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey provides a storyline about personal experiences he saw occur in a mental asylum. Ken Kesey worked as a staff member in an insane asylum in Oregon. When he wrote the book, he was providing personal memories about the patients and other workers into a story. The entire novel is about patients that are checked into a mental asylum, and their unwillingness to act against the nurse. Throughout the novel, there is a theme of “manipulation” implied. The theme that manipulation is only a powerful tool if the victim is weak enough to not resist it is revealed through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and the patients in the mental institution. The reader can first imply that manipulation …show more content…

As soon as he sees Billy laying there dead, he is speechless. He looks at Nurse Ratched and she tells McMurphy that he is the one at blame. McMurphy freaks out on Ratched and begins to grab her neck with both of his hands and strangle her. Randle McMurphy rips open Nurse Ratched’s uniform, revealing her breasts, which shows her femininity (The Litcharts Guide To One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest). Ratched’s “tyrant-like” personality is no longer powerful in the institution. The manipulative behavior of the Nurse is finally defeated and all of the victims are now powerful and willing to fight against her power. Due to Nurse Ratched using her manipulative skills allowing McMurphy to attack her, he is then sent to Disturbed and receives a lobotomy. Several patients check themselves out of the institution before McMurphy even arrives back at the ward. Once he finally returns, his friends do not believe that the lobotomized individual is in fact McMurphy. Chief Bromden knows right away that he is indeed McMurphy, and begins to suffocate him (Evans 48-50). Suffocating Randle McMurphy allowed Chief to put McMurphy out of misery once and for all from Nurse Ratched and her wicked schemes of manipulation in the

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Nurse Ratched’s desire for control, in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, allows her to manipulate the entire hospital ward into believing her work is for the betterment of the patients. Significantly, Nurse Ratched appears doll-like: hair in a tight bun, a neatly pressed uniform, and “too-red” lipstick (48). Traditionally, dolls, like other toys, are made to occupy the unruly minds of young children. By comparing Nurse Ratched to a child’s toy, Kesey implies she is a mere distraction to the patients from their mental impairments.

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1542 Words | 7 Pages

Manipulation and the struggle for control in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, the role of manipulation is integral to showing the complexities of each character, and creates a set of standards in which right and wrong become indistinguishable in a human struggle for dignity and survival. The characters of McMurphy and Nurse Ratched show this most vividly, and the complex combination of manipulation and a human lust for survival come together in the end, in which the dignity of all involved is compromised. As a strategy of self-preservation and a grab for power,, manipulation comprises both good and evil: both the deep human need to survive and the deep human desire to maintain control. This is shown through McMurphy’s manipulation of the other patients, Nurse Ratched 's manipulation of everyone, and the patients manipulation of McMurphy.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

The nurse used her calm composure to manipulate the men in the ward. In one part of the novel, Chief, the main character, observes that the nurse’s expression is “smiling, pitying, patient, and disgusting all at once---a trained expression” (Kesey, 176). This shows that Nurse Ratched is deceitful. She isn’t honest with her actions and she put on an act to trick people into trusting her. The quote illustrates Kesey’s hatred for women in power by showing the nurse’s character in such a negative light; it makes light of the fact that he, Kesey, doesn’t believe that a powerful woman would use her influence for good.

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Sadvokassova Aiganym. 10 “F’ Comparative Essay. Thesis statement: Even though actors in the movie were interpreted well, book is thorough in showing characters because Black Boys’ relationship to other patients and Chief's perspective is shown considerably in the book. “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” written by Ken Kesey is an allegorical and countercultural novel.

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1267 Words | 6 Pages

Nurse Ratched initially lobotomized McMurphy in order to set an example for the other patients and keep them in check but Chief Bromden destroys this attempt by putting McMurphy out of his misery saying “I

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725 Words | 3 Pages

In the drama film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, Patrick McMurphy was moved from a prison farm to a mental institution to get evaluated for his erratic behavior. Upon being transported to the institution, all his assumptions about his new home were completely wrong. The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, has the whole hospital under her control with little to no freedom for the patients. All the inmates at the institution go through rigorous training to become obedient to Nurse Ratched and her strict schedule and rules. The institution was a very controlled environment with the patients having no control over their own life’s while there.

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529 Words | 3 Pages

Final Exam: Prompt 1 In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey he discusses the harsh reality of living in a mental institution in the 1950’s. Kesey looks at the world from Bromdens view point a schizophrenic patient who the other patients view as deaf and dumb, despite his ability to hear and understand them just fine. The patients being use to their routines, or living “in the fog” as Bromden calls it. This lead to an uneasy change when McMurphy arrives from a work farm, pretending to be mentally ill, and disrupts their whole way of life.

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991 Words | 4 Pages

All of these negative external forces on the patients’ lives all lead to Nurse Ratched. For the patients to be able to leave the ward and realize her restrictions on them “- it reveals that the mental hospital is hindering, not aiding, their recoveries and ultimate return to life outside the institution” (Cyclopedia of Literary Places 2015). This provides a strong argument showing how Nurse Ratched truly does not try to better her patients, but she just tries to keep them under her

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He quickly becomes a hero to the patients, who have been oppressed and controlled by Nurse Ratched for a long time. This leads to a series of conflicts between the two characters and sets the stage for the climax of the story. The rising action of the film is characterized by a growing tension between Randle Patrick McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, as well as the patients' growing excitement and hope for change The climax of the film occurs when Randle Patrick McMurphy, in a fit of anger, attacks Nurse Ratched, causing her to lose her authority and control over the patients. This marks the turning point of the story and is the most dramatic moment of the film.

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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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994 Words | 4 Pages

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, published in 1962, tells the story of men in a psychiatric ward and focuses on two characters called McMurphy and Bromden, and their defiance towards the institution’s system. A critical factor in this novel are the women. The 1960’s played a significant role in changing the norms of social issues, and the perfect idea of women was changing too. Women were no longer just stay at home wives, but had their own voice in society, and many people did not agree with these untraditional views. Kesey’s representation of women in this novel illustrate them in a poor light that makes it obvious that they don’t fit the ideal womanly persona.

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993 Words | 4 Pages

There is an obvious idea presented by Kesey that the Nurse is dominant over Billy, who has become very vulnerable. Nurse Ratched is shown as a character of strength by the way the writer has created her character. Nurse Ratched is also seen as a strong figure by the way the other characters talk about her, for example when Chief says “To beat her you don 't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as soon as you lose once, she 's won for good.” The writer has used this line to show us how both Chief and the other patient give her the strong and authoritative

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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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1379 Words | 6 Pages

The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

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1010 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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