Heartless, cruel, and sadistic are all words people may use to characterize Nurse Ratched. She keeps dictatorial control over her patients, shatters patients' self worth, and is the symbol of evil and oppression in the novel. She treats patients with this authority so that they let her control them, and Kesey through the use of Ratched shows why it’s crucial to stand up and rebel against oppressive authority. Ratched would ruthlessly undermine her patients self worth to a degree where they would become compliant and submissive to her control. The best example of this is how she treats Billy Bibbit, a young, insecure, and vulnerable patient.
Throughout the beginning of the novel it is evident that some characters over use their powers, one of these characters being Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched uses her position in the ward to take advantage of the patients and make sure that they adhere to everyone of her daunting commands. Nurse Ratched “tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine” (Kesey 28) because she has been on the ward for so long that when something doesn 't go according to her plan, she starts to get mad and will often try to use her power to come down on the patient 's. Nurse Ratched is in control of the whole ward and when someone does something that isn 't in her manuscript she gets irritated. The ward will be run her way and only her way, “ under her rule the ward inside is almost completely adjusted to surroundings” (Kesey 28).
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.
She has the highest authority in the hospital and wants to run the asylum as a dictatorship. She will do anything to get the patients to do what she wants, whether she needs to turn them against each other or put them in the fog to maintain order in the institute. Unlike Dr. Spivey, Nurse Ratched uses the Therapeutic Community for her own benefit, rather than the benefit of its patients. She forces confessions out of people and when no one confesses anything she goes through a log book pointing out each patient's history. By forcing the patients to confess she is able to turn everyone against each other, which promotes isolation in the asylum.
Abusing Power: A Literary Theme Analysis of Part One in Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Throughout the passage of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, from Kesey’s “Part One”, we come across our protagonist, Randle Patrick “Mac” McMurphy. He is the manipulator of the ward who fights against society’s demands as opposed to the oppressive Nurse Ratched “Big Nurse”, who controls the ward under her tyrannical rule.
Nurse Ratched, the head administrative nurse at a mental institution, exercised her near-absolute power over every aspect of the patients’ lives. Over time, she gradually gained a strong position of power, which was only strengthened by her ability to determine the fates of her patients. She was presented as a controlling, yet peaceful character, ensuring that her calculate outlook on the patients was upheld on every measure. Her strong personality is not seen as superficial, rather permanent through many distractions, revealing a mechanical aspect to her presence. Her lack of emotion was an extreme patience, which she used as a weapon against the patients.
In Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, gender is a definer of one's power in the hospital, and this leads to Nurse Ratched hiding her femininity, the patients’ attempts to boost their own masculinity, and both sides trying to expose the other. Kesey uses these examples to explain that men cannot handle a female leader. Nurse Ratched, a female who is head of the ward, attempts to hide her femininity so the men respect her power. At the beginning of the novel, Bromden is describing the Nurse’s appearance. He states, “A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what would of otherwise been a perfect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it” (6).
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.
Having a choice or a say in an important matter is something most people treasure; the fact that we have control over our future. To other, these decisions can be more burdensome than liberating. They can cause one great stress and anxiety if one sees himself unfit to make that weighing decision. Overly-anxious people prefer to give up this decision-making power to another trusted person. The patients Ken Kesey describes in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are content giving up this privilege that everyone is entitled to, until Randle McMurphy makes them aware of what they’re missing out on.
Nurse Ratched is a harsh, dictatorial woman who manipulates her patients in order to keep her extreme power. “She smiles and closes her eyes again and shakes her head gently. " Of course, you may take the suggestion up with the rest of the staff at some time, but I'm afraid everyone's feelings will correspond with mine” (Kesey). Even though readers do not get to see the Big Nurse outside of the hospital and her strict personality, she uses the mistreatment of the patients as a defense of events from her personal life. Despite her acting as if she has total regulation of the ward, Nurse Ratched is actually unstable in her life, feeling vulnerable by the patients because they bring up the idea that she may not be mentally secure
Throughout the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey, power is a recurring theme that also teaches the morals of responsibility in this novel. Power is something that can easily be abused when given to the wrong person, as demonstrated in the story through allusions and characters, such as the antagonist, Nurse Ratched, and the protagonist, Randle McMurphy. Without proper use of power, it may result in negative consequences, therefore it is important for one to use their power accordingly and responsibly, as demonstrated all throughout the novel. Firstly, the novel demonstrates the theme of power through making reference to a famous historical figure, Adolf Hitler.
These elements keep the nurse in power, as many of the patients fear being the target of one of these meetings and worry that they will again be betrayed by others. By introducing order through these activities, Nurse Ratched undermines the safety of the patients that should be under her care and keeps them silent. Nurse Ratched's oppressive order is not only seen in a literal sense, but also through the attitudes of the patients under her care. Chief Bromden describes the nurse as being “able to set the wall clock at whatever speed she wants just by turning one of those dials“ (Kesey 70). Nurse Ratched’s control over the patients’ lives extends to the point where
Nurse Ratched is the main antagonist who is a very cruel and manipulative nurse, in which all the characters seem to agree that she is out to get them. The other main female role is a hooker McMurphy knew before the hospital who plays a role of meeting the boys needs. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
The hospital ward is controlled and dominated by Nurse Ratched, who has over the years gained enough power to now control every thing and person in the ward. She runs the ward—outfit—like a “smooth, accurate, precision-made machine”(22). She is intolerant of any deviation or variation from the regiment that she has been accustomed to imposing. She manipulates the ward by using a perfect system of punishments, rewards and interpersonal conflict. For example, Chief tells about how she will reward the inmates with extra sleep in the mornings if they rat on each other by writing down information in Nurse Ratched’s logbook.
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
