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Symbolism In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, he presents a character named R.P. McMurphy. Kesey parodies the biblical figure Christ with McMurphy with subtle references throughout the novel.However, even though he is compared to a Christ symbol that doesn’t mean he behaves like one. McMurphy is seen as a Christ symbol, not only because of references, but because of his gradual self-growth throughout the novel that allows him to embrace his “divinity” and help others. McMurphy is a mockery of the figure Christ because Christ was a humble, charitable, giving, honorable man who was pure and Mcmurphy is the opposite of that. He is a wild card, a con-man, and an insubordinate, who is foul mouthed.He defies authority and gets into fights.He’s been in and out of jail for numerous reasons until he lands into the hospital ward due to “diagnosis and possible treatment”, even though he is just getting out of jail time. McMurphy enters the ward and completely changes the patients’ ways of life. He brings gambling, booze, sex, defiance, and hustling into the ward. He makes bets with the men and hustles them out of money on several occasions such as the bet of getting under Ms. Ratched’s skin and making her show her inferiority, …show more content…

This is another one of the ways how Kesey parodies McMurphy to Christ. McMurphy’s gospels are reflections of things he believes in himself. There is so much he teaches to the men, for example, he teaches them to laugh as soon as he comes into the ward. He teaches them to take risks and gamble in life through all the card games, etc. One of his lessons is to make sacrifices for others instead of being selfish, like on the fishing trip, he doesn’t give up his life jacket, but instead, he waits for someone else to offer theirs up. He teaches them to stand up together when they stood in front of the black screen tv to “watch” the world series against Nurse Ratched’s

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In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the prolific Christian imagery serves not only to align the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, with Jesus Christ, but to provide an overarching allegory: only God can rescue mankind from the inexorable, bleak future it will spawn. The novel suggests that the bleak, oppressive future is caused by the presence of societal constraints, since government is inherently flawed as are the humans that created and maintain it. The depraved future is fully realized through the careful, populist affectations of the Combine which bely its emasculating ways. Functioning as a modern-day version of Christ, McMurphy, persists in his contrarian, self-immolating efforts to deliver his peers--his disciples--from the evils

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In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey uses the motif, Christ and Savior to find faults within society demonstrating that one should sacrifices oneself in order to save others from tyranny imposed by authority. In the beginning of the novel, the motif, Christ and Savior is not prevalent within the ward. However, as McMurphy appears, the figure of Christ and Savior starts to reveal by McMurphy’s actions. While the men think McMurphy is going to stand up for them against Big Nurse, he says, “I couldn’t figure it at first, why you guys were coming to me like I was some kind of savior.

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To begin, similar to how Aquinas asserts that spiritual truths in the Scriptures are related through the use of figurative language, Kesey’s work utilizes figurative language to enrich and more effectively express its thematic content. For instance, consider when McMurphy, who provides much wisdom to both his fellow patients and the reader, dramatically imparts to the men the virtues of selflessness and sacrifice. Late in the novel, McMurphy is provided with a difficult ultimatum—he may apologize to Nurse Ratched, but lose the esteem of the men and, consequently, all of the progress he has made in building up their self-esteem, or he may suffer electroconvulsive therapy until he is willing to come to heel. McMurphy, of course, chooses martyrdom for the sake of the men. The importance of selflessness and sacrifice is effectively communicated to the reader by McMurphy’s decision, but this lesson gains more import as a result of McMurphy being developed as a symbol for Christ.

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Although McMurphy may seem driven at times by his greed for money through his constant gambling, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the author’s biblical allusions to the Easter story demonstrate the true altruistic nature of McMurphy. Specifically, the ongoing allusion begins when McMurphy is taken in to have electroshock therapy and he “climbs on the table without any help and spreads his arms out” (237). Here, Kesey’s biblical allusion to the crucifixion of Jesus reveals McMurphy’s selflessness. In the Easter story, Jesus willingly gave his life and was tortured and mocked all to free his people from their sins. McMurphy serves as a Jesus figure who is willing to put himself through the pain and suffering of electroshock therapy in order to save the other

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Found in most culture, a savior is a humane person who challenges the established norm and tries to bring good into the established place and also submits himself to the well-being of the community. One of these saviour is Jesus Christ, who, with his life, helped establish the basic doctrines of Christianity. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey, McMurphy plays a similar role as Jesus, representing his actions and life. McMurphy is the man who challenges the established norm of the ward and Nurse Ratched. Through their time with the people, both McMurphy and Jesus performed many exemplary works, which mostly helped the people around the.

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“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

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He challenges her ways by changing the rules and ways the ward runs and pushes nurse Ratchet to try and break her. He starts of mild but as the novel goes on he gets increasingly violent. Further

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In the beginning of the novel, McMurphy came from wilderness and begins to gain followers by teaching the men that it is good to rebel against Ratched. In the middle of the novel, McMurphy chooses to rebel, takes the men on a fishing trip, and creates miracles by making Bromden break his twenty years of silence. At the end of the novel, McMurphy proves to be a Christ figure because he stands up for George and in return gets EST, gets betrayed by Billy, and receives a lobotomy. The idea that sometimes one must sacrifice himself for the greater good is still a relevant message in today’s society because it is important to stand up for other’s who cannot stand up for themselves. For example, Nelson Mandela peacefully protested in South Africa against apartheid and was jailed in doing so, but he did it for the sake of

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In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the main character, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. Throughout the novel McMurphy sets himself up to be the tragic hero by resenting Nurse Ratched’s power and defending the other patients. He can be classified as a contemporary tragic hero, but he also includes elements of Aristotle’s tragic hero. McMurphy’s rebellious nature and ultimate demise are what truly makes him as a tragic hero.

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However, he resists the temptations of sin and completes his forty days of mediation. “1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (NIV Matthew 4:1). This is referenced when McMurphy holds back his true thoughts and appeases towards Nurse Ratched. Nevertheless, when McMurphy returns to his old self, he punches through the glass window of the nurses’ station. This is a metaphor of Jesus ragging and clearing the merchants of the temple or Christ’s last glorification as a human on Palm Sunday when he returns to Jerusalem to die.

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CJ Johnston Pd.3 In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, author Ken Kesey, claimed to shed a light on human nature throughout the book. I think this light was, the combine is everywhere and you can’t escape it, he shows this through the fog and the symbolism of religion. If you apply this idea to your day to day life. We go to school monday-friday from 8-3:20 you don’t act out in school or skip school because you're scared of the consequence, which in theory makes it part of the combine.

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The author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey, presents the ideas about venerability and strength by using his characters and the way they interact with each other to establish whether they are a submissive or a dominant, tamed or leading, venerable or strong. Kesey uses strong personalities to show the drastic difference between someone who is vulnerable and someone who is strong. Nurse Ratchet is a perfect example of how Kasey presents the idea of strength over the venerability of others (the patients). Keys also exhibited vulnerability throughout characters such as Chief Bromden and his extensive habit of hiding himself in all means possible from Nurse Ratchet. Another idea presented by Kesey is a character’s false thought on what

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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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The Movie Character’s behavior In the movie “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Randle McMurphy is a rather sane man who chose to be institutionalized instead of residing at a "prison farm"(1975). McMurphy is a risk taker with a vulgar mouth, endless energy, and he enjoys challenging

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