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Theme Of Allusions In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, Randle Patrick McMurphy, the protagonist, leads a rebellion within a mental institution and helps the patients learn the importance of self-worth and not conforming to rules that violate their natural rights. Kesey employs many biblical allusions in the novel that serve to build deeper meaning of the character McMurphy, who on the surface comes off as harsh and unpleasant at times to the reader. However, he is key in helping bring real change to everyone in the hospital. By alluding to the bible to establish Randle McMurphy as a Christ-like figure in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey is able to soften the hard edges of McMurphy, which is essential in the novel because it is ultimately …show more content…

McMurphy holds a party full of alcohol mixed cough syrup, “Artificial flavor, coloring, citric acid..seventy percent inert materials..and twenty per cent alcohol”(252) and the two prostitutes Candy and Sandy. In the morning Nurse Ratched catches them and Billy Bibbit blames McMurphy and claims it was all his idea, “And M-M-McMurphy..they teased me, called me things”(264). The party and Billy’s betrayal is an allusion to Christ’s last supper and shortly after like the party Juda betrayal to Christ. Billy ends up killing himself after the betrayal just like Judas after the realization of what they did. These betrayal set in motion both their deaths and ultimately their legacy after death. The death of McMurphy helps free the patients of the reigns of the hospital set on them, like how Christ free his people from the price of their sins. Even though McMurphy in the novel was very greedy and self-motivated at times, the inclusion of these allusions help break down the hard exterior that had been painted on him, by showing the reader that there was more to him and he truly wanted to help these patients. Kesey connections to Christ and McMurphy helps give the transitions needed in the novel to come to the conclusion at the end of the novel that because of McMurphy, many patients are now able to live their lives without being constricted to the walls of this hospital, but follow their own true

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In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy one of the main characters leeds a group of mental ward patients to rebel against the ward staff. McMurphy rebelled in many ways against the staff like “ Two whores on their way down from Portland to take us deep-sea fishing in a boat”

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Jesus and Cuckoo's Nest Parallels Jesus Christ led his apostles against a very oppressive government. In the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, R.P. McMurphy leads an oppressed group of mental patients against an extremely oppressive medical staff. There are many parallels between R.P. and Jesus Christ. The main similarity is that, even in the face of adversity, both continued to fight for what was right. Additionally, both did not have a selfish personality.

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Billy, in this way, is comparable to Peter, in that when he is confronted about his actions that McMurphy led him to complete, he denied them stating “They m-m-made me! Please, M-Miss Ratched, they may-may-MAY-!” (265). As an audience, we know this is not accurate, as Billy was proud of actions “[taking] the girl’s hand in his and [grinning],” proudly introducing her, stating “This is Candy” (263). Here, Kesey implements this Christian comparison to explain, that although McMurphy is leading these men to independence in the same way Christ led his disciples to live holy lives, there will always be someone who is not strong enough in themselves to stand their ground, and when faced with discrimination will deny their following.

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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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In both cases, McMurphy's deception and disregard for the rules ultimately lead to his downfall, showing that even the most charismatic and rebellious individuals are not immune to the oppressive forces of

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One man, George, was a germaphobe and was scared of being hosed off. McMurphy stands up for George and ends up getting into a fight with one of the aids. Bromden backs McMurphy up in the fight, so they both had to get EST treatment. As previously described, the table is shaped like a cross which helps prove that he is a Christ figure because Jesus was hung on a cross. Another instance where McMurphy is presented as a Christ figure is when Ratched found Billy Bibbit with Candy in the Seclusion room.

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Moral Lense Literary Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950s, the context of which One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a novel by Ken Kesey, was written, was called the Era of Conformity. During this time, the American social atmosphere was quiet conformed, in that everyone was expected to follow the same, fixed format of behavior in society, and the ones who stand out of being not the same would likely be “beaten down” by the social norms. In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that it is immoral for society to simply push its beliefs onto the people who are deemed different, as it is unfair and could lead to destructive results. First of all, it is unjust for people who are deemed unalike from others in society to be forced into the preset way of conduct because human tend to have dissimilar nature.

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McMurphy is eventually murdered by Chief in the middle of the night by suffocation to eliminate any chance of Nurse Ratched trying to turn McMurphy into an example of what happens when she is crossed. The nurse at this point has no more ammunition to use against the patients, and in turn, takes her place as a rabbit of the ward like the

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This madness in Mcmurphy gives the men hope throughout the novel. The irrational behavior can be judge as reasonable in many cases. Mcmurphy is a big, loud and confident man. He’s different from many other patients in the ward. When he first entered the ward he was laughing and telling jokes.

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In the novel, McMurphy attacks the nurse brutally and attempts to kill her, “doctors and supervisors and nurses prying those heavy red fingers out of the white flesh of her throat as if they were her neck bones, jerking him backward” (Kesey 319). Also, the narrator shows mercy towards McMurphy by smothering him in his sleep, “and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face. I lay there on top of the body for what seemed days. Until the thrashing stopped” (323).

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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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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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Kesey has used characterisation to get the idea that in this novel there are aspects of venerability and strength. In Nurse Ratched’s case, Kesey has made it so that she is shown with strength and power over the whole ward, including the black men in white, other nurses, and mainly the patients. An example of Nurse Ratched’s power over the patients is when she says to Billy Bibbit, “What worries me, Billy, ' she said- I could hear the change in her voice- 'is how your mother is going to take this.” This shows how one sentence was able to debilitate Billy into begging Nurse for forgiveness and restraint of telling his mother.

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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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