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What Is The Psych Ward In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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A psych ward is defined as a health care facility providing inpatient and outpatient services to clients with behavioral or emotional illness. Some people can not think straight and use the wards as their comfort. To get in a psych ward, you have to have done something insane or be mentally ill. The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest uses a lot of craziness and rowdiness. The author, Ken Kesey, uses the actions of the patients that creates havoc and audacity between the nurse and them. One of the main characters, Randle Mcmurphy uses his rowdy and rule breaking ways to agitate the Big Nurse-Ratched and becomes a hero for the patients of the ward, Mcmurphy's actions end up turning the patients on the ward into functioning human beings. …show more content…

The patients get into the ward because they are mentally ill and need help. There are two kinds of patients: the chronics; which are in the ward for good; and the acutes, which tell jokes and they move around a lot (Kesey). McMurphy goes to the ward because he does not want to go to jail, so he pretends to be insane. All of the other patients went to the ward because they need help. They are essentially “cuckoo” patients (“The Guide”). McMurphy’s rebellion he shows makes the nurse hate him. Soon after Mcmurphy gets on the ward he showers and shows up only in a towel. Nurse Ratched gets very angry at him. She confronts him and simply states, “Stop, don’t you dare. You get back in that dorm and get your clothes on this instant.” (Kesey 87) Right from the start Mcmurphy is a rebel. He does not care what anyone thinks of

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At the end of the book, after McMurphy has been lobotomized, the acutes in the ward decide that they will no longer be subdued to the cruelty of Nurse Ratched. As Chief says, “Sefelt and Fredrickson signed out together Against Medical Advice, and two days later another three Acutes left, and six more transferred to another ward” (246). Although McMurphy is no longer able to fight the Big Nurse, he has left a lasting impact that motivates the other patients to escape the system. McMurphy inspires change in the ward by showing the acutes that Nurse Ratched is less powerful than they believe, and that they have

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Nurse Ratched was very controlling and wanted complete power. This caused many of the patients to rebel and break loose from her control. McMurphy lead the ward in this uprising. From brushing his teeth too early to sneaking prostitutes into the ward, he shows Nurse Ratched that she cannot rule him. This story reminded me of Malala Yousafzai and her retaliation against the Taliban.

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In the beginning, McMurphy seems to be winning his conflicts with Nurse Ratched but she is merely waiting for the right moment, in anticipation for her opening. Nurse Ratched has crucial control over the patients and this is what makes McMurphy lose to Nurse Ratched. McMurphy finds out the reason why the other patients are in the ward when they say to him that

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The nurse’s claims are stated when she says, “I’ll admit that my first thought when I began to recognize Mr. McMurphy for the disturbing force that he is was that he should most definitely be sent up to Disturbed.” Until, she contradicts this statement when she adds “We have weeks, or months, or even years if need be. Keep in mind that Mr. McMurphy is committed. The length of time he spends in this hospital is entirely up to us.” Seeing that he is trapped, McMurphy is anxious and struggles to remain calm, cool, and collected with the idea that the nurse may punish him severely with either option she has

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In the ward, the only individual capable of undermining Nurse Ratched’s power is Randle McMurphy. By blatantly disregarding the nurse’s strict rules, standing up for himself, and encouraging other patients to do so, he creates a situation that jeopardizes the order Nurse Ratched has created. When McMurphy manages to get a fishing trip approved, granted he gets ten other patients to sign up, Nurse Ratched uses malicious methods to thwart his plans: “The nurse started steadily bringing in clippings from the newspapers that told about wrecked boats and sudden storms on coast” (Kesey 178). In order to dismantle the immense progress McMurphy has made towards changing the attitudes of the patients, Nurse Ratched discourages them from attending his trip. Her motive in doing this is to have the patients lose faith in McMurphy, ultimately destroying the influence he has over them.

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In the struggle between freedom and power, McMurphy’s sacrifice allows freedom to prevail. His leadership in a rising rebellion parallels many of the countercultures that arose during the 1960s. His rebellion fights against Nurse Ratched in the way that the countercultures fought against the government and society in the past to the present. The men in the asylum are unknowingly unhappy before the arrival of McMurphy. Through his antics, the men are saved from society in the form of Nurse Ratched’s regime.

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.

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The ward is not doing anything to help them, it is just making them worse. Billy could have gotten a wife and gone off to college if the insecurity of stutter did not scare him so much. Harding would have had it difficult but he did not even try to live that life he was so afraid of. When McMurphy brought them on the boat trip it was a huge turning point for the characters, mentally. There is still the question if mental institutions really help people with there “insanity” or keep them

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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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McMurphy arrives to the ward thinking he is different from the other patients on the ward, but throughout the novel his hidden subconscious thoughts of his true mental state are revealed. While introducing himself to the patients, McMurphy tells the background story of how he ended up where he was. He says that the “court ruled that [he’s] a psychopath” (13), and he didn’t argue with that ruling. Although he doesn’t deny that he belongs on a mental ward, he claims that he only acted the way he did to leave “those damned pea fields” (13) and quit working. Because he is a true gambler at heart, he bets the patients that he can get under Nurse Ratched’s skin and shake up things on the ward.

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Another point to note was that McMurphy seems abnormal among the patients. Especially with his laugh, I kept thinking that he might be mentally ill and not fake it (Kesey). But if you just imagine his behavior outside of the asylum, then it seems normal. This phenomenon is well known in psychology. It says that person once convicted of mental illness have an uphill battle to prove that he is not.

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