One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

The oppressor, or antagonist, of the story is Nurse Ratched, or the Big Nurse. Her methods of oppression, including attempts to emasculating the men in the medical ward, is the foundation of the work. The nurse uses her power to manipulate the patients as well as members of the staff in the hospital. Since she is in charge of the entire ward, she runs it with an iron fist while concealing her feminism and humanity behind a patronizing façade. As the story progresses, Nurse Ratched loses some power over the patients with the introduction of a new patient on the ward, Randle McMurphy. As McMurphy continues to fight her oppression, her façade breaks down and falls apart as she loses control.

Second in a discussion of power are the women associated with the patients. The supervisor at the hospital is associated with the patients by controlling who is employed to take care of the patients. Nurse Ratched and the supervisor served in the Army together as nurses. They are still very close and have a good relationship. Because of this relationship, Nurse Ratched’s employment is secured and others won’t stand up to her for fear of losing their own jobs. Harding states “In this hospital, the doctor doesn’t hold the power of hiring and firing. That power goes to the supervisor and the supervisor is a woman, a dear old friend of Miss Ratched’s” (61). The receptionist on the ward is Nurse Ratched’s neighbor

The book, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” is a story about the exploits of the struggling patients of a psychiatric ward, an overbearing nurse, and a vulgar but lively new admission. Within this particular story, Kesey implements thematic elements in the story. These elements are known as motifs in which gives the story a deeper meaning including the characters as well. Three motifs are used to influence the reader’s understanding of the story which are the fog, the religious Christ aspect, and people as machines. Throughout the novel these elements are heavily noticed and do provide such deep meaning to the characters and story. With this in mind this makes the story more of a true experience.

laughter can free a man who is under the control of an unjust authority. Through the

The Christ figure is a recurring symbol in American literature. Throughout Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, various interactions and events portray McMurphy as a Christ figure. There are frequent visual and concrete references to Christ throughout the novel. Also, the reader discovers that the other patients view McMurphy as an inspiration and someone they wish to emulate. This cooperation enables him to oppose Nurse Ratched and do what he thinks is best for the patients.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Habersham County, Tom was feeling slightly nervous as he exited the staff lounge and entered the hustle and bustle of County Hospital’s ER to begin his first shift as an RN. The first few hours of his shift passed slowly as Tom mostly checked vital signs and listened to patients complain about various aches, pains, coughs, and sniffles. He realized that the attending physician, Dr. Greene, who was rather “old school” in general about how he interacted with nursing staff, wanted to start him out slowly. Tom knew, though, that the paramedics could bring in a trauma patient at any time.

all the solutions for the problems that the nurse would bring up to try and stop

Equally important the nurse indicated that she was in a hurry and unable to sit down, choosing rather to stand while she talks to the patient. What the nurse did not realise was that she had assumed a power stance and had failed to create an environment that was holistic, conducive and

Original Summary: After a group meeting with the nurse, McMurphy questions why everyone is so afraid of her and is unable to talk back. The patients fear that she can administer the electroshock treatment to them and cite Chief as an example, he was forced to endure more than 200 electroshock treatments when the therapy first came out. They fear that they will become like Chief who is six-foot-eight and afraid of his own shadow, but McMurphy then bets that he can cause the nurse to lose her temper. Later, Chief talks about how on some days the ward turns on a “fog machine” for the patients and many of them enjoy hiding in the “fog” citing that it makes them feel safe, but McMurphy tries to pull them out in the open away from the “fog”. Throughout the course of a few days, McMurphy does things that cause Nurse Ratched to slowly lose her temper, and when McMurphy gets the other patients out of the fog to watch the World Series with him, even though

Throughout the film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", many changes differentiate the movie from the book. Not only can these differences be seen in the characters of the novel, but also in the series of events that make this story so interesting. In this essay, the significance of these differences will be revealed as well as the reasons for the changes.

The innermost metaphor of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is that of the machine. The metaphor is introduced early in the novel, during the character of Bromden, and it recurs at regular points throughout. Bromden sees society as a massive machine, which he calls the come together, and he sees the matching machine at work in the hospital. He describes the Big Nurse in machine-like terms. In the first chapter, as he sees her approaching the black boys, “she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load”. When he describes her objective appearance, it is in provisions that apply to machines: her gestures are “fixed, automatic” and “Her face is smooth, calculated,

     Sometimes in life people are forced to conform to a certain situation for lack of a better alternative, and this is the case in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. These such people lack the will to stand up for their scruples, and intern are simply guided through their mundane lives by the powers that be. Until someone comes along offering them leadership and the prospect to become “big again.” The man who does so is no other than R.P. McMurphy. Scanlon, Harding, Bibbit, and Chief Bromden may have become adjusted to the oppressive system in which they lived, but certainly were much better adjusted to the real world and life in general after their experience with McMurphy.

When McMurphy finds out that he is one of two patients that are involuntarily committed to the hospital, it makes him realize that he alone is fighting for his freedom, and the others have been repressed by Ratched to the point of being afraid to rebel against her or simply leave. McMurphy fights until the end to free these men of their emasculation even if it

The novel, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” by Ken Kesey illustrates society on a small scale. The story, narrated by Chief, a patient, starts in a mental ward that is run by Big Nurse Ratched. The policy is the law and no one can change it, only abide by it. The patients are being oppressed by Nurse Ratched, though they don’t realize it until McMurphy shows up. The patients do as Nurse Ratched says because they fear her wrath. Throughout the novel, the character Randle Patrick McMurphy represents the rebellious people in the oppressive society. As the story progresses, McMurphy commits many rebellious acts. He brings the patients together and they fight against the society, which is represented by

{Hospitals are an oddly cold place. Goosebumps cover your legs, and the open-backed gown sends an inexplicable breeze in unwanted places. The fluorescent lights flicker harshly overhead. When bare feet meet floor, there’s a strange sticky residue left. Unoiled stretcher wheels shriek loudly against every corner. The smell is the worst bit; like bleach that had tried and failed to scrub away things that should never have met air. My theory is that the hostile environment is deliberate. Lion’s Gate Hospital isn’t a place you would want to revisit. Something that people often point out about hospitals is that the strangeness that on one floor someone could by dying and on the floor below them someone could be giving birth. On a different floor,