Essay on Christ Figures: One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Throughout the book One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, there are many similarities between McMurphy and the story of Jesus. This paints McMurphy as a savior to the ward just like Jesus was a savior to the world. Many occur throughout the story are symbols of events that happened in the story of Christ. Things such as the fishing trip, electroshock therapy, and the fact that he helped the patients reach their full potential all correlate with the life of Jesus Christ.

Ken Kesey utilizes Jesus Christ as a constant symbol throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The protagonist of the story acts as a model and leader for other characters in the book, just as Christ was for his disciples. It is appropriate that such a leader would be closely associated with a powerful, and worshiped figure. Kesey's use of Christ associates the ideas or theories in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with the bible. McMurphy, however, may seem an unlikely Christ-figure due to his violent, sexual and seemingly immoral behavior. His behavior is merely an embodiment of the reforming movements that both Jesus and McMurphy share. Kesey's

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey tells a story of a psychiatric ward full of unfair treatment brought to justice by a savior, Randle McMurphy. Throughout the novel biblical allusions are used to shine light on the evil in the ward. Some biblical allusions Kesey uses in “ One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” are the savior in McMurphy and the crucifixion of Jesus (McMurphy) in the form of the shock shop. Randle McMurphy is a reflection of Jesus as his teachings, just like Jesus’, impacted the patients. Since the moment McMurphy arrived he challenged the rules of the ward and encourages both the Acutes and Chronics to do so as well.

     Mcmurphy was the one who started making people laughing in the ward. When he first came into the ward he was cracking jokes and shaking everybody’s hand. (p.16)

He becomes a father-like figure to the inmates, and the inmates begin to rely on him for their needs. As McMurphy continues to defy Nurse Ratched and her rules by creating a basketball team, gambling even more, and annoying Nurse Ratched, the inmates begin to see his actions as divine. This proves he resembles Jesus Christ. He brings goodness into the ward to confront the evil set by the hospital. George Boyd describes McMurphy’s purpose when he says, “he brings the promise of spiritual renewal to his disciples” (126). McMurphy clearly shows this when he repairs Chief Bromden and convinces him to speak again. The Chief stops talking and acts deaf because he fears the society and its rules. McMurphy gives him a new life and strength to overcome his fear and to challenge the rules of the ward and Nurse Ratched. Another noteworthy example of spiritual renewal occurs when McMurphy takes twelve inmates on a fishing trip. He creates a sense of freedom and strength within the inmates by the trip. The resemblance to the twelve disciples of Christ is no coincidence. Just as Christ, McMurphy gives his disciples a new life to live and a bright outlook for the future. The inmates grow stronger and lose their weaknesses they are still afraid to take the initiative and challenge Nurse Ratched and look to McMurphy to solve their problems. The achievement of McMurphy’s rise to

When Christ is crucified in order to alleviate the world of its sins, there only remains the memory of him for the world. McMurphy, like Christ, gives his life to the men of the ward in order to alleviate them of their own “sins” Nurse Ratched has made them agonizingly regret. His soul, like Jesus’s, is left in the ward for them to remember and cherish. This sole memory of McMurphy does help one patient in particular finally escape this “hell” he has been in: Chief Bromden. Though McMurphy never physically gets Chief out of the ward, he did “[show him] how one time” as Scanlon points out (325). Correspondingly, Christ does not lead sinners to redemption in the flesh, but rather with remembering his teachings and applying them to the choices they make, they can be saved. In this same way, as a result of the sacrifice, resurrection, and lingering presence of their savior, R.P. McMurphy, patients at the ward are saved from the domineering Combine and are able to learn to live as free, functioning

Recurringly, authors use direct relations between the new testament and their novel to show proof of a Christ Figure. Kesey uses events like the fishing

Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, was inspired to write his novel from his time working as an orderly at a mental health facility. He often experimented with LSD and his documented drug use provided a realistic perspective of a mental patient. It is almost as if Kesey is an anti-hero himself; in order to achieve a different point of view, being that of a mental patient, and write a spectacular book, he broke the law by taking drugs. Ken Kesey portrayed the main character, McMurphy, as an anti-hero. Throughout the essay, different aspects of McMurphy’s anti-heroism will be explored by comparing the character with other fictional anti-heroes, such as Achilles, Jack Sparrow and Huckleberry Finn.

While working as a night attendant on the psychiatric ward of Menlo Park Veterans Hospital, Ken Kesey was stricken with an idea that would later turn into his first novel. That novel, entitled One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, went on to become his most famous work and a celebrated piece of modern American fiction (Lupack 566). One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest tells the story of a mental hospital which is running quite smoothly until a new patient enters the ward and sets chaos in motion. This new patient, McMurphy, disagrees with the rules of the ward’s authority figure, Nurse Ratched, and makes no attempt to hide it. Thus begins an all-out war between authority and the individual, leading to the suicides of several patients and even the

In the novel the patients become increasingly more dependent on McMurphy. In a scene when the patients are being punished by Nurse Ratched McMurphy feels obligated to stand up for one of the patients, Chief Bromden states that he can hear the despair in McMurphy’s voice when he arguing with the workers (Kesey 272). Defending his friends McMurphy gets into a physical fight with the three workers and Chief Bromden steps in to help him. This results in both of them getting sent to the Disturbed ward and is the first step in McMurphy’s decline (Kesey 276). Chief Bromden and McMurphy are both given Electroshock treatments, Chief comes out of the treatments stronger than ever because he believes he has something to live for now, but McMurphy comes out of the treatment appearing weak and tired (Kesey 289). After the suicide of Billy Bibbit Nurse Ratched blames his untimely death on the actions of McMurphy saying that he was “gambling with human lives” (Kesey 318). This results in McMurphy to choking Nurse Ratched and Chief Bromden’s realization that it was the patients who were making McMurphy act the way he was. It was his obligation to the patients that forced him to go on defying the Combine long after he had given up (Kesey 318). As punishment McMurphy is lobotomized. He comes back to the ward looking lifeless and small, Chief Bromden suffocates McMurphy to maintain his image as a hero (Kesey

Chief’s narration of this story would be described as unbiased and truly observant since he wouldn’t talk to anyone besides McMurphy due to his act of unwillingly playing deaf and dumb. Kesey is clearly compassionate to the patients on the ward. Kesey’s depictions of the patients show their benevolence and their dignity because of Chief’s unbiased point of view. Chief 's narration allows

Yancey starts out with the image of Jesus. When he was young he had envisioned Jesus to have angelic features such as, young, handsome, and a compassionate face. It wasn’t until he entered into a Christian college, that he was introduced to the real image of Jesus. I had an immediate connection with Yancey. I too had an image of Christ in my head, which consisted of Hollywood portrayals and those in classical paintings. It wasn’t till I engaged myself at a Christian college, that I have now received a new and more accurate picture of Christ. His book, The Jesus I Never Knew, questions the reader with the thought, “How many Christians today are in the same position, not fully understanding

In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey makes many allusions to McMurphy as a Christ-like figure. As the story progresses the religious references increase and become more evident. Any character can be a Christ figure, “where you find them, and as you find them. If the indicators are there, then there is some basis for drawing the conclusion” (Foster, 2003, p.123). Throughout the novel McMurphy’s actions parallel the actions of Christ. From the beginning it was clear McMurphy was different from the other patients. As his visit prolonged, McMurphy began to care for the patients much like Christ cared for his followers. In order to depict this similarity, Kesey used foreshadowing, events, and feelings.

202). Despite leading a relatively innocuous external existence in the small northern European harbor-town of Copenhagen, Kierkegaard bequeathed to his subsequent multitude of bewildered readers a labyrinthine, furtive, and perpetually self-dramatized internal history. The secret of this mysterious ‘curse’ and the question mark over Kierkegaard’s psycho-pathology in general has long been and continues to remain the subject of much scholarly fascination and conjecture. Kierkegaard’s deliberate proclivity for dramatic lyrical confessions, self-consciously evoking the eternal night brooding within, has elicited a variety of morbid and salacious speculation about the hidden etymology of a secret suffering which, invoking the affliction of St. Paul, he provocatively names as his ‘thorn in the flesh’. The pathology of Kierkegaard’s neurotic religiosity has been traced variously to such —occasionally speculative—hidden sources as manic-depression, psychosis, sexual anxiety, syphilis (Fenger, 1980, pp. 62-80), epilepsy (Garff, 2005, pp. 458-461), or even the malformed physicality of Kierkegaard’s alleged hunchback (Magnussen,

McMurphy in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is used primarily to benefit