One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Nurse Ratched (also known as Big Nurse) was used to being forceful to get what she wanted. She stopped at no end to have complete oversight over the men in the ward. When the men were in the nurse’s presence they were either saying what they knew she wanted to hear or cleaning something that she ordered them to clean. They knew not to speak out against her and to not say something that would make you stand out too much. Ratched’s tactics to get them to be fit for society were normally some kind of procedure on the man

Nurse Ratched is the commanding presence in the novel before the arrival of McMurphy. The patients are forced to adhere to her set schedule. Nurse Ratched is able to have extensive power over everyone because she is feared by the entire ward. One day, Nurse Ratched calls for a group therapy session and begins to pick on Harding. Afterward, when McMurphy talks to Harding about the meeting and Nurse Ratched, Harding reveals the current situation of the ward.

Ken Kesey portrays McMurphy as a Chris-like figure in many different parts of the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. In the book, McMurphy is viewed by some as a Christ-like figure, and for some, he is not. Ken Kesey intended for McMurphy to be a heroic, Christ-like figure because of events that occurred and the battle between McMurphy and the "evil" Nurse Ratched. A few events that occurred that demonstrated McMurphy's heroic, Christ-like figure was the Electro Shock Therapy and the fishing trip.

Nurse Ratched rules through insinuation and never outright threatens or accuses her patients. Instead she becomes a destructive conscience. After McMurphy is admitted to the ward her glass panel breaks constantly, representing how easily her control is lost to him. McMurphy breaks the glass panel to remind the patients of how Ratched’s power is easily broken. Nurse Ratched, knowing McMurphy can easily thwart her manipulation tactics, sets up a meeting without McMurphy. Nurse Ratched attempts to recapture her patients through manipulation and insinuation. “No, Billy, I wasn’t implying anything. I was simply observing that Mr. McMurphy isn’t one to run a risk without reason. You would all agree to that, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t all of you agree to that?”(264). Nurse Ratched attempts to regain control over the ward by turning the acutes against McMurphy. She tells the group of McMurphy’s gambling problem and implies that he is hustling them. She fears McMurphy’s influence and attempts to convert the patients without his knowledge. Nurse Ratched does not anticipate the change in her patients. Billy surprises her by fiercely defending

As a man who pretends to be deaf and mute, Bromden is considered to be a relatively unbiased character, yet he even displays strong feelings of hatred towards Nurse Ratched, proving just how evil she is. As Nurse Ratched enters the novel for the first time, she brings with her a noticeably ominous atmospheric change with, “A gust of cold,” (4) that represents her complete control over every aspect of the mental ward, even the weather. At the pinnacle of Kesey’s totalitarian society, Nurse Ratched represents the tendencies of an oppressive government or what Bromden calls, The Combine. For example, she suppresses the patients’ free will because regardless of the patients actual sanity, she is undeniably in control of their fates at the hospital. Besides McMurphy, the majority of the patients could leave on their own, but Nurse Ratched has been able to brainwash them into thinking that they are not suited to assimilate with others outside of the ward. Billy Bibbit says to McMurphy when he asks why they do not leave, “You think I wuh-wuh-wuh-want to stay in here? You think I wouldn’t like a con-convertible and a guh-guh-girl friend? But did you ever have people l-l-laughing at you? No, because you’re so b-big and so tough!” (162-163). Just like an oppressive government, Nurse Ratched convinces its people that they are worthless so they never feel powerful enough to retaliate. Like an alcoholic, Nurse Ratched needs her fix of power that makes her drunk and

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, was a very successful novel which was impactful on the world in the past, and still is today. Ken Kesey, a big believer in individuality and the freedom to be oneself, brought new meaning to the world of psychiatry that changed treatments forever. This book didn’t just affect American society, it had a global impact. All around the world there are people that are admitted into mental institutions, and this book changed treatments in these facilities. The novel also raised awareness of the psych ward culture in which this book took place.

Regarding Miss Ratched, she seems to show signs of passive-aggressive behavior throughout the book. This behavior adds to her manipulative ways and contributed to the decrease of the patients’ progress (mental/physical state). Passive-aggressive behavior is used to maintain control and power because it’s a way for her to not display any signs of weakness. Miss Ratched, also known as the Big Nurse to the patients, fights hard to remain as the top authority figure in the Ward due to her thirst for power. To maintain the control over the men, she emasculates them, stripping them of their masculinity, in various ways to prevent the chance of an uproar against her. For instance, after a group meeting regarding Harding’s problem with his wife’s breasts, the patients attack Harding. In response, McMurphy provides an analogy of a pecking party to the current

CHIEF BROMDEN: He is the narrator of the novel and has been in the mental hospital longer than anyone else. He feels as though he has lost himself ever since he was placed into the mental hospital for his illusions and his mental instability. He often just quietly observes everyone in the word and pretends as though he can’t hear or speak. He doesn’t get in anyone’s way, but somehow manages to find out a lot about people in the mental hospital. Due to how analytical he is, he quickly notices how different McMurphy is from everyone else.

Many times throughout one of Ken Kesey’s most famous novels, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the book uses animals as symbols to represent the story’s plot. The animals usually relate to individual characters and their current struggles within the story. Animal imagery provides us with great insight to the themes that Kesey is trying to have us explore, and is a very good tool that the reader can use to help better understand and relate to the characters.

Nurse Ratched acts as the authoritarian figure in the story who strips all the power from the patients with her “ward policy”. The acute patients are the only ones present for the vote to change the schedule. For example, she mentions “There are forty patients on the ward, Mr, McMurphy. Forty patients, and only twenty voted, you must have a majority to change ward policy”(Kesey 209) She says this because the twenty patients present at the group meeting are the only patients who are capable of thinking for themselves. The other patients who are not present at the meeting, are still accounted for as chronic patients. This is one of the many ways she rigs ward policy in her favor in order to prevent power from leaving her side. Kesey also uses symbolism to describe her overwhelming intimidation. The narrator, Chief Bromden is in

Nurse Ratched gives the impression that nurses are cruel, heartless and do not care about their patients. She makes nurse look like the 'bad guys'. People who do not care and will not listen to the patient. Nurse Ratched does not show the core nursing values that everyone should receive when being taken care of by a nurse. She looks past the problems and pretends everything is alright when it clearly is not. Nurses must notice and solve patients' problems. If they do not something dangerous could occur. For example, the most emotional scene in the movie was when the character Billy is caught with a women and had spent the night with her. Nurse Ratched theathens to call his mother and he begs her not to. He becomes hysteric and later he kills hisself because he does want the disapproval of his mother. A nurse is suppose to make sure the patient is safe and comfortable. A nurse should becareful what they say to a patient so they do not become as upset as Billy did and cause a tragedy. Nurse Ratched should have never threathened Billy. It is unprofessional and caused the patient unneccessary distress. Billy went against Nurse Ratched's authority and led him to suicide. She treats the patients as prisoners instead of patients like a professional should. She makes nurses everywhere seems horrible and unemotional. She does not care for her patients like a real nurse

In One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the concept of insanity is proven as a state consipred by society, but is represented as an illness that one individual grants on another. Kesey’s writes his novel through the mind of Chief Bromden, a patient in a mental hospital, who becomes inspired to rebel against the ward by a character named McMurphy. Through characters like McMurphy and Chief Bromden, Kesey shows that the men are not mentally ill, instead they are disturbed by the corrupted treatment from Nurse Ratched. McMurphy and Bromden “are resocialized to play a passive and apathetic role rather than an active one in an effort to change troublesome patterns

As McMurphy joins these sessions, he is shocked to see what appear to be normal men told to be puppets with no control over their own destinies. His rebellion is put into action once he sees what is going on around him this is the same rebellion against authority that has gotten McMurphy into trouble with the law many times before. At first he seems amused to see yelling at one another but as he takes the entire situation into mind he changes it into chaos. He observes how Nurse Ratched controls over the sessions with a sly smile painted across her mouth. He sees how she appears to push and pull the patients as she pleases for own advantages. In response, he interrupts the therapy sessions by playing with a deck of cards (Quote page 12) he stares at Nurse Ratched and a silent challenge passes between the two. Nurse Ratched for her authority but, he also enjoys trying to break down those who control others.

In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, Nurse Ratched symbolizes the oppression of society through archetypal emasculation. The male patients at the ward are controlled, alienated and forced into submission by the superior female characters. Throughout the novel, there is a constant fear of female superiority; Randle McMurphy, the sexually empowered male protagonist, states how they are essentially being castrated. Castration, in the novel, symbolizes the removal of freedom, sexual expression and their identity. Furthermore, Nurse Ratched, the mechanical enforcer, represents American society: corruption, surveillance and the deterioration of individuality.

In Kesey’s 1950s novel ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest’ Nurse Ratched’s relationship with male patients is based upon differences they hold about gender and identity. Nurse Ratched is portrayed as a masculine misandrist figure that gains power from emasculation. She carries “no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she’s got that bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties” . This implies nothing womanly about her as she prioritises her “duties”, suggesting that she aims to control her male patients by ridding her feminine qualities. In addition, she is shown in robotic with a chilling aura. This is evident when she slid “through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her” . This indicates that as a power figure her only concern is controlling her male patients, making sure they are obedient and abiding by her rules. “Gust of cold” implies that by doing so she wholly ruins her relationship with the males due to her “cold” and callous methods. Daniel J. Vitkus states she is “the Big Nurse, an evil mother who wishes to keep and control her little boys (the men on the ward) under her system of mechanical surveillance and mind control.” Yet, can be argued that she is fulfilling her role of working as a Nurse within a mental institution. However Vitkus’s critique is similar to when McMurphy says “Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter?” McMurphy is a hyper masculine force against Ratched’s emasculating norms. Their relationship is essentially a power