Analysis Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Victory is always good. This is an instinct that most people have, and in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Kesey debunks the commonly held belief that winning is good with Randle McMurphy, a character who achieves a pyrrhic victory against Nurse Ratched in the novel. Since McMurphy’s entry into the mental ward, he challenges the authority of the Big Nurse and in doing so unintentionally alters the lives of the ward patients. Because McMurphy seems to empower the patients to rebel against the Nurse, readers think that McMurphy is the central hero in the novel. However, McMurphy only serves a catalyst for bringing about inner change in the characters; it is up to the characters themselves to be ready to accept the change. Out of all the ward patients, it is only Bromden who accepts the change and really
Working Thesis: There is no central heroic figure in the novel. McMurphy is a catalyst for bringing about inner change in the

Unlike other patients in the ward, Bromden had an advantage. His feigned deafness and muteness gave him the “power of insanity”. Patients like Billy Bibbit goes real close to achieving the inner change after spending a night with Candy. When he is questioned by the Nurse on his actions he speaks clearly without any stutters which insinuates that he has restored his confidence. However, Nurse, aware of Billy’s weakness, mentions his mother and makes Billy feel ashamed. In that moment, Billy returns to his old self and starts stuttering again, never reaching the full inner change. Because Bromden has faked that he is deaf and mute, the Nurse does not know anything that will make Bromden feel weak and unsure of himself and that is the reason why Bromden was the only one capable of lifting the panel, which symbolizes liberating oneself from Nurse’s authority and restoring power to be “normal” in the outside world