Misuse of Powe in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

In the cinematic classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest expresses the ideal that the inhibitory rights of freedom, sly manipulation, and misuse of power results in an oppressive authoritarian leader that misuses his/her own power in handling people. The setting is placed in between the 1950’s and 1960’s in an insane asylum. The film challenges the view of what exactly determines someone to be “insane” or “sane” the main character sheds light onto the subject by showing how relative sanity can actually be. An exceedingly reckless, yet diligent individual named, Randle McMurphy, stands up to the oppressive leader who is known as Nurse Ratched in a rebellion to her repressive ways to stir up some “fun” in the mental ward. McMurphy intends to bring some life back into the patients who have been dehumanized by Nurse Ratched. The shallow and pedantic view that Nurse Ratched illustrates is the idea that these men have to relinquish their state of individuality in order to become normalized in society. Unfortunately, Nurse Ratched misuses her power and forced McMurphy to go under a lobotomy which causes him to lose part of his brain by severing the prefrontal cortex and all of his whole-hearted spirit.

As the film progresses, McMurphy is able to create a “backbone” for the patients. The patients begin to rebel, as seen when Charles Cheswick demands his cigarettes after Nurse telling him no. She feels extremely vulnerable after one of the patients named Billy commits suicide because she feels like she lost her grip on the patients. McCarthy impulsively strangles Nurse Ratched, although she is able to survive; she punishes McMurphy by letting him go under a lobotomy. Protagonist Randle McMurphy can be classified to have Narcissistic P...

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In conclusion, the diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder is applied to McMurphy because he has at least five out of the nine symptoms recorded by the DSM-IV: 1) overstated feel of self-importance 2) Fixation with delusions of boundless success, power, and brilliance 3) Believes the individual is “special” and can only associate with high-class, superior people 4) Has a sense of entitlement 5) Requires too much admiration 6) Lacks empathy 7) Uses others to get the individuals selfish end goals 8) Often envious of people and has a false idea that people are envious of him 9) Displays patronizing attitudes around people. Also, his choice of staying in a mental facility proves to serve as protection from social rejection. The NPD of McMurphy proves to be exemplified throughout the film by means of overtly perilous behaviors and attitudes.