Manipulation is a common method of control and influence that most if not all people have employed in one way or another in the course of their life. Any person can fall victim to manipulation, whether they are an authority figure like a parent or employer, an equal like a friend or classmate, or a ward like a child or student. Often when people envision manipulation, they only see the malicious nature it often has towards the victim. However, the perpetrator can sometimes have good intentions that leads to positive effects on the person being influenced. Both intentions are seen in Ken Kesey’s satiric novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with the characters Randle Patrick McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. These characters both possess powerful …show more content…
He attempts to create excitement within the asylum by organizing a party where he invites two strippers Sandy and Candy (Kesey 247). However, all the positive feelings from that night go up in smoke when she shames Billy into confessing who the mastermind of the party was by using her relationship with his mother (Kesey 264). This causes Billy to kill himself by slitting his throat, and she uses this tragedy to abase McMurphy, saying “the poor miserable, misunderstood boy killed himself…First Charles Cheswick and now William Bibbit! I hope you’re finally satisfied. Playing with human lives¾gambling with human lives¾ as if you thought yourself to be a God” (Kesey 266). These words seem to destroy McMurphy, a man who is only trying to make the lives of the inmates more exciting and worth living. He would have blamed himself for Billy’s death and probably Cheswick’s as well before she said it, but her saying it makes him have to confront the reality that if he had never come, they both probably would have still been alive. McMurphy snaps for the final time; he “smashed through the glass door…grabbed for her and ripped her uniform…He gave a cry…A sound of cornered-animal fear and hat and surrender and defiance” (Kesey 267). Soon after he is taken up to the Disturbed Ward where he is lobotomized and made a vegetable. Finally, to set McMurphy free forevermore, Chief suffocates him (Kesey 270). In summation, the manipulation and aggressive personality and tactics of Nurse Ratched causes McMurphy, a relatively normal spirited, yet stubborn man, to go into a violent rage and to truly become
The author Ken Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado and went to Stanford University. He volunteered to be used for an experiment in the hospital because he would get paid. In the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Kesey brings up the past memories to show how Bromden is trying to be more confident by using those thoughts to make him be himself. He uses Bromden’s hallucinations, Nurse Ratched’s authority, and symbolism to reveal how he’s weak, but he builds up more courage after each memory.
I chose the subject about “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” written by Ken Kesey in 1962 for my research paper because my mother told me years ago of the accompanying film and how interesting it is. Two years ago a friend of mine came back from his exchange programme in the United States of America. He told me that he and his theatre group there had performed this novel. He was and still is very enthusiastic about the theme and about the way it is written. Although I started reading the novel, I didn’t manage to finish it till the day we had to choose our subjects at school. When I saw this subject on the list, which we were given by our English teacher Mr Schäfer, I was interested immediately. So I chose it.
People often find themselves as part of a collective, following society's norms and may find oneself in places where feeling constrained by the rules and will act out to be unconstrained, as a result people are branded as nuisances or troublemakers. In the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the author Ken Kesey conveys the attempt McMurphy makes to live unconstrained by the authority of Nurse Ratched. The story is very one sided and helps create an understanding for those troublemakers who are look down on in hopes of shifting ingrained ideals. The Significance of McMurphy's struggles lies in the importance placed on individuality and liberty. If McMurphy had not opposed fear and autocratic authority of Nurse Ratched nothing would have gotten better on the ward the men would still feel fear. and unnerved by a possibility of freedom. “...Then, just as she's rolling along at her biggest and meanest, McMurphy steps out of the latrine ... holding that towel around his hips-stops her dead! ” In the novel McMurphy shows little signs like this to combat thee Nurse. His defiance of her system included
Within the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, two of the main themes are borders and marginalization. These themes are found within the various characters within this story, which lead to readers being able to clearly see the effects of this marginalization. Throughout the story, readers see a female-tyrant rule over those below her in a hierarchical setup. This leads to a clear separation of male and female characters. In this novel, the author is able to convey a sense of separation as well as slight misogyny with his use of borders and margins.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley both deal with enclosed cultures tightly controlled by an authority. Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in a psychiatric ward ruled by the ‘Big Nurse’ while Brave New World encompasses a wider society governed by the World State. Both societies function because dissent is prohibited. In each community an outsider appears who attempts to disrupt the control by exerting his free will. In both texts, free will must be eradicated because it is seen as a threat to the authority and stability of the society. By examining the manner in which control is exerted, the outsider as a subversive element and the necessity of the outsider’s death, one can determine the effectiveness of the protagonist’s sacrifice in these two novels.
What is the deciding factor in determining what is sane: what is natural, or what is socially acceptable? In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and later the movie the novel inspired, this conflict is ever present in its Oregon setting of a psychiatric hospital. Throughout the novel, characters with minor quirks and disabilities are shamed and manipulated by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched in an attempt to make them “normal”—that is, conforming to her rigid standards. In fact, the only time these characters overcome their personal challenges is when they are emboldened by the confidence of an outsider, McMurphy, who encourages embracing natural instincts and rejecting conformity. In one particularly apt scene, McMurphy’s recounting
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge,” verbalizes Andrea Dworkin. Gender-roles have been ingrained in the every-day life of people all around the world since the beginnings of civilization. Both One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Hamlet portray typical female stereotypes in different time periods. Due to the representation of women in literature like Hamlet by William Shakespeare and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kessey, and pop-culture, evidence of classic gender-based stereotypes in a consistently patriarchal world are still blatantly obvious in today’s societies.
Based in an asylum and told through the eyes of one of the insane patients, the reader builds a connection with the characters as they try to fight the cruelty and control of the hospital staff. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a book of high literary value, teacheing of man’s interminable struggle against society’s control over law and what it deems normal human behavior. It contains many literary devices that require readers to analyze the text in order to fully comprehend what is occurring in the story. Parents have made this book a very controversial subject, because of some of the inappropriate words and scenes in the book.The controversy over the banning of this book from school curriculum is a difficult situation because of what parents
Author Ken Kesey effectively reflects on the social climate of the 1960s in his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By creating a fictitious mental institution, he creates an accurate and eye-opening mirror image of repressive modern day society. While it’s both a microcosm and exaggeration of modern day society, Kesey stresses society’s obsession with conformity, while demonstrating that those individuals who reject societal pressure and conformity are simply deemed insane. However, Kesey infuses the power of the individual in his portrayal of the charismatic outlaw Randall McMurphy, and proves that it only takes one to defeat the restrictions of a repressive society. McMurphy’s evident superiority among the other patients in the hospital immediately established his power and authority over the other patients.
In the film One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the audience is shown the character of Mc Murphy who brought out the conflict of authority, obedience, and disobedience. The film introduces Nurse Ratched as head of the ward and the main authority figure. What this essay will focus on is if Nurse Ratched really ever is negligent? She is simply just doing her job. Would Mcmurphy be considered to be the so-called “evil” character in the film? When he arrives he causes so much chaos between the patients and the nurses. Would the audience agree Mcmurphy is even responsible for a patient's death within the ward?
Fred Wright, Lauren's instructor for EN 132 (Life, Language, Literature), comments, "English 132 is an introduction to English studies, in which students learn about various areas in the discipline from linguistics to the study of popular culture. For the literature and literary criticism section of the course, students read a canonical work of literature and what scholars have said about the work over the years. This year, students read One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, a classic of American literature which dates from the 1960s counterculture. Popularized in a film version starring Jack Nicholson, which the class also watched in order to discuss film studies and adaptation, the novel became notable for its sympathetic portrayal of the mentally ill. For an essay about the novel, students were asked to choose a critical approach (such as feminist, formalist, psychological, and so forth) and interpret the novel using that approach, while also considering how their interpretation fit into the ongoing scholarly dialogue about the work. Lauren chose the challenge of applying a Marxist approach to One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only did she learn about critical approaches and how to apply one to a text, she wrote an excellent essay, which will help other readers understand the text better. In fact, if John Clark Pratt or another editor ever want to update the 1996 Viking Critical Library edition of the novel, then he or she might want to include Lauren's essay in the next edition!"
The word “power” is defined in many ways. There is not a specific statement that defines what power is or what it’s supposed to be. Power can make or break a person or even an entire nation. Power is a measure of an entity’s ability to control the environment around itself, including the behavior of other entities. Ken Kesey, the author of the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, shows us the difference in power and control among the strong nurses and the men in the psychiatric ward. The men who are placed in the ward are controlled by Nurse Ratched, who takes control of situations the same way she did when she was an army nurse. Nurse Ratched is used to the men on the ward obeying her until a man named R.P. McMurphy is admitted. McMurphy is a strong man who had power and control in the outside world and continues to show his power and control once he is in admitted which creates a lot of conflicts within the story. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
The imagination is the reader’s most important tool on the path to enjoying a good book. One can only hinder their enjoyment of the story by disregarding the vivid images created by the mind. Nothing can compare to a landscape so exquisite that it would make a cinematographer jealous, or a prison so cold that you can see the inmates’ hot breath. However, some authors offer help for those who are creatively impaired. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author, Ken Kesey builds such an effective tone, that the shifts in the attitudes of the characters can be detected.
In Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author refers to the many struggles people individually face in life. Through the conflict between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy, the novel explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity. With these themes, Kesey makes various points which help us understand which situations of repression can lead an individual to insanity. These points include: the effects of sexual repression, woman as castrators, and the pressures we face from society to conform. Through these points, Kesey encourages the reader to consider that people react differently in the face of repression, and makes the reader realize the value of alternative states of perception, rather than simply writing them off as "crazy."
...s a time where the people were not afraid to uproar against controlling institutions. During this time period, a common hatred against conformity was shared throughout the public- these people were later to be known as beatniks ("Beatniks and Hippies"). Kesey himself being considered one of these “hippies” tries to portray his radical views through the character McMurphy. He represents the leader of the psychiatric ward, and has the ability to actually see the corruption occurring in the institution. He seeks to rally up the other patients through rebellious acts in order to break free of their oppression of Nurse Ratched (Kesey). Kesey is able to incorporate the anti-conformists ideology through McMurphys’ rebellious nature in the mental ward, and therefore is able to truly capture the anti-materialistic and anti-government tone of the time period of the 1960’s.