One of the main topics throughout the novel deals with how different perspectives affect your opinions and ideas. Now that we are mostly through the novel, who are really the “ill” patients in the ward?
Reader #1- My definition of illness can be broken down into physical illness and mental illnesses. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, i don't think many patients are actually physically sick, but not a lot of them are mentally sick either. It almost seems that McMurphy is not mentally ill, but nurse ratched is. She keeps her power by manipulating them. She has a hard time getting McMurphy to be submissive, so she looks for her other staff to help her and turn against McMurphy. “The Nurse’s eyes swelled out white as he got close. This was supposed to be her final victory over him, supposed to establish her rule once and for all”(Kesey, 201). I think she’s addicted to her own power and McMurphy threatens that. Reader #2-The ill ones in the ward aren’t the patients. well in a standard point of view that is true, but in a deeper point of view, it’s the nurse and doctors, because unlike the patients, they can’t do anything about how they act, but the staff chooses how they act and how they treat those patients. Most of the time they treat them like they’re less than a human being. My views of mental illness changed because at the beginning of the book, mental wards were always just a place where the insane went. But, I’ve learned that some people are there because they’re afraid of themselves. they have insecurities just like any other person. Illness affects your quality of life because in someone's eyes, you’ll always be different, or not good enough. that kind of stereotyping is how people feel uncomfortable living in their own skin. I personally think the Nurse needs the most help, because a normal person doesn’t think that treating another human being like that is the right way to handle situations. The rest of the staff seems just as uncomfortable with her as the patients do, and it’s clear that the ward shouldn’t be under control of someone who doesn’t know how to help those patients. Reader #3-I think everyone is starting to realize that McMurphy actually might be “crazy” o r”ill”. Recently, he got put through his first treatment of shock therapy and I feel like that doesn’t really happen unless you’re actually sick. In my opinion, it’s awful and no one should ever have to go through that. Does it actually even work? Being ill can mean a few things. It can mean the typical being sick with the flu or having cancer. Another ill, is being mentally ill (like the patients). Being ill is extremely unfortunate because you don’t have any control over your mind. You’ve been traumatized by something in the past or your brain has a chemical problem. My view on mental illnesses hasn’t changed from reading this book. Having a mental illness obviously changes your life completely. Every day being affected by something you can’t really fix on your own makes life unenjoyable. It’s hard to tell who needs the most help in the ward because everyone has their own bursts and all have problems on different levels. Reader #4-Illness is a time of sickness affecting the body or mind. Before reading the book I thought mental illness was something that caused people to not be normal and not be able to do things correctly. However, while reading this book, I have come to find that mental illnesses can just cause people to be in a different state of mind or cause them to be in some kind of “funk”. Not all mental illnesses causes people to not be normal, and I have come to that conclusion from reading this book. Illnesses can cause the quality of life to not reach its full potential, and that is important because if life can not reach its full potential, people with illnesses should live everyday like it’s their last. Surprisingly, I don’t believe one of the patient needs the most help. I believe the one who needs the most help is Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched does not how to treat people and only cares about power. She tries to make the ward bad for the patients and that is not right. If she did a better job of doing her job the patients in the ward could be doing better. Reader #5- My definition of an illness is someone who is suffering from a disorder or anything in the body and can’t take care of themselves. I believe that McMurphy has changed a lot throughout the story he has become more powerful and more controlling, even with nurse ratched, the ways McMurphy had been acting makes me think that he is becoming even crazy the longer he’s in there. McMurphy got into a fight and the big nurse talked to him a day later and it says that ‘’ The big nurse talks to McMurphy, soft and patient, about the irresponsible thing he did, the childish thing, throwing a tantrum like a little boy- aren’t you ashamed?’’(280) The more McMurphy is in the ward, the more crazier he will get, because he’s surrounded by a bunch of other crazy people. Reader #6-The patients are not the only ones who are ill on the ward. Illness, in my eyes, is someone who is or acts different without trying to. Over time when reading the book my eyes have opened and became aware that the staff could also be ill. The staff, especially the black boys, appear to have developed abusive and violent tendencies. The patients have started to fear the Nurse and Black Boys because of this. After learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment(an experiment where normal people volunteered to become inmates and guards for a few weeks in a test environment) I learned that after only 5 days of normal students had also developed abusive and violent tendencies towards the inmates. It is highly possible that some of the staff are more dangerous than some patients, and may even need to be admitted to the ward themselves. Reader #7-In part 5 of Cuckoo’s Nest there's an interesting point that maybe the staff in the mental ward isn’t quite as “healthy” as they seem. An illness can be anything wrong with you mentally and physically. Illnesses can harm your quality of life because they keep you from doing things you used to normally do. In the novel, McMurphy fakes insanity to be put into the ward to have an easier time of things. McMurphy says to himself, “When i get out of here the first woman that takes on ol’ Red McMurphy the ten thousand-watt psychopath, she’s gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars! No, i ain’t scared of their little battery-charger.” McMurphy for one, isn’t even supposed to be in the ward. Throughout the entire novel McMurphy acts fearless he acts as if he can do anything, and anything he wants. In my opinion McMurphy is the most ill in the novel because of the actions he makes and the things he has said and done. He thinks he’s invincible and because he is faking his insanity it has began to make him actually mentally insane. Reader #8-A Illness is a disease that causes someone to not properly think right or properly function correctly. my own view on mental illness hasn’t really changed, everything i thought i knew was right. i believe that mental illness is a serious disease and that some people do belong in the hospital for the best. the most people who need help are the walkers or the chronics. they need the most help because they can't really do anything but sit or stand. everyone on the hospital have their own disability and they all act differently. even though McMurphy might not me sane or if he is he still smarter than all the other patients by far. Reader #9-Illness can be defined in many different ways. The definition of illness in the case of the book, the definition is, A disease that affects the body or mental state of someone. Illness is sh0wn throughout part four. One place where illness is shown when they are trying to get the “crabs” off of him. On page (273 Kesey) George says “No-none of that stoof.” As a grown man you don’t usually talk like a little kid unless you are messing around. As a grown man i imagine you want to take care of yourself. But George didn’t understand that The crabs were not good for him until someone informed him. The view of mental illness to me due to this quote changed how i look at it because i don’t see that in my everyday life.
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The ever-raging war between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy takes a new turn when the Big Nurse starts to show the patients their finances since McMurphy arrived. Let’s take a look at the effectiveness of this tactic. Are the patients getting their money’s worth?
Reader #1-In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest I feel the patients in the ward are not getting their money's worth nor are getting the treatment they deserve. The patients in the ward are better off because of McMurphy, he see’s the bad in nurse ratched and tries to save the patient's. Nurse ratched is the only one they should be afraid of at this point because of how manipulative she can be. However, how poorly they are treated by her they are not getting their money's worth. McMurphy compares her techniques with “brainwashing, used by communist during the Korean conflict”(212). The patients feel that McMurphy is going to be in deep trouble with Nurse ratched because of how dangerous she is, he won't survive fighting her. Nurse ratched is trying to take advantage of all the patients. We all hope McMurphy has the power to stop her. Reader #2-The patients are starting to question if McMurphy is helping them or taking advantages of them. Nurse Racthed thought of a new plan to win back the patients from McMurphy’s grip. Turing them all against him, and she believes that if she can do that she can gain control again. However, I believe that McMurphy is the best thing that ever happened to the ward. Although, he is indeed gaining more money on bets and gambles. He makes them stand up against the combine and helps them get what could actually help them. All of a sudden, they are starting to doubt McMurphy’s true reason for doing what he does: “We’ve all certainly got our money’s worth every time he fleeced us, haven’t we? He’s a shrewd character with an eye out of a quick dollar”(Kesey 266). Everyone is getting nervous thinking about McMurphy’s true reason for why he sticks up for them. Is it just for the money? Or does he really care for them? The patients begin to watch him more closely and think twice before they give him any more money. They are watching and waiting to see if their friend is really their friend or just a con artist. McMurphy changed the way the ward works, none of them can disagree with that. Without him Nurse Ratched would still be running the show and have everything her way. I believe they certainly got their money’s worth when McMurphy came to the ward. Reader #3-In my opinion, I think that the patients are being taken advantage of in a type of way. McMurphy is sneaky and knows how to gain control at every aspect. The patients are just excited for the attention from someone like McMurphy, an independent guy. I do not think that they are getting their money’s worth, however, I don't think any of them care. Nurse Ratched is just trying to turn everyone against McMurphy. And it still isn’t working. She will tell the patient's anything and do anything to make him look like the bad guy. The patients are better off with Mcmurphy in the ward because they are finally being able to find some self worth. McMurphy has not been detrimental at all. His intentions are good, he just wants to help the patients find themselves. I think that the patients are scared of this, it makes them nervous. But at the same time they like the thrill Mcmurphy has brought to them. They are getting their money's worth in this case by learning more about themselves and all of the power they truly possess. Reader #4-McMurphy is taken advantage of the other patients in the ward. Ever since the beginning of the book he has been taking advantage of them, by telling them things like the outside world is so much worst than in the ward. I feel the patients would be better off without McMurphy, they would have their own opinions and thoughts about things. The patients also don’t know better now without listening to him. They don’t know how to handle their own situations without McMurphy's input and ideas which isn’t healthy for themselves. Reader #5-In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest I believe the patients are being taken advantage of. SInce McMurphy has arrived at the ward he’s had all the power and attention from the other patients and they admire him. I feel like the patients have no idea how much McMurphy is controlling them.”The Acutes took to joking with McMurphy about how it looked like he was taking them down the line, and he was never one to deny it”( kesey 262).The patients are all trying to protect McMurphy. They were telling him to leave so Nurse Ratched will not harass him and all the patients are doing anything they can so McMurphy gets what he wants. The patients are putting McMurphy first before themselves. Symbols are a concrete object that stand for an abstract idea. There are a lot of things that could be considered a symbol in the novel, and one of those things is the repeated breaking of the glass in Nurse Ratched’s office. Let’s explore the significance and meaning behind this.
Reader #1-McMurphy busted a window recently. Not sure why, but his reasons became self evident. He ruined his chance for escape, or release. But, in a way, he helped Chief. It was a symbolic victory, a gesture in which he showed how you can defy society as an individual. He became a martyr, showing the men that they could be doing something more. He wants them to find themselves, regain who they once were. Reader #2-In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chief bromden has a flashback and we learn chiefs past. Chief remembers what happened between his parents and how “ mother kept getting bigger while father shrunk into alcoholism and despair”. Chief joined world war II and in the army he learns about the electronics that he will later develop schizophrenically. His hallucinations come from the combine; a large mechanized matrix that control over mankind. Chief thinks he can hear the mechanized gears of the combine beneath the floors of the hospital where he has been living as a deaf mute since the war. Although chiefs confidence was returned by McMurphy, this is so meaningful because he has a first thought from his past, and he usually can't think of it. Reader #3-In this novel, the nurses station glass keeps breaking. As of what is going on in the book right now, i think this symbolizes a gesture of defiance, and wanting equality. Because the nurse is locked up in a room and everyone has to share the ward so it’s considered unfair. So mcmurphy defies that boundary. I think this act of rebellion is going to spread through the ward. This may lead to future fights or acts of defiance. One theme could be rebellion or individuality because mcmurphy wants to overpower the inequality of the ward. This is affecting the other patients because they witness this act and take consideration and think differently about the ward. Reader #4-After McMurphy shatters the glass at the nurse’s station he went back to the rebellious ways while Nurse Ratched tries to figure out another way to get ahead and have their attention again in the ward. McMurphy also brings a basketball team together and had Dr.Spivey sign it off as “therapeutic” value. Ratched wasn’t to fond of the idea and protested against it but overall McMurphy won. “tidiness like a pocket watch with a glass back, a place where the schedule is unbreakable and all the patients who aren’t Outside, obedient under her beam, are wheelchair Chronics with catheter tubes” In my opinion I believe the glass is represent the breaking of the old into the new. McMurphy was upset that Ratched declined his request that Candy Starr couldn’t come and see him. He broke the glass after the news; symbolizing that his old actions are in the past and he’s a new person now. Him and other people in the ward continues to break the glass. Also the glass in considered “unbreakable” as in the rules are unbreakable. McMurphy and other patients in the ward want to show that they’re breakable and continues to break the glass. Reader #5-The breaking glass might symbolize the people in the ward and how broken they are and how they lives were falling apart just like how the glass is breaking. McMurphy was the one who was breaking the class because on page 207 it says that ‘’ The nurse taped his hand in the station while scanlon and harding dug the cardboard out of the garage and taped it back in the frame, using adhesive from the same roll the nurse was bandaging McMurphy’s wrist and fingers with.McMurphy sat on a stool, grimacing something awful while he got his cuts tended, winking at scanlon and harding over the nurse’s head.’’ McMurphy felt sad about being in the ward and saw the glass and forgot it was there. Reader #6-During part 3 of the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, the glass in the Nurse’s station keeps getting broken over and over again. The broken glass might symbolize Nurse’s power and the way Mcmurphy keeps breaking her, But she somehow keeps winning all her power back. After the glass broke, the aides put a piece of cardboard where the glass broke, and Nurse continues to sit behind it as if it were transparent. She looks like “a picture turned to the wall”. The second time McMurphy punched through the glass it was a continuation of his physical rebellion, showing his strength against Nurse Ratched. Nurse finds other ways to take down McMurphy, but no matter what he does to Nurse he still continues to lose against her. The broken glass also might symbolize McMurphy’s weaknesses. Reader #7-Mcmurphy goes back to rebellious way after breaking the glass. at the same time nurse ratched is trying to get ahead of the ward. McMurphy creates a basketball team for the ward which Dr.Spivey sign off as therapeutic value. nurse ratched did not like the idea, and went agaisnt him, but there was not much she could do, so he won. “tidiness like a pocket watch with a glass back, a place where the schedule is unbreakable and all the patients who aren’t Outside, obedient under her beam, are wheelchair Chronics with catheter tubes” I believe the glass represents the breaking of the old into the new. McMurphy was upset that Ratched declined his request that Candy Starr couldn’t come and see him. He broke the glass after the news symbolizing that his old actions are in the past and he’s a new person now. Reader #8-The glass represents Ratched’s power and Mcmurphy breaking it represents him destroying her power of the ward. He doesn't know what else to do, he has gotten through to her a couple times but it is not going how he wants. It is affecting the other patients because now they are starting to become rebellious. Not as much as Mcmurphy but they are taking after him. It is bringing up old actions and ways that he used to be before the ward. He realised that the other patients are depending on him and it got to his head. Mcmurphy thrives on punishment it gives him the rush that he is living for: “When you broke a rule you knew it. You wanted to be dealt with, needed it, but the punishment did not come” (Kesey 200). Mcmurphy brings life into the ward, but it might not be a good thing. Reader #9- There are many occasions when glass has been broken in One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. What is so significant about this happening so many times is the fact that glass is very fragile, and also reflective. The way i see this is, people can also be very much fragile and reflective. Both glass and people can be so damaging, and In the ward, the people seem to be so lost in life because of different reasons, which can lead them to be so fragile. You would think that if someone was placed in a mental ward, one of the main goals of the doctors and nurses would be treatment right? Well we all know that the ward in the novel might not be the greatest place to get that treatment. Despite this, we do see a lot of changes in McMurphy from the beginning of the story. Is it the ward causing this or something else? Let’s take a look at what is happening.
Reader #1-In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy changes the asylum forever. McMurphy has the opportunity to conform the the rules and save himself,but he chooses to fight for the men in the ward. After Cheswicks death McMurphy takes a turn when he realizes nurse ratched’s control is a life or death matter. McMurphy wants to change the ward and take away power from nurse ratched, but little does he know the danger hes in. McMurphy then totally loses it when Billy commits suicide and McMurphy tries to strangle nurse ratched to death. He goes to the hospital and when he comes out his spirits and parts of his brain are gone. McMurphy finally realized the danger in the ward and tried to change it. Reader #2-McMurphy’s behavior is starting to change as the book continues. However, the readers can really start to see the change as part II progresses. He used to talk out during the meetings, annoy the Big Nurse, and try to get the other patients to rebel against the authority figures. In this section though, McMurphy starts to come down and stops trying to get the best of Nurse Ratched. “He looked at McMurphy’s corner. Everyone did. McMurphy was there, studying the deck of cards that slid in and out of sight in his hands. He didn’t even look up”(Kesey 172). This shows that McMurphy didn’t care about the discussion, or try to get his way over the Nurse’s decisions. It’s not the treatment he is receiving that is bringing this change to McMurphy. The only thing that is making McMurphy change is the ward itself. He is starting to get “cagey” as Chief would describe it. He feels trapped in a corner like there is no hope of ever getting out of the ward. Reader #3-In part II of the book, McMurphy starts to act differently than he did before. Whenever he was assigned a chore he would do it very sloppy and not clean other areas of an object that he’s supposed to clean. But then, “The next day he surprised everybody on the ward by getting up early and polishing that latrine till it sparkled, and then went to work on the hall floors when the black boys asked him to.”(Page 172) Now the only thing that could’ve influenced McMurphy’s change is when he found out that the big nurse had the say in who and when someone gets released from the ward. This change seems to be voluntary due to him cooperating more respectively towards the big nurse and the staff. Now there’s not much benefit for McMurphy to be in the ward, except to get away from the farm he worked on as he said in part I, but one benefit might be to make new friends and see what’s life like for others possibly. So overall, McMurphy had changed the way he acted because of how he acted towards the big nurse, without knowing what she could do to make him stay at the ward for as long as she sees fit. Reader #4-McMurphy is starting to change, and it’s a lot different from the kind of attitude he normally has. He seems scared and frightened by the Big nurse. he seems upset when him and Harding speak about the Big Nurse and the shock shop. he says “ Then i just happened to find out about the way the nurses have the big say as to who gets discharged and who doesn’t.” (Kesey 193). He’s realizing that messing with the big nurse may not be the best idea if he eventually wants to get out of the ward. Mcmurphy is in the ward because he wanted to get away from the work he had to do before as punishment. He had goals of going to the ward and being able to experience something different, eat better food, and to have a good time messing around because he knew he wasn’t “mental” This change in him brought out a new side to him that he probably didn’t even think he had. fear. The words that Harding had to say were definitely influential in McMurphy’s attitude change. Reader #5-In part II, McMurphy is starting to change his character. “I know she's suspicious. I thought she might be too upset by the way McMurphy defied her to pay any attention to me, but she don’t look shook at all” (Kesey 152). McMurphy was not acting himself; he’s always happy, outgoing, and tries to make everyone feel the same as him. He’s perceived as a disturbance to the ward now. I think this attitude might be his response to the treatments he’s been having. I think they’re unnecessary for him to be receiving treatments. Some people in the ward thinks he needs to be placed in the disturbed ward, but some think he’s just ordinary with a bold personality. He might be acting different due to all the negativity he gets from the others. Reader #6-McMurphy is starting to change his actions and how acts toward the nurse. After he has a conversation with the lifeguard at the pool. He soon realizes what he has gotten himself into. The fact that nurse is still in charge, means he has to listen to her or never leave! the ward may help McMurphy appreciate life a lot more now that he knows how it feels to be controlled. I would say that although his attitude is changing because of the nurse, it is not forced. McMurphy decides to change voluntary, although if he keeps fighting her, the results would dramatically affect the outcome of his life. As much as I think he likes all the free benefits of the ward he can't stand the policy. McMurphys is not giving up or in hes learning. Reader #7-In part two of the Book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest a tragic event happens to Cheswick. When Cheswick Dies from keeping his fingers in the pool drain and drowns it was no one's fault. We know for a fact That Cheswick Drowned because in the text it states, “with the grate still clutched by his chubby pink and blue fingers, He was Drowned.” I do not believe that Cheswicks possible suicide was anyone's fault. I believe that the drowning of him was all because the conversation of the rationing of cigarettes. It isn’t McMurphy and Ratchets fault. Also i think this incident can be fuel by the mental problem he had. Betting on something isn’t always the greatest idea. Winning is great and all, but there’s also a pretty good chance that you will lose. McMurphy makes a bet that almost becomes a turning point in the story. Let’s explore the tension that this bet causes in the ward.
Reader #1-From the moment McMurphy got to the ward; Nurse Ratched did not like him. She knew there was something bad about him, and that he would turn the ward upside down. The bet made their relationship is going to worsen because he was determined to make her snap. As the novel progresses the Nurse Ratched tries to figure out what is wrong with McMurphy and how to get him out of the ward. “He isn’t extraordinary. He is simply a man and no more, and is subject to all the fears and all the cowardice and all the timidity that any other man is subject to”(Kesey 157). Nurse Ratched proves that she is not going to let McMurphy change and go to a different ward. She will not let him get to her, and is determined to get him to obey her. Later in the novel this is going to change the way people will think of the Nurse and the ward. The relationship between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched is going to test the wards strength. Reader #2- McMurphy discusses the ward with the other patients. He asks them why they act the way they do. when he realizes the only person in his way is nurse ratched he makes a bet with the other patients to be able to get under her skin. this is a turning point in the novel because nobody has ever dared to go against the nurse before. They all believe she is unbeatable and no-one can overthrow her schedule. "that is exactly what the new patient is planning: to take over. He is what we call a 'manipulator,' Miss Flinn, a man who will use everyone and everything to his own ends." This quote said by the nurse is ironic, because how she describes McMurphy is exactly how she actually how she acts toward the patient's.this might cause a war later on in the book between these two kingpins and im sure it will be a even match up. One of the big themes throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is control. There are a few people who have a lot of control over what happens and a lot of people who don’t. What does it mean to control others and why do we do it? Let’s find out!
Reader #1-People can feel threatened and find the need to control others to feel calm and in control. Control means that all power and choices lie in your hands. You have the power to make big decisions. People in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, tend to like being in control. Many people feel better taking lead and some people use this to their advantage. In the ward people try to pick arguments and make compromises to over power and seem in power at this ward. I experience control when I’m at work, or teaching anyone anything, or helping my sister in math. They rely on you and you must be there and in control. McMurphy tries to control the kids in the ward; the nurse as well. He likes arguing with her to seem more powerful and dominate. People who enjoy being dominate and who are extroverts tend to be in charge. Reader #2-Control is simply the power a person has over another individual or an object, and once someone has control, they are able to decide how a situation will play out. In Mcmurphy’s case, he controls people without them even realizing it. he uses a tactic that draws the attention away from himself onto another individual. for example, when Mcmurphy comes into contact with the nurse after him and the black boy were talking, the attention that was originally supposed to be on Mcmurphy quickly turned onto a staff member Mr. Washington. the big nurse yelled at him and said “Washington, why wasn’t this man issued a change of greens this morning? Couldn’t you see he had nothing on but a towel?”(Kesey 98) Mcmurphy had control in this situation because instead of him getting yelled at for not getting his own clothes, the blame was put onto someone else, leaving him in the clear. An example of a situation someone uses control would be in a group project, people usually fight for what the topic should be or how the project is going to be done. Whoever wins that argument has most of the power over the group, which isn’t fair but it’s just the way things work out sometimes. The types of people that try and control others are people who don’t feel like anything goes their way unless it’s their way. Mcmurphy refuses to let anybody on the ward control him. He always feels the need to be in control because he thinks he’s always right. Reader #3- A lot of people need to feel that their in control in every single situation. This is a lot like the character McMurphy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. He constantly is looking to be the man in charge. He pushes the Nurse to get on her nerves. He knows by annoying her, he in a sense is gaining control over her. Chief thinks of McMurphy, “One by one the patients are sneaking looks at her to see how she’s taking the way McMurphy is dominating the meeting…” (Kesey 113). Everyone is the group sessions knows that McMurphy is getting under the skin of the Nurse. This is exactly what McMurphy wants. Reader #5-Throughout the book so far, McMurphy has attempted to show that he has control in the ward, not only over the other boys, but Big Nurse as well. Control means that you have the upperhand in any situation. If you have control, you have authority and regulation over others. In the novel, nurse Ratched tries to control everyone by cruel punishments and pointless rules. Also, McMurphy tries to show control by acting as if he can do and say whatever he wants. He isn’t afraid of Big nurse, although the boys warn him. One situation that McMurphy tried to control was when they were all watching the baseball game tv and nurse Ratched turned it off, and then they all continued to pretend to watch the game on the blank screen. The type of people who are controlling, or want to be controlling, are the ones who have to always have their voice heard in every situation. Reader #6-Control is gained when someone is able to influence another person's behaviour. In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, the staff of the ward, mostly Nurse Ratched , has control over their patients. Just like how a prison has control over its inmates. Everything in the ward was under control until McMurphy arrives. McMurphy has the characteristics of someone who can easily take control of anything. He is assertive, a natural leader, and power driven. McMurphy makes a bet with other patients in the ward that he would be able to take control over the ward within the week. One of McMurphy’s first steps is to first gain control over the day room. During a group meeting it is McMurphy and the doctor that he had just met with suggested an “idea which might make things more pleasant for both age groups”(Kesey 110). Their idea was to add a new room connected to the day room that did not have the loud music. This plan was made by McMurphy with the help of someone in control, the doctor. McMurphy seem to be using the doctor's power to get what he wants, control over the day room. This is a small stepping stone on the path to control over the ward for McMurphy. Reader #7- Control means to have power over something or someone. Control is an important thing to have in life. In the book Cuckoo's Nest control is a big thing . Nurse Ratched has all the power in the story, anything she says has to be done. The two people who are fighting for control in the ward are nurse Ratched and McMurphy. McMurphy is gaining control over the patients in the ward because he is trying to rebel against the nurse in the ward. We as people try to gain control over things and other people because we like things to be done our way and I like in a way it makes us feel more secure. Reader #8-Mcmurphy and nurse Ratched are going to continue to have conflicts because they are both obsessed with power. To control means to be in power, to be the boss, to make all of the decisions and have everyone just go along with it. There are a few people in the novel that try to control the others and they are Nurse Ratched and Mcmurphy. Nurse Ratched has controlled every aspect of the ward since before Chief was even there. He even thinks she controls time by making it slower so they go crazier. Everyone fears her because they have seen what she can do to them “ She can't have you whipped. Shev can't burn you with hot irons. She can't tie you to the rack. They got laws about that sort of thing nowadays”(Kesey 68). She is so powerful and obsessed with order that she breaks the law, that is a little crazy. I experience control in many ways. For example, at home my parents control my siblings and I because they are our parents and they have authority over us. I control my own body which is what makes my decisions. Mcmurphy tries to control in a lot of situations, for example when he first arrived at the ward. He immediately asked who was in charge and took over within 10 minutes. People with trust issues typically try to control others because they want to be sure they know exactly what the other person is doing so they can feel secure. Everyone control’s their own body, whats sad is that nurse Ratched won't let them do that. Good, evil. Fun, boring. Fire, ice. There are a lot of opposites and contrasting ideas out there, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is no different. Let’s take a look at two of the biggest opposites in this novel, McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, and how opposites in general affect each other.
Reader #1-Nurse Ratched and McMurphy both have very different characteristics in the story so far. McMurphy is a loud, sexual and confident person. Bromden says “nobody’s sure if this barrel chested man with the scar on his face and the wild grin is playacting of if he’s crazy enough to be just like he talks” (kesey 19) From this quote you can tell McMurphy is a loud and confident because he talks to everyone and always has a smile on his face, unlike everyone else in the ward. Unlike McMurphy, Nurse Ratched is very cold and sometimes rude. McMurphy during the first group session explains to the patients in the ward that he is going to “play her game” Nurse Ratched doesn’t like this because McMurphy is going to change how Nurse Ratched acts, and he does this by finding Nurse Ratched’s weak spots. They conflict with each other because McMurphy shouldn’t really be a patient in the ward, and because of this he knows that the Nurse is just attacking the men at their weakest parts because she knows that she’ll get a response that way. Due to this McMurphy decides to include all the patients in how he’s going to destroy the nurse by playing “her game” Reader #2-Nurse Ratched is very odd in this novel. She really doesn’t display a lot of emotion, but you know from reading each chapter, that she isn’t a good person. Nurse Ratched takes her authority and uses it to her wrong advantage. She mildly attacks the patients with small threats that force them to give her what she wants. The nurse likes to keep things in order or “adjustment” but it’s not the typical “order” you would think of. Her idea of it, is all the patients doing what she says and following rules that don’t even help them. McMurphy is the opposite of Nurse Ratched. He has a really big personality when he first enters the ward, and isn’t afraid to show it off. Unlike Nurse Ratched, he truly want the patients to be helped and benefited. You would think the nurse, being a nurse and all, would want to help the patients get better, but she doesn’t do anything to help them at all. McMurphy isn’t actually mentally ill like the rest of the patients, so he can see that Nurse Ratched doesn’t do her job correctly, and wants the patients to see that too. It’s clear the two aren’t fond of each other. McMurphy thinks Nurse Ratched shouldn’t hold her job, and Nurse Ratched will and wants to take any chance she can, to make sure McMurphy has an awful experience at the ward. The two are always butting heads when decisions need to be made. She doesn’t want to give McMurphy want he wants and McMurphy is always trying to expose Nurse Ratched’s true self, to the other patients. Reader #3-There is a lot of tension between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. That seems to be all their relationship is. They both are the kind of person who wants control and respect by everyone. They both want to win over everyone. They kind of battle for this in different scenes in the book. They never say it out loud, but everything just seems like a competition between them. For example, the text says “She’s lost a little battle here today, but it’s a minor battle in a big war that she’s been winning and she’ll go on winning.” (Kesey 113) This was after the meeting where McMurphy essentially “won”. The conflict was involving the idea of a second day room. Reader #4-In Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, two characters are controlling in the power struggle over the hospital ward. These two characters are Nurse Ratched, who is in charge of the men in the facility, and Randle McMurphy, who is a patient in the ward. Throughout the novel each character tries to convey their power to show the ward who has more control. McMurphy wants everyone in the ward to be by his side, so he can disobey the rules of the ward and try to get out of there. Nurse Ratched wants to keep everything in complete control. She is very mean and an unpleasant person, so all the patients are afraid to do anything that will disobey the rules of the ward. That’s why McMurphy is having trouble competing with Nurse Ratched, because she has more control over the patient's. Since McMurphy and Nurse Ratched want two opposite kind of power in the ward, there is a lot of tension between the two. McMurphy doesn’t like to follow the rules and in one part of the novel he walks around in a towel and Nurse Ratched yelled at him. McMurphy says to nurse, “Towels against ward policy too? Well, I guess there's nothin to do except..” Nurse Ratched stops him from taking his towel off and says, “Stop don’t you dare! Get your clothes on this instant!”. They keep fighting back and forth at each other. Therefore, this shows that tension between two people can cause many problems in their relationship. That tension might cause someone to turn into a person they aren’t. Tension usually never works out in a relationship and can cause the two people to become a stressful and unhappy person. Reader #5-McMurphy and Nurse Ratched are a lot alike which makes their relationship complicated. The book says “ she’s too big to be beaten.. we mustn’t let McMurphy get our hopes up any different, lure us into making some kind of dumb play” (Kesey 113). They both like to be in control and be the leader, because of that both characters seem to dislike each other and there’s a lot of tension between them. Since they both like being in charge they can’t get along because they are so similar. McMurphy doesn’t want another leader he wants to be the only leader and that’s why he wants to take down Nurse Ratched. McMurphy has been getting all the patients on his side instead of the nurses which is affecting the relationships between the nurse and the other patients. Overall McMurphy and Nurse Ratched are very similar people which causes a lot of problems between relationships. There are a lot of different types of conflicts that people encounter in their daily lives. It may be just a small argument with a friend, but it could also be something a lot bigger than that. While there may be many reasons for these conflicts, one of the biggest causes of them is power and who has more of it. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there is a very clear division between who has power and who does not have power. Through this novel, we can start to explore how people gain power, where they get it from, and why it is so important to have power. Let’s see how the readers answered this question!
Reader #1-The power and control is what is most important in Nurse Ratched’s view. In the combine, Ratched holds most of the power inside the institution, and no one can take it away from her. Even though, she has to okay her actions with the person who is incharge of the whole institution from the outside. Inside, the patients see her as a bully, the enemy, and someone to be afraid of. Nurse Ratched enjoys using fear to control the patients. “She doesn’t need to accuse. She has a genius for insinuation. Did you ever hear her, in the course of our discussion today, ever once hear her accuse me of anything?”(Kesey 64). This text example shows that although Nurse Ratched doesn’t actually accuse anyone of doing anything, somehow she has a way of making the patient feel as if they did something terribly wrong. In the real world women like Nurse Ratched do not get as much authority as she does, and if they somehow get to a big job. They are watched over and treated differently because of their gender. In the world of business if a person is not on top of the pyramid. They do not have any power over anyone. Cuckoo’s Nest has a different story however. Even though Nurse Ratched isn’t actually in charge in the eyes of the outside world. In the institution that is a very different story. She is in charge and has the power to do anything if she really wants to. Reader #2-The patient's view Nurse Ratched as the symbol of power in the ward. Nurse Ratched is more powerful than even the doctor because she can get him fired with just one phone call by saying “that the doctor seems to be making a great number of requisitions for Demerol” because if the supervisor heard that then she would suspect that he was using it himself. The patient's are afraid of her because she has the power to do whatever she wants to do. Chief Bromden hallucinates and thinks that Nurse Ratched is a gigantic monster that was gonna punish the aides but she changes back to human before the patients can see. Chief views her like that because she is an intimidating figure that over uses her power. The emasculation is what Nurse Ratched does to the male patients by make them feel like less of a man because they are being controlled by a woman. That is how the patient's view Nurse Ratched. Reader #3-where do people get their power from? power can come from a lot of things in the real world. In the book nurse ratched “calm as anything, puts the log book back in the basket and takes out another folder and open it and starts reading. McMurry….a series of arrests for drunkenness, assault and battery..” (kesey 45). This is how the big nurse uses her power. At anytime she can pull out someone's file and start reading it to shut them up, or make them understand that she is the boss and can do what she wants. There isn't really a power difference between the power in the book and in real life. Just as in the book people do that in real life too, They abuse their power to show the authority they have. Reader #4-Emasculation, more generally speaking, is to make a man feel less masculine and to deprive him of his strength. McMurphy immediately feels the effect of this upon entering the institution and after attending a meeting. He’s stunned by Nurse Ratched’s ability to manipulate and brainwash all the patients. They fear Nurse Ratched greatly and are aware of her extensive powers in the ward so they do all they can to avoid one of her punishments. She’s carefully thought out and executed who she hires to help her, methods of discipline, etc. Ratched is simply a control freak. The patients know that if they resist any of her regulations they could end up in the Disturbed Ward, the Shock Shop, or have a lobotomy done and that’s enough to keep them in their place . Harding says the only way to control a woman like her is through sex. A misogynistic view point but McMurphy takes it into consideration and continues to devise a plan of resistance against her. This scenario in the book is much different than in the real world where men typically are in positions of power, especially in the time period the book takes place, but then again that’s just how Nurse Ratched likes it. Reader #5- People gain power in society from how much they know. McMurphy has tried to take control of the Big Nurse by talking about his uncle. “Ma’am, McMurphy says, have I told you about my uncle Hallahan and the woman who used to screw up his name?” (Kesey 48). This shows that McMurphy is trying to take control mentally over the nurse. The patient's view Nurse Ratched as someone who’s in charge, but can be taken advantage of. McMurphy says, “Our dear Miss Ratched? Our sweet, smiling, tender angel of mercy, Mother Ratched, a ball-cutter?” (Kesey 60). She is perceived as a pretty, motherly like woman to the patients. Most patients call her a “Veritable angel”(Kesey 61). To gain the power in society, they try to take control and advantage of the ones that are in charge. Reader #6-People gain power in society by using anger and intimidation. Nurse Ratched is a perfect example of this. In the ward, everyone knows that she gets furious when something isn’t going her way. “The Big Nurse tends to get real put out if something keeps her outfit from running like a smooth, accurate, precision-made machine. The slightest thing messy or out of kilter or in the way ties her into a little white knot of tight-smiled fury.” (Kesey 28) Nurse Ratched’s main motivation is order. She wants things in order and she wants things her way. To achieve her desire for order and power, Nurse Ratched practically has a meltdown when even the slightest thing is out of place. Reader #7-In this group discussion a lot is going on between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched they are both key players, fighting for dominance. McMurphy feels emasculation in the way all the patients are not allowed to show any real emotion. For example when Mcmurphy arrives and Chief Bromden says it's the first real laugh he has heard in years. McMurphy doesn't really notice this until the meeting, where all he gets are a couple of grins. Nurse Ratched has an advantage in the way that she controls the place. The patient's view her like a big machine because of her on schedule consistency. She also has a very short fuse when people Interupt her smooth flow. Mc Murphy though is about to challenge her. “that's a good rule for a smart gambler; look the game over awhile before you draw yourself a hand. |
AuthorWelcome to Miss Hardie's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Blog! Here we will be posting our thoughts and discussing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Please join in on the discussion! ArchivesCategories
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