Cuckoo's Nest Final Analysis

Bromden:

Kesey, pg. 270 “...without thinking about being cagey or safe or what would happen to me- and not worrying about anything else for once but the thing that needed to be done and the doing of it.”

Kesey, pg. 132 “I don’t have to end up at that door if I stay still when the fog comes over me and just keep quiet... Being lost isn’t so bad.”

Kesey, pg. 163 “Fall. Right outside here it was spring a while back, then it was summer, and now its fall- that’s a curious idea. I realized I still had my eyes shut. I had them shut when I put my face to the screen, like I was scared to look outside. Now I had to open them.”

        Kesey, pg. 324 “I remember seeing the dog go, toward the highway. I remember I was taking huge strides as I ran, seeming to float a long ways before my next foot struck the earth. I felt like I was flying. Free.”

        Kesey, pg. 143 "McMurphy's got hidden wires hooked to it, lifting it slow just to get me out of the fog and into the open where I'm fair game He's doing it, wires... No. That's not the truth. I lifted it myself."

      

  Quote Explanation: Despite the changes that all the men on the ward undergo, Bromden is by far the most dynamic character, as shown through the collection of quotes. Picked from different stages of the book, they show his great development, for he started as a man who hid from himself and the ward by using a deaf and dumb facade, and finished as a man who breaks the barriers of his comfort zone and  sets himself free.

Analytical Paragraph: Chief Bromden, an Indian patient silenced by the standards of society, is an example of the change brought on by McMurphy, and a religious parallel to Peter in the story of Jesus. In the beginning of the novel, Bromden, despite his size, simply faded into the background. This is because he faced external conflicts from society, and the internal ones that it creates. Society forces those who are different or with flaws to discard this individuality and conform, and if they do not, they are discarded themselves. In Bromden’s case, his societal conflicts began when the government visitors came to his tribe. He appeared strange to them due to their cultural differences, and as a result, they shrug him off as an inferior. Bromden is faced with a choice to either take a risk and defy this injustice, or to play it safe and accept it. He chooses to accept it, and used a deaf and dumb facade to accomplish it. He narrates, “I don’t have to end up at that door if I stay still when the fog comes over me and just keep quiet... Being lost isn’t so bad (Kesey, 132).” He views safety much more valuable than risking individuality. However, McMurphy changes this standard. He forced Bromden out of his comfort zone, a long process that included encouraging him to speak, and training him to be strong again. This training, although focused on a physical ability, is Bromden's emotional recuperation. By the end, Bromden is freed from his restraints, and flees the ward. “I remember seeing the dog go, toward the highway. I remember I was taking huge strides as I ran, seeming to float a long ways before my next foot struck the earth. I felt like I was flying. Free (Kesey 324).” Not only does this show Bromden’s character change and the lasting effect of McMurphy, it is also showing his role as Peter. Peter is an Apostle of Jesus, who spread his work after his death, just like Bromden does when he breaks free. Bromden’s freedom ties together the themes and the allegories, solidly concluding the novel.

Ratched:

Kesey, pg. 144 “‘You’re committed you realize. You are... under the jurisdiction of me... the staff.’ She’s holding up a fist, all those red-orange fingernails burning into her palm. ‘Under jurisdiction and control-’”

Kesey, pg. 167 “‘You men are in the hospital,’ she would say like she was repeating it for the hundredth tim, ‘because you inability to adjust to society.’”

Kesey, pg. 181 “... in the Nurses’ station I can see the white hands of the Big Nurse float over the controls.”

        Kesey, pg. 34 “But the Big Nurse has come up quietly, locked her hand on his arm, paralyzes him all the way to the shoulder.”

        Kesey, pg. 73 “‘Those are the rules we play by. Of course, she always wins, my friend, always. She’s impregnable herself, and with the element of time working for her she eventually gets inside everyone. That’s why the hospital regards her as its top nurse and grants her so much authority; she’s a master of forcing the trembling libido out into the open-”’

Quote Explanation: These quotes show the Nurse Ratched’s role as an dictatorial authority figure and how she discards any reminders of her nurturing femininity so that she may be able to retain the seriousness of this authority. 

Analytical Paragraph: Nurse Ratched is the leading nurse within the ward, an authority who represents societal oppressions, the Roman rule within the religious allegory, and a character who portrays the opposite of stereotypical femininity. Made to counterpart the 1960s American society, she enforces the conformity of rules and is a subjugator to those who cannot live up to its perfect expectations. She is forward in announcing this, frequently evoking the flaws and the lack of power of the patients. “‘You’re committed you realize. You are... under the jurisdiction of me... the staff.’ She’s holding up a fist, all those red-orange fingernails burning into her palm. ‘Under jurisdiction and control- (Kesey 144).’” Another time she comments, “‘You men are in the hospital,’ she would say like she was repeating it for the hundredth tim, ‘because your inability to adjust to society (Kesey 167).’” These assertions are what cause and retain the submission of the men on the ward, until the arrival of the valiant McMurphy. Similarly, Ratched’s authority personifies the Roman rule, which cannot tolerate those who don’t worship Roman leaders as deities, just as society cannot tolerate those with differences. Ratched ultimately causes McMurphy’s lobotomy, which mentally “kills” him, just as the Roman Pontius Pilate persecuted Jesus. Lastly, Kesey explores sexuality within 1960s America, depicting the Nurse as the opposite of what women were expected to be. Although a nurse is a typically feminine and nurturing occupation, Ratched does not regard it as such. In contrary, she tries to hide any womanly features while in the ward, because women did not hold authoritative roles such as the one she is trying to maintain. She feels that if the patients acknowledge her gender, this will draw power away from her and give it to the male patients.  In addition, she treats the patients less than motherly, exampled in the harsh way her touch is felt by Mr. Taber. “But the Big Nurse has come up quietly, locked her hand on his arm, paralyzes him all the way to the shoulder (Kesey 34).” The only feminine thing about her is her red nail polish, yet even that is a color of dominance. Yet again, Kesey criticizes the standards, constraints, and stereotypes of society, using gender and Nurse Ratched's character to accomplish it.

McMurphy:

Kesey, pg. 140 “It’s like... that big red hand of McMurphy’s is reaching into the fog and dropping down and dragging the men up by their hands, dragging them blinking into the open.”

Kesey, pg. 11 “He sounds big. I hear him coming down the hall, and he sounds big in the way he walks... voice loud and full of hell.”

Kesey, pg. 60 “‘Seen ‘em all over the country and in the homes- people who try to make you weak so they can get you to toe the line, to follow their rules, to live like they want you to.’”

Kesey, pg. 128 “That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out into the open where we’d be easy to get at.’

Kesey, pg. 290 “I grinned back at them, realizing how McMurphy must’ve felt these months with these faces screaming up at him.”

Quote Explanation: McMurphy is an impressionable character within the novel, as exampled by the chosen quotes. He is big and forceful, a rebellious leader who understands the oppressions of society, yet is able to confront them.

Analytical Paragraph: R.P. McMurphy, the bold, new patient on the ward makes a pivotal  impact on the mental ward, for he retaliates against societal authority, encourages the running risks for individuality, and plays the role of Jesus within the religious allegory. McMurphy enters a hospital that is held together by discipline, separation, and a lack of trust. However, he entered it in his own style, so very different from the typical ward dynamic. Bromden’s first impression is, “He sounds big. I hear him coming down the hall, and he sounds big in the way he walks... voice loud and full of hell (Kesey 11).” This is foreshadowing, for we know that McMurphy will be drastically changing things in the ward, and wrinkle "the smoothness" of Ratched's outfit. From fooling her in his underwear, leading a vote for TV, breaking the glass window, taking the men on a fishing trip, coordinating the ward night party, and finally silencing her with his hands, McMurphy and Ratched have been strong opposing forces since the start of the novel. He is bold in character, unlike the others, unchanged by the forces of the Combine. This frustrates the Nurse, and therefore poses him as the perfect face of retaliation. Not only does he change the ward because he faces the Big Nurse, but he also changes the attitudes of the patients. He shows them, particularly Cheif Bromden, to run the risk of individuality, rather than to hide in the safety of normality. Bromden expresses this during the television vote, saying, “It’s like... that big red hand of McMurphy’s is reaching into the fog and dropping down and dragging the men up by their hands, dragging them blinking into the open (Kesey, 140).” Lastly, McMurphy parallels Jesus in the religious allegory, for they both are leaders who attempt in spreading new ideas, and are crucified and criticized for it. Jesus is killed on the cross by Pontius Pilate, and McMurphy undergoes a lobotomy by the hand of Nurse Ratched. Although dead, both spirits are carried on by a loyal follower. They are both leaders, who unselfishly carry out their inevitable fate for those who look up to them. Bromden, at last realizes the sincerity in which McMurphy has acted upon, “I grinned back at them, realizing how McMurphy must’ve felt these months with these faces screaming up at him (Kesey 290).” McMurphy, in many ways transforms the novel.

Motifs:
Laughter: 
Kesey, pg. 291 “She was thrown off balance and flustered so bad with everybody in the room laughing at her, that she didn’t bring it up again.”
Kesey, pg. 311 “...every laugh was being forced  right down her throat till it looked as if any minute she’d blow up like a bladder.”
Machinery: 
Kesey, pg. 3 “Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets.”
Kesey, pg. 213 “And, almost see the apparatus inside them take the words I just said and try to fit the words in here and there, this place and that, and when they find the words that don’t have any place ready-made where they’ll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they weren’t even spoken.”
Cigarettes:
Kesey, pg. 168 ‘“ Yeah, Doc, what about our cigarettes- our cigarettes-piled up on her desk in there like she owns them, bleed a pack out now and again whenever she feels like it. I don’t care much about the idea of buying a carton of cigarettes and having somebody tell me when I can smoke them.’”
Kesey, pg. 173 “‘Is there any more discussion,’ she said, ‘on the rationing of cigarettes?”’

Laughter is used throughout the book as a tool to overpower the nurse. It appears first when McMurphy arrives, a character who was evidently going to be Ratched's opposing force. Bromden notes that it was rare to hear laughter in the ward be McMurphy, just as no one ever dared to stand against Nurse Ratched. However this motif reoccurs more often as McMurphy’s retaliation grows stronger. Kesey chose this as a motif, because it represents happiness and camaraderie, everything that Ratched attempts to impede. By the end, laughter seems to be the thing that rattles her and knocks her from her pedestal. Bromden describes the scene the morning after the ward party, “...every laugh was being forced  right down her throat till it looked as if any minute she’d blow up like a bladder (Kesey 311).” It is at this point, that the patients “won.” Even though she could enforce punishments, they had still accomplished something beyond her reach, and something that would not be forgotten.

Machinery is used to express the way that society churns everybody into what it deems as a “model” person, claiming all individuality. Kesey chose this as a motif because the grey, unchanging rotation of metal wheels is a great visual. It also reflects back to Bromden’s idea of the Combine, an everlasting machine that fits and squeezes people into the way that they “should” be, and the machinery is the instrument that work this giant machine. Similarly, the staff within the ward do the work that society discards and does not want to see. 

Cigarettes represent the ongoing exchange of and battle over ward authority. Cigarettes are one of the few things that the patients can claim as their own, yet Nurse Ratched uses her authority to take them away, equivalent to the way that society takes identity. McMurphy protests this,‘“ Yeah, Doc, what about our cigarettes- our cigarettes-piled up on her desk in there like she owns them, bleed a pack out now and again whenever she feels like it. I don’t care much about the idea of buying a carton of cigarettes and having somebody tell me when I can smoke them (Kesey 168).’” The patients argue with her over them, and throughout the book there appears to be a constant swapping of who possesses them, just as McMurphy and Ratched are always contesting for power.

Staff:

Catholic Nurse: Kesey, pg. 166 “In the morning she sees how she’s stained again and somehow she figures it’s not really from the inside her- how could it be? A good Catholic girl like her?”

Jap Nurse: Kesey, pg. 278 “She put his hand down and turned to me. I could see the little bird bones in her face. ‘Are you hurt anywhere?”’

Doctor Spivey: Kesey, pg. 62-63 “”Doctor Spivey... is exactly like the rest of us, McMurphy, completely conscious of his inadequacy. He’s a frightened, desperate, ineffectual little rabbit, totally incapable of running this ward without our Miss Ratched’s help, and he knows it.”’

Black boys: Kesey, pg. 275 “So I picked him off and threw him in the shower. He was full of tubes: he didn’t weigh more’n ten or fifteen pounds.”

        Kesey, pg. 52 “The black boy walked right up and gave Pete’s arm a jerk toward the door, just like you’d jerk the reins on a plow horse to turn him.”

Quote Explanation: These quotes show many different elements of the story. The black boys, instruments of Nurse Ratched and products if the Combine, exert their believed superiority over the patients. They show the Japanese Nurse and her feminine nature, contrary to Nurse Ratched. Lastly, they display the insecurities that Doctor Spivey and the Catholic Nurse, the staff, even possess.


Analytical Paragraph: The Catholic Nurse and Doctor Spivey are similar in the way that they both control society’s "failures" yet have their own personal flaws, but are different because their fears lay in different places. Both are authority figures within the novel, who work on a mental ward that takes care of people with apparent flaws. Yet, both these characters show their own flaws, hypocritical to what Nurse Ratched is trying to portray. The Catholic Nurse has her birthmark, a "stain" that she is so timid to reveal, constantly rubbing the cross on her necklace as if it would relieve her from this imperfection. “In the morning she sees how she’s stained again and somehow she figures it’s not really from the inside her- how could it be? A good Catholic girl like her (Kesey 166)?” Similarly, Doctor Spivey is not perfect. He is just like the patients, unable to hold ground against the authority of the Nurse, “”Doctor Spivey... is exactly like the rest of us, McMurphy, completely conscious of his inadequacy. He’s a frightened, desperate, ineffectual little rabbit, totally incapable of running this ward without our Miss Ratched’s help, and he knows it (Kesey 62-63).”’ However, Doctor Spivey’s insecurities grow from direct, external pressure of Nurse Ratched, because he could run the risk of losing his job, while the Catholic Nurse’s are implanted within her from society. Society is telling her that her mark is a horrible thing, and causes internal conflicts, creating her vulnerabilities. They both display the powers of society and the ways that they can control people, both internally and externally.

Other:

Colonel Matterson: Kesey, pg. 135 “You’re making sense, old man, a sense of your own. You’re not crazy the way they think.”

Harding: Kesey, pg. 190 “‘I don’t think you fully understand the public, my friend;in this country, when something is out of order, then the quickest way to get it fixed is the best way.’”

    Kesey, pg. 307 ‘“It wasn’t the practices I don’t think, it was the feeling that the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me- and the great voice of millions chanting, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame’ It’s society’s way of dealing with someone different.”’

Scanlon: Kesey, pg. 179 “‘Hell of a life. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’”

        Pete: Kesey, pg. 55 "He had come to life for maybe a minute to try to tell us something, something none of us cared to listen to or tried to understand, and the effort had drained him dry."

Quote Explanation: These quotes display a variety of importances within the novel. They show that if one tries, they can understand anyone or anything, and that everyone is crazy in their own way. It also shows ideas such that society is quick to judge and discard, and that one might ask well take a risk because both paths are equally consequential.

Analytical Paragraph:  Dale Harding, a gay patient on the ward, and R.P. McMurphy display the opposite roles of masculinity. Dale Harding exhibits qualities that 1960s America would have deemed as feminine and odd. This is first pointed out when Kesey notes his elegant hands, and how he is quick to hide them. This insecurity is yet again brought on by society's suppression, as Harding describes,‘“It wasn’t the practices I don’t think, it was the feeling that the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me- and the great voice of millions chanting, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame’ It’s society’s way of dealing with someone different (Kesey 307).”’ It is also exemplified when Harding speaks, for he speaks maturely and organized, in a manner very different from the hefty McMurphy. Not only is McMurphy a strong, scruffy, womanizer, but shows plucky qualities that women would have seen as heroic. However, Kesey is trying to show that there is no big difference between the two, and redefine roles of sexuality in order to expose the stereotypes. Dale Harding is not feminine, but rather simply a different sort of masculine than the cliché societal version, portrayed through McMurphy.