Intro to Lit F
Mr. Dilworth
12/5/14
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Final Project
I. Chief Bromden
- “Yes. This is what I know. The ward is a factory for the Combine. It’s for fixing up mistakes made in the neighborhoods and in the schools and in the churches, the hospital is. When a completed product goes back into society, all fixed up good as new, better than new sometimes, it brings joy to the Big Nurse’s heart; something that came in all twisted different is now a functioning, adjusted component, a credit to the whole outfit and a marble to behold…He’s adjusted to surroundings finally…”(Kesey, pg 38)
- "Maybe the combine wasn’t all powerful. What was to stop us from doing it again, now that we saw we could? Or keep us from doing other things we wanted? I felt so good thinking about this…” (Kesey, pg 292)
- “‘Can you imagine people wanting to live this way? Tell me, John, can you?’ He talks loud on account of not being used to the roar of the falls….What he said makes me madder the more I think about it. He and John go ahead talking about our house and village and property and what they are worth, and I get the notion that they’re talking about these things around me because they don’t know I speak english.” (Kesey, pg 200)
- “‘But the way I remember it the tribe got paid some huge amount.’ ‘That’s what they said to him. He said, What can can you pay for the way a man lives? He said, What can you pay for what a man is? They didn’t understand. Not even the tribe. They stood out in front of our door all holding those checks and they wanted him to tell them what to do now. They kept asking him to invest for them, or tell them where to go, or to buy a farm. But he was too little anymore. And he was too drunk too. The Combine whipped him. It beats everybody. It’ll beat you too.’” (Kesey, pg 209)
- "If you don't have a reason to wake up you can loaf around in that gray zone for a long, fuzzy time, or if you want to bad enough I found you can come fighting out of it. This time I came fighting out of it in less than a day, less time than ever." (Kesey, pg 276)
Chief Bromden is portrayed in these quotes as one who understands conformity, but decides not to take a stand until McMurphy shows him that Chief would personally benefit from sticking up for himself. He learns at an early age that society excludes differences and that people have to choice to be like everyone else or be free. This plays an important part in how he behaves on the ward and what he does to change it.
Throughout the novel, Chief Bromden develops courage and emotional strength because McMurphy shows him that he can make a difference in the ward. Chief Bromden was raised watching his father being torn apart by government officials to sell what he is- a Native American. Chief is aware that changing who he is to fit in with society is expected on the ward but is too fearful to take a stand before McMurphy arrives. By the end of the book, he questions what he has been thinking throughout his entire life, "Maybe the combine wasn’t all powerful. What was to stop us from doing it again, now that we saw we could? Or keep us from doing other things we wanted? I felt so good thinking about this…” (Kesey, pg 292) The change seen in Chief is important to the novel because he learns to stand up against the all-powerful "combine" and not hide who he is, but embrace it. He realizes that taking a stand is worth the risk of being punished by Nurse Ratched because he sees McMurphy try and try again and be punished repeatedly. Chief is sent up to disturbed after fighting with the black boys for standing up for George. Although he is reprimanded for his actions, he considers it a victory because he audaciously does something that none of the other men are able to do, and they respect him for it. Chief Bromden becomes independent and learns that adhering to who he is by taking risks pays off because he is able to make a difference in his own life and the lives of other patients.
II. Nurse Ratched
Nurse Ratched is the opposing force in this novel because she tries to instill fear and insecurity in the men because they are different. Nurse Ratched tries to conceal her flaw of femininity by covering her chest because during this time men were considered to be more dominant. In the ward, these gender roles are reversed, and the nurse overpowers the men and teaches them that they should be ashamed of who they are. During a meeting, Nurse Ratched reminds them of why they are a disgrace to society, “‘Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value. A good many of you are in here because you could not adjust to the rules of society in the Outside World, because you refused to face up to them, because you tried to circumvent and avoid them…’” (Kesey, pg 188) Nurse Ratched is a significant character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because she symbolizes society in the 1960s and the romans during Jesus' time. Nurse Ratched and society are parallel because they both teach those who are different to conform to what everyone else wants them to do, although it is not right. When Jesus is born, the Romans used all of their power to try to quell a revolution, but they are unable, just as Nurse Ratched is. When McMurphy comes in, he is in a constant struggle with Nurse Ratched and when the patients see him acting up to do what is right, their attitude changes. Nurse Ratched is an influential character in this novel because the men's morale is strengthened by challenging her.
III. R.P. McMurphy
McMurphy positively effects the lives of the patients because he confronts Nurse Ratched and takes risks in order to change the perspective of the men. When McMurphy arrives at the hospital, the men are immediately drawn to him and he tells them that they should not think of themselves as rabbits. McMurphy convinces the men that Nurse Ratched is not doing what is best for them, but is weakening them because she wants to be in control. Making the effort to enhance the lives of all the patients takes it's toll on McMurphy as he tries to avoid exposing his weaknesses. “‘Winning, for Christsakes,’ he said with his eyes closed. ‘Hoo boy, winning.'” (Kesey, pg 258) This quote is important because although the men believe in McMurphy to defeat the Nurse, he admits that he is struggling to do so without any real help from the others. McMurphy is the most influential character in the book because he pulls the patients out of the fog and enables them to think for themselves. McMurphy symbolizes Jesus in this novel because when he comes to the ward he changes the negative ways in which the Nurse weakens them and creates a revolution. In the end, he goes through shock treatment therapy and is strangled by Chief Bromden because he would not have wanted to live after being physically altered to conform to rules set by society. R.P. McMurphy changes how the ward functions by leading by example and encouraging the other men.
IV. Staff
- “Right at your balls. No, that nurse ain’t some kinda monster chicken, buddy, what she is is a ball cutter. I’ve seen a thousand of ‘em, old and young, men and women. 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. And the best way to weaken you by gettin’ you where it hurts the most…’” (Kesey, pg 58)
- “‘Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value. A good many of you are in here because you could not adjust to the rules of society in the Outside World, because you refused to face up to them, because you tried to circumvent and avoid them…’” (Kesey, pg 188)
- “‘…the Big Nurse put a thousand pounds down me and I can’t budge out of the chair.” (Kesey, pg 9)
- “‘No, not a saint or a martyr. Here. Shall we examine a cross section of this man’s philanthropy?’ She took a sheet of yellow paper out of her basket. ‘Look at some of these gifts, as devoted fans of his might call hem. First, there was the gift of the tub room. Was that actually his to give? Did he lose anything by acquiring a gambling casino? On the other hand, how much do you suppose he made in the short time he was croupier of his little Monte Carlo here on the ward? How much did you lose, Bruce? Mr. Sefelt? Mr. Scanlon? I think you all have some idea what your personal losses were, but do you know what his total winnings came to, according to deposits he has made at Funds? Almost three hundred dollars.’” (Kesey, pg 252)
- “‘…do any of you feel that Mr.McMurphy is perhaps imposing his personal desires on some of you too much? I’ve been thinking that you might be happier if he were moved to a different ward.’” (Kesey, pg 133)
Nurse Ratched is the antagonist of the novel and symbolizes all that the men are trying to escape- conformity, fear, and dependence. In the first quote, she is said to take away the men's masculinity by making them feel inferior. She tries to turn the men against McMurphy in order to secure her victory, but by doing this she strengthens them.
Nurse Ratched is the opposing force in this novel because she tries to instill fear and insecurity in the men because they are different. Nurse Ratched tries to conceal her flaw of femininity by covering her chest because during this time men were considered to be more dominant. In the ward, these gender roles are reversed, and the nurse overpowers the men and teaches them that they should be ashamed of who they are. During a meeting, Nurse Ratched reminds them of why they are a disgrace to society, “‘Please understand: We do not impose certain rules and restrictions on you without a great deal of thought about their therapeutic value. A good many of you are in here because you could not adjust to the rules of society in the Outside World, because you refused to face up to them, because you tried to circumvent and avoid them…’” (Kesey, pg 188) Nurse Ratched is a significant character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because she symbolizes society in the 1960s and the romans during Jesus' time. Nurse Ratched and society are parallel because they both teach those who are different to conform to what everyone else wants them to do, although it is not right. When Jesus is born, the Romans used all of their power to try to quell a revolution, but they are unable, just as Nurse Ratched is. When McMurphy comes in, he is in a constant struggle with Nurse Ratched and when the patients see him acting up to do what is right, their attitude changes. Nurse Ratched is an influential character in this novel because the men's morale is strengthened by challenging her.
III. R.P. McMurphy
- “McMurphy, Randle Patrick. Committed by the state from the Pendleton Farm for correction. For diagnosis and possible treatment. Thirty-five years old. Never married. Distinguished Service Cross in Korea, for leading an escape from a communist prison camp. A dishonorable discharge, afterward, for insubordination. Followed by a history of street brawls and barroom fights and a series of arrests for Drunkenness, Assault and Battery, Disturbing the Peace, repeated gambling, and one arrest- for Rape.” (Kesey, pg 42)
- “‘…You want to know who pecks that first peck?’ Harding waits for him to go on. ‘It’s that old nurse, that’s who.’”(Kesey, pg 56)
- “‘Hell of a life. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Puts a man in one confounded bind, I’d say.’ McMurphy says, ‘Yeah, I see what you mean,’ looking down into Sefelt’s gathering face. His face has commenced to take on that same haggard, puzzled look of pressure that the face on the floor has.” (Kesey, pg 170)
- “He shrugged his shoulders and with a loud sigh slapped both hands down on his knees and pushed himself standing out of he chair. He stretched and yawned and scratched his nose again and started strolling across the day-room floor…then ran his hand through the glass.” (Kesey, pg 189, 190)
- "'But I tried, though,' he says. "Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much, now, didn't I?" (Kesey, pg 121)
- “‘Winning, for Christsakes,’he said with his eyes closed. ‘Hoo boy, winning.'” (Kesey, pg 258)
McMurphy changes the lives of the patients because he shows them that they should not let Nurse Ratched victimize them into thinking that they need to conform to the rules of society. McMurphy influences other patients to stand up to her themselves and causes many significant changes in the characters throughout the book. In quotes three, four, and six McMurphy shows his weakness, exhaustion, because of the hardships he faces while sacrificing being punished for the betterment of the patients.
IV. Staff
- "They're mopping when I come out the dorm, all three of them sulky and hating everything, the time of day, the place they're at here, the people they got to work around. When they hate like this, better if they don't see me...They laugh and I hear them mumbling behind me, heads close together. Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets. They don't bother not talking out loud about there hate secrets when I'm nearby because they think I'm deaf and dumb." (Kesey, pg 3)
- "Years of training, and all three black boys tune in closer and closer with the Big Nurse's frequency. One by one they are able to disconnect the wires and operate on gems. She never gives orders out loud or leaves written instructions that might be found by visiting a wife or schoolteacher. Doesn't need to any more. They are in contact with on a high-voltage wave length of hate, and the black boys are out there performing her bidding before she even thinks it." (Kesey, pg 29)
- “And he never had any controls installed. That’s why the black boy didn’t have any say over him. But the black boy didn’t think of that right off any more than the nurse did when she ordered Pete removed from the day room. 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.” (Kesey, pg 50)
- "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 262)
- “I was glad when a little Jap nurse came to take us into the Nurses’ Station…'Are you hurt anywhere?’…'It’s not at all like her ward,’ she said. ‘A lot of it is, but not all. Army nurses, trying to run an army hospital. They are a little sick themselves.’” (Kesey, pg 266)
These quotes demonstrate the contrasting natures of the Japanese Nurse and black boys. The Japanese Nurse is understanding of how the men feel, whereas the black boys are insensitive and treat the men disrespectfully.
The Japanese Nurse and black boys have opposite roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because of how they treat the patients. The Japanese nurse has sympathy for the men because of the allegorical context of this novel. Ken Kesey made this Nurse Japanese because during World War II, many innocent Japanese citizens were put in camps to keep them from exposing the United States. Just as most of the men are not crazy, the Japanese Americans in the camps were wrongly accused of treason. This allows the Nurse to relate to the patients and the author to compare a harsh prison camp to the ward. The nurse also sees the cruel ways in which Nurse Ratched treats the men, and even tells McMurphy and Chief that she is sick herself. The black boys symbolize the romans, members of Nurse Ratched's team, and are a constant threat to McMurphy's plan to overthrow the nurse. Their treatment of the patients is compared to that of an animal, "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.” (Kesey, pg 50) The black boys advance the plot because they are another obstacle for the patients to defeat, and portray the theme that is not acceptable to be different by symbolizing law and order. However, just as Nurse Ratched has her flaw of being a woman, the black boys are different themselves because of their skin color. The opposing views of the Japanese Nurse and black boys influences the men because the black boys make them feel worthless, but the Japanese Nurse empowers them.
V. Patients
- “‘…we were discussing Mr. Harding’s problem…concerning his young wife…He has also been heard saying that he may give her reason to seek further sexual attention.’”(Kesey pg 41)
- “‘I can’t help it. I was born a miscarriage. I had so may insults I died. I was born dead. I can’t help it. I’m tired. I’m give out trying. You got chances. I had so many insults I was born dead. You got it easy. I was born dead an’ life was hard. I’m tired. I’m tired out talking and standing up. I been dead fifty-five years.’”(Kesey pg 52)
- “‘Why, see here, my friend Mr. McMurphy, my psychopathic sidekick, our Miss Ratched is a veritable angel of mercy and why just everyone knows it. She’s unselfish as the wind, toiling thanklessly for the good of all, day after day, five long days a week. That takes heart my friend…”(Kesey, pg 59)
- “‘…For myself? Guilt. Shame. Fear. Self-belittlement. I discovered at an early age that I was- shall we be kind and say different? It’s a better, more general word than the other one. I indulged in certain practices that our society regards as shameful. And I got sick. It wasn’t the practices, I don’t think, it was the feeling that the great, dead, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me- and the voice of millions chanting, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame.’ It’s society’s way of dealing with someone different.’” (Kesey, pg 294)
- “Harding’s face and hands were moving faster than ever now, a speeded film of gestures, grins, grimaces, sneers. The more he tries to stop it, the faster it goes. When he lets his hands and face move like they want to and doesn’t try to hold them back, they flow and gesture in a way that’s real pretty to watch, but when he worries abut them and tries to hold back he becomes a wild, jerky puppet doing a high-strung dance.”(Kesey pg 59)
- “‘We want something done about it, ain’t that right, Mack?’ and waited for McMurphy to back him up, but all he got was silence…'I want something done! Hear me? I want something done! Something! Something! Some-.’”(Kesey, pg 163, 164)
- “‘If we had the g-guts! I could go outside to-today, If I had the guts. My m-m-mother is a good friend of M-Miss Ratched, and I could get an AMA signed signed this afternoon, if I had the guts!” (Kesey, pg 184)
As demonstrated in these quotes, the men are ashamed of who they are and fearful of the judgements of others. Their disappointment in themselves is furthered by Nurse Ratched because she makes an effort to deteriorate the men's confidence. In the beginning of the book, the men are ignorant of Nurse Ratched's overpowering, but McMurphy shows them to think more independently.
The patients in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest illustrate the allegory in the novel because they are ashamed that they are different. Dale Harding, a homosexual, is full of self-doubt because in this society it is considered unacceptable to be attracted to the same sex and he therefore is considered mentally ill. He explains that he was not the one who made himself sick, but the judgments of society, "It wasn’t the practices, I don’t think, it was the feeling that the great, dead, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me- and the voice of millions chanting, ‘Shame. Shame. Shame.’ It’s society’s way of dealing with someone different.’” (Kesey, pg 294) Dale's masculinity is taken away by Nurse Ratched because she often speaks of how he is unable to please his wife, but this is because he is uninterested in her. Billy Bibbit also expresses the fear of the outside world instilled by Nurse Ratched because he is different due to his studder. “‘If we had the g-guts! I could go outside to-today, If I had the guts. My m-m-mother is a good friend of M-Miss Ratched, and I could get an AMA signed signed this afternoon, if I had the guts!” (Kesey, pg 184) These characters are imperative to the novel because they prove the negative effects Nurse Ratched has had on them and enable McMurphy to change their attitudes about themselves. If the patients were confident, McMurphy would not have a leadership role and would therefore be irrelevant. However, because the patients are insecure, the course of the book is taken down a different path and McMurphy is able to save them, just as Jesus saved the people of his time.
VI. Motifs
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the machinery symbolizes that differences have a negative impact on society. In the novel, machinery is viewed as an opposing force because it restrains the men from being who they are. Just as society wants everyone to be the same, machinery does because if there is a minor malfunction is a machine, the the whole apparatus is threatened. Harm that diversity inflicts on authority figures is acknowledged in the book when Chief describes that Pete does not follow rules set by the black boys, which threatens their control, “And he never had any controls installed. That’s why the black boy didn’t have any say over him.” (Kesey, pg 50) This relates to the theme that society regards diversity negatively because those who question the authorities throw this society out of balance.
3. Bible
- Combine:
- “Yes. This is what I know. The ward is a factory for the Combine. It’s for fixing up mistakes made in the neighborhoods and in the schools and in the churches, the hospital is. When a completed product goes back into society, all fixed up good as new, better than new sometimes, it brings joy to the Big Nurse’s heart; something that came in all twisted different is now a functioning, adjusted component, a credit to the whole outfit and a marble to behold…He’s adjusted to surroundings finally…”(Kesey, pg 38)
- “A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure.” (Kesey, pg 16)
- “But the new guy is different, and the Acutes can see it, different from anybody been coming on this ward for the past ten years, different from anybody they ever met outside. He’s just as vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn’t get him.” (Kesey, pg 89)
The combine is pertinent to the themes of this novel because it is the reason for the men's insecurities. Nurse Ratched and the combine are compared in this novel because they both target the outcasts of society, the patients. Chief Bromden disagrees with these fundamentals because he believes that selling oneself to the combine is worse than being an individual. This is referred to when he speaks of previous patients who have been physically altered in order to conform to society, “A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure.” (Kesey, pg 16) The combine is significant in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest because it is an antagonizing force against the men, who symbolize members of society.
2. Machinery
2. Machinery
- “And he never had any controls installed. That’s why the black boy didn’t have any say over him.” (Kesey, pg 50)
- “Hum of black machinery, humming hate and death and other hospital secrets.”(Kesey, pg 3)
- “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 don’t have any place ready-made where they’ll fit, the machinery disposes of the words like they were even spoken.” (Kesey, pg 201)
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the machinery symbolizes that differences have a negative impact on society. In the novel, machinery is viewed as an opposing force because it restrains the men from being who they are. Just as society wants everyone to be the same, machinery does because if there is a minor malfunction is a machine, the the whole apparatus is threatened. Harm that diversity inflicts on authority figures is acknowledged in the book when Chief describes that Pete does not follow rules set by the black boys, which threatens their control, “And he never had any controls installed. That’s why the black boy didn’t have any say over him.” (Kesey, pg 50) This relates to the theme that society regards diversity negatively because those who question the authorities throw this society out of balance.
3. Bible
- “‘Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?’” (Kesey, pg 270)
- “‘And M-M-McMurphy! He did. And Harding! and the-the-the rest! They t-t-teased me, called me things!’” (Kesey, pg 302)
The bible references in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest signify that McMurphy comes to the hospital to save them from what society, the ward, has become. Ken Kesey refers to this when McMurphy is about to go through his series of shock treatments, “‘Anointest my head with conductant. Do I get a crown of thorns?’” (Kesey, pg 270) This scene important because Nurse Ratched is trying to destroy the strong influence that McMurphy has had on the men, similar to when Jesus is killed in order to end the uproar against the Romans. However, in both cases, the Romans and Nurse Ratched only further the determination of others because they Jesus and McMurphy both died as martyrs. It is significant that McMurphy dies for what he believes him because that is the ultimate sacrifice, which gives the men an idea of how important it is to stick up for what they believe in. When Jesus dies for his followers, the fight against the rest of the world is given a mascot. After McMurphy is killed, many men leave the ward for good because they realize they should not live the way that Nurse Ratched enforces them to live, making them feel insecure and helpless. Another similarity between Jesus and McMurphy is shown through Judas and Billy Bibbit, both traitors who commit suicide, “‘And M-M-McMurphy! He did. And Harding! and the-the-the rest! They t-t-teased me, called me things!’” (Kesey, pg 302) The allegory that Ken Kesey sites in this novel is not only about society in the 1960s, but in Jesus' time, in order to portray McMurphy as a savior to the men.
