Subjects:
Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey does. It is told through the eyes of a mental patient named Chief
Bromden. He is a northwest Indian, who is disturbed with hallucinations about machines taking
over the world he knows. The mental hospital is in Oregon which is run by Nurse Ratched who
has machine like control of everyone and everything in the ward. The only hint of her humanity
is the fact that she possesses very large breasts, which she keeps tucked away under her
neat-as-a-pin white uniform. The Chief has been there longer than anyone except for Nurse
Ratched. He uses this to his advantage by making the other people in the ward think he is deaf
Life in the ward is quiet until a new patient is admitted. His name is Randle P.
McMurphy and he is a redheaded brute who smells of sweat, work, dirt and dust. He starts in
by disrupting everything familiar in the ward, the silence, the admitting showers, and the way the
black boys bully the patients around. He quickly makes friends with everyone including the
Chronics who are vegetable like patients. McMurphy is a gambling man who insist tha
. . .
wanted to come to the ward for an easier life than the one he had at work camp where he
previously stayed. By doing this, McMurphy earns the Chiefs trust. McMurphy makes another
deal with the Chief, if he can grow strong enough, mentally, to lift a heavy control panel, then
McMurphy will let him go on the fishing trip for free. By raising hopes he hasn’t fulfilled he leaves the patients worse off than before. Billy is shamed by Nurse Ratched for what he has done and as a result he commits
suicide.
McMurphy never used force until he and the Chief got involved in a confrontation with a couple
of the black boys. By doing this McMurphy knows he
wouldn’t just be benefiting the Chief, but himself as well because if he can get the Chief to throw
the control panel through the window he can escape. One
patient named Cheswick becomes so depressed he drowns himself. A few examples of how
McMurphy helped the patients grow stronger and more capable are when: McMurphy
arranged a date for Billy Bibbit with a prostitute to enable Billy to become a man. McMurphy actually talks to the
Chief, which no one has done for a long time. He
soon learns he can’t leave the hospital without Ratched’s approval, so he begins to obey her
rules. McMurphy knows the Chief isn’t dumb and deaf. He talks about how the Combine made his father “small”
in the mind and how it is making him “small” in the mind as well.
Essay's Topics
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