In 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' two contrasting characters are presented and explored; McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. They each represent opposite extremes in human character. McMurphy generally stands for the humane parts, whereas Nurse Ratched is for the mechanical. There is one aspect of this novel that the two people have significantly differing opinions on: sexuality.
             Sexuality is one of the major themes in the novel, and largely illustrated by the two individuals.
             McMurphy has a bold assertion about his sexuality, shown right from the start with his playing cards depicting 52 sexual positions. His sexuality is further developed throughout the novel with his pride in having had a voracious fifteen-year-old girl for a lover (the one he was charged with statutory rape) and his Moby-Dick boxer shorts; Moby-Dick being one of the most potent phallic symbols in American Literature. Another example could be his continual absence on the deck during the fishing trip as well as the amorous relationships that he has with his 'aunts'. Inferring from the examples, it is fairly obvious that McMurphy is sexually open person; he not only commits the sexual acts but seems also to be proud of them. He obviously considers himself a bit of a Casanova, commenting after his first sexual experience at age ten, that he would become a 'dedicated lover'.
             Nurse Ratched on the other hand, is the direct opposite. She had always (before the admittance of McMurphy) maintained a sterile and rather sexless ward and seems to want to negate or at least hide the effects of sexuality. This can be seen in the way that she always tries to hide her rather buxom figure while not being able to completely get away from it, probably due to the primitive technologies available then in the field of plastic surgery. She is mechanical in the way she tries to get away from sexuality, but her human qualities do show, especially when...