The class novel we read was Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The novel
was basically written about an Asylum and the powerful Randle Patrick McMurphy, a
patient who would rather be in a Mental Institution than the slammer. In the Asylum he
changed the atmosphere in the ward, he change the thoughts of the what he liked to call
the "loonies", which were the other mental patients. He also had the willpower to over
Ken Kesey's use of symbolism in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest changes the
novel itself and the Asylum in to a small universe, which deals with a battle between the
sane and the insane. Which would be, Randle Patrick McMurphy vs. Big Nurse Ratched,
the conformist and the nonconformist. When McMurphy entered the doors of the loony
bin, he changed the lives of almost everybody, whether it was a patient or an employee. I
was not quite sure if his motives and actions were intended for good, or bad. He had
saved the patients from losing their souls. That is one example of a good hero. Without
McMurphy, the other patients would not have been able to stand up for themselves or be
able to appreciate themselves. But, on the other hand, Big Nurse Ratched made
McMurphy pay the price for giving the other patients freedom. And that was his own life.
This showed how much control Nurse Ratched had on her patients. The role each patient
plays in this fight for freedom symbolizes the real confrontations between the mentally
insane and the rest of the society. To me, Randle Patrick McMurphy's initials RPM (like
the RPM guage on your vehicle) symbolizes his testosterone level. When it goes up, he is
at his peak before he has to change gears back to another mood. So he doesn't become
violent. (Just like a car, when you're in a certain gear, like nueatral, and just rev your
engine until it finnaly it blows up and you loose conrtol). R
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