Examples Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Words: 745
Pages: 3
Open Document
McMurphy as an Anti-hero
Many movies feature standard heroes, but anti-heroes are much more complex. Anti-heroes are heroes that lack traditional qualities of a hero. They quite typically are in a place where they lack control, and are unable to commit themselves to ideals. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, directed by Miloš Forman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey, starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, and Will Sampson, the character R.P. McMurphy fits the literature archetype of an anti-hero. The film follows McMurphy as he fakes insanity so he can finish serving his prison sentence in a mental ward. McMurphy serves as a disruption to the orderliness that Nurse Ratched, who supervises the ward, has used her position of power to enforce. Throughout the film, the audience watches the power struggle between authoritarian Ratched and non-conformist McMurphy. McMurphy plans his escape with another patient whom he calls Chief, who is in a …show more content…
His lack of control is shown in his power struggle with "consistent, bureaucratic authoritarian" ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).") Nurse Ratched. The power struggle between McMurphy and Ratched first becomes clear McMurphy wants to watch the World Series. He is attempting to disrupt the order that she has established in the ward by changing the schedule that is followed every day so he can watch the World Series. Ratched lets patients vote to see if they want to change the schedule to watch it, but she refuses to let McMurphy win. However, he finds his own way to win - he pretends the game is playing and encourages everyone else to watch with him, even though it is not. This power struggle continues until Ratched ultimately wins when she lobotomizes McMurphy, taking complete control of him (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). The lack of control that McMurphy has in the ward ends up leaving him completely helpless, which is one quality of an
Show More

Related Documents: Examples Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Examples Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

caring. They can be humbled. Throughout Ken Kesey’s novel, Randle Patrick McMurphy proves himself to be courageous and, to a certain degree, caring for the other patients. At first glance, he seems to be the hero of the novel. However, McMurphy better suits the role of the antihero, a role defined as lacking conventional heroic attributes. A classic hero is typically, in American literature, a man raised from rags to riches. McMurphy is a working Irishman who rises in the eyes of his fellow inmates, but…

Words 829 - Pages 4

What Is The Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey contrasts life in an asylum and society. The intention of Ken Kesey’s argument is to prove how the authority is in control and that there is no freedom. Throughout part two of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the asylums comparison to “The Combine” is mentioned and allows the reader to understand why Chief Bromden uses that reference. The ward is comparable to society because there are a set of many rules and limited freedom. Throughout One Flew Over…

Words 517 - Pages 3

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Research Paper

Protest Power can be shown through words or actions. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a great example of characters protesting power. The book and the movie give multiple examples of the characters protesting power, these instances are portrayed very differently. Given the possibilities that power and protest is a shared theme in the novel and film versions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, other key similarities and differences exist if one considers the the fishing scene and the baseball scene…

Words 1012 - Pages 5

"One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" Theme Essay

them from growing and developing. This quote can easily be related to a theme in Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which is a story about a man named Randle McMurphy who fights an over controlling Nurse Ratched, a ward nurse who uses strict rules to control her patients in a mental hospital. Her rules are absurd, unjust, and they give her too much power. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey explores the theme that some rules should be bent and broken in order for people and…

Words 1594 - Pages 7

Comparing Power In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest And

becoming very strong headed. Hitler is an example of someone who has too much power. He had so much that he was able to use it to kill millions of innocent people. We go through lots of different procedures to pick representative to showcase our country through elections. Which is because we do not want that much power being in the wrong hands. So what happens if too much power is given to one person or group of people? In Ken Kesey’s Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Arthur Miller’s the Crucible power…

Words 1950 - Pages 8

Essay on One flew over the cuckoo's nest

Anthony Cutrone Mrs. Cooley Contemporary Literature 16 May 2010 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Essay The decade of the 1960’s was a period of rebellion in America. It was a time of change compared to the previous decade of the 1950’s. “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey is a novel that shows how different the traditionalist 1950’s was from the rebelling 1960’s. The novel challenged the thinking of the 1950’s by using characters to represent the different time periods. The setting…

Words 600 - Pages 3

Mcmurphy Hero's Journey

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey portrays a group of complex characters who try to change the norms of a mental hospital. The character McMurphy emerges as the hero of the story because, according to Campbell, he is giving his life to something greater than himself and is trying to fix something lacking in the normal experiences permitted to the members of this society. The other character, Chief Bromden, falls into the mentor archetype due to his overall personality and how…

Words 972 - Pages 4

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Mental Illness

The book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was a very interesting book to read to say the least. This novel is about people that are placed in a psychiatric hospital. A psychiatric hospital is where people go when they have mental illnesses, such as, clinical depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. In this hospital Nurse Ratched is very strict and likes to discipline the patients through abuse and medications. There comes a new guy to this hospital named Randle McMurphy. He is a very confident…

Words 640 - Pages 3

Authority In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In Ken Kesey's (1) acclaimed novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author explicates the hospital ward as a mechanized distension of the Combine, an intransigent system that represents authority and dominance. The main protagonist, Chief Bromden (2) scrutinizes the Combine as becoming a part of his own history as a Native American, where his families land was taken from him with the intention of establishing a dam. This notion of jurisdiction and (3) subjugation depicts that everyone had to…

Words 1380 - Pages 6

LOFT vs Cuckoo's nest Essay

Cuckoo's nest VS Lord of the flies Ken Kesey's novel, One flew over the cuckoo's nest, is about a rude man called Randal McMurphy, who arrives at a mental hospital, even though he has no actual mental illness. As the novel goes on, McMurphy becomes the person in charge of the other patients in the district though there is an increasing disagreement between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. She is a despised nurse amongst the patients. Because of the continuous commotion caused by him, he receives a lobotomy…

Words 1370 - Pages 6