...In the movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the character Randle McMurphy, displays clear signs of antisocial personality disorder. Throughout the film he is seen acting impulsively, manipulating those around him and showing a total disregard for the needs of the other patients. Those with antisocial personality disorder, often referred in society as sociopathy, often show disregard for the feelings or needs of other. They are manipulative, dishonest, and have an inflated sense of self. People with this disorder act outside the social norms, doing whatever is necessary to allow themselves to do what pleases them. People with this disorder often act dangerously and impulsively. The main character of the movie, R. P. McMurphy, acts in these manners throughout the movie. McMurphy is shown through the whole of the movie to be manipulative of others. Although his intentions may not be explicitly malicious, he quickly establishes himself as the leader of the ward. He is arrogant and convincing and has no problem bending the resolve of others to fit his own narrative. An example of this manipulation is the issue of watching the World Series. McMurphy wants to adjust the schedule of the ward to allow him to watch the world series. He brings this wish up at group therapy and is shot down when no...
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...Throughout Ken Kesey’s novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Nurse Ratched and one of the patients, McMurphy, are constantly at odds with each other. Nurse Ratched controls a firmly disciplined ward where all of the patients have given up the struggle to assert themselves. However, McMurphy was a new patient who was appalled by the other patients’ lack of courage and confidence. None of them stand up for themselves, and so McMurphy decides to change that by making it his mission to render Nurse Ratched powerless. McMurphy constantly opposes Nurse Ratched, challenging her authority and trying to get the others to fight against her rules. However, she realizes that she can keep him at the hospital for as long as she wants if he doesn’t submit....
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...Darren Mah Mrs. Kirkeby English IV Honors 16 August 2014 In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, R.P McMurphy, the ward’s new rebellious and charismatic patient, is depicted as the story’s Christ figure through various images, events, and character qualities. There are several representations in the story that help support McMurphy’s role as the story’s Christ figure. The author presents McMurphy as a savior for the patients who are incarcerated in Nurse Ratched’s ward. McMurphy pulls them out of the “fog”, which represents Nurse Ratched’s complete control over them, and tries to get them to stick up for themselves. McMurphy wishes for the men to learn to change the strict policies when tells them to “Don’t you see you have to do...
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...In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the movie McMurphy is more of a con man and is unpredictable and he stays the same till the very end of the movie. In the book, however, Kesey portrays him as more of an objective person and his personality changes throughout the book. McMurphy is the main character in both the book and the movie. The McMurphy in the movie is more unpredictable and disruptive. McMurphy has an unpredictable nature and that the viewer never knows what he might do next. On the way to the fishing trip McMurphy could have easily escaped after he climbed over the wire fence. Instead he decides to load the other patients onto the bus and takes them fishing. This was the first instance in the movie where all of the patients...
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...One Flew Over A Cuckoos Nest Essay A hero is considered to be any man who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his life. McMurphy’s strengths show a heroic characteristic compared to the other acutes in the ward. McMurphy gets interpreted as a manipulator, but is really a hero. Throughout the story he portrays different characteristics that give off that vibe. There were no heroes in the psychiatric ward until McMurphy’s arrival. Many of the patients in the psych ward looked up to McMurphy as a Christ-like character and supported his many and sometimes crazy ideas. He was really recognized as a hero or a Christ-like figure when he took a fishing trip and brought 12 other...
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...Throughout Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, one can see the book in many ways. He uses the book to express many of his believes, some of which are quite obviously drug induced. Kesey, like other authors at the time was looking at the world from the outside. He was part of the end of the beats movement. A common belief amongst beats movement writers was the idea of not conforming to the society that went against everything they believed. Ken Kesey hinted at his beats generation views all throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by reversing gender and race roles inside the mental hospital the book takes place in. Kesey also exploits the idea of conforming to, and being controlled by society norms. Early and all through One Flew...
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...Cynthia K. Nessmith Professor Shawana Stanford American Literature 2130 14 April 2013 Film adaptation of the American novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest novel was written by Ken Kesey in 1962. The film adaptation version was directed by Czech Milos Forman in 1975. My goal in this paper is not only to compare the film adaptation to the Novel but to also explain what I think the symbols represent, critic’s analysis, themes presented in this film, and the significance of the Novel. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest film’s setting begins with a police car driving down the road to people sleeping in bunk beds, ending with a glimpse of a drawing taped to the wall with a crazy face centered in it. A nurse enters a locked down facility, while another prepares medicine for the patients. The police car arrives at the facility with a prisoner in handcuffs that is released to the hospital staff. The characters in this film are as follows: Randall P. McMurphy played by Jack Nicholson, a rebellious convict with a loud mouth and a set of sexual playing cards. He’s courageous and challenges the staff/system of the mental hospital. Nurse Ratched played by Louise Fletcher is a calm, cold, well mannered, and soft spoken head nurse of the mental hospital that plays McMurphy’s enemy. Chief Bromdon played by Will Sampson is a big and tall Indian who is described as “deaf and dumb” (according to the character Billy). Billy Bibbit played by Brad Dourif is a young...
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...Ken Kesey was born in 1935 in Colorado. In 1946, his family moved to Oregon, where he become champion in wrestling, both in high school and college (Ken Kesey Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography). He attended Stanford University and later in 1960 Kesey volunteered in the experiment organized by U.S army, in which he was using drugs such LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and then reporting on their effect. He also spent some time communicating with patients in the hospital's psychiatric ward. It was an experience which encouraged Ken Kesey to write his 1962 novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” (the book I’m reading right now), which examined the abuses of the system against the individuals and the theory that patients weren’t insane, but...
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...different races change over time. Although I feel that the media makes a more conscious effort to remove degrading racial stereotypes from films, the acknowledgement of the existence of these stereotypes confirms that they are still present. After watching a movie from three different time periods, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Stand and Deliver (1988), and Our Family Wedding (2010), I have found that representation of race in film has largely remained the same, while the acknowledgement of existing stereotypes has become more obvious. The 1960’s-1970’s was a time characterized by Irish Mob Wars (Durney 2000), Hollywood conservative backlash films, and the ongoing misrepresentation of American Indians in film (Larson 2006). One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a movie is about a criminal who pretends to be crazy so that he can serve his sentence in the relatively comfortable confines of an insane asylum rather than a prison. We see the results of the historical events represented in characters from this movie such as Randle Patrick McMurphy, Mr. Turkle, the ward’s guards, and Chief Bromden. The Irish have been infamous for their mafia and organized crime, especially in the Cleveland area. Perhaps their most publicly recognized contribution to the media’s fascination with violence is the Mob Wars of the mid-1970’s (Durney 2000). These huge displays of violence prepped the audience of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to easily accept the character of McMurphy, an Irish American...
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... “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” By: Eric Sawyer Option #1 We live in a world with many different types of institutions. Some might care for mental problems, not being able to care for yourself or being at age when you cannot. There are also institutions that are organized to protect the community to so called intentional dangers. Some of the concepts we have discussed in class go hand and hand with the social context of Goffman’s total institutions. I will discuss the concepts of how institutions might hurt or help and the different concepts we have discussed in class relating to Coffman’s “Characteristics of Total Institutions”. Something that I analyzed in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest” is the false diagnosis of insanity. Mcmurphy’s sanity is symbolized through free spirit, positive laughter and just an over all around positive out look on life. In Coffman’s “Total Institutions”, it goes into “Adaption Alignments” and how this is a mortifying process of how inmates must adapt to the conditions that an institution might have such as privileges and consequences. Mcmurphy falls under the rebellious line, the characteristics that fall under this is how the inmate intentionally challenges institution by refusing to cooperate with staff in almost any way. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest, Mcmurphy demonstrates this in many ways, in the part were he broke two young ladies in the institution, or manipulating the Mr. Turkle to have the nighttime ward party. Mcmurphy always...
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...Peace, by John Knowles, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, and the movie, Cool Hand Luke, include Christ Figures who positively alter the setting where they once existed. Commonly, a Christ Figure intentionally takes on suffering, such as Luke in Cool Hand Luke and McMurphy in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Luke is a newly arrived inmate at a work prison who influences his fellow prisoners to fight against authority. Just like Luke, McMurphy is a newly admitted patient in a mental institute who influences the people around him to defy the authority...
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...April 26, 2016 Critique of 1950 America’s Society in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest In Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the author obvious intention can be easily seen in analogies the author draws. For example, he makes an analogy between the mental institution in the story and a small society, which is the very epitome of that period. He makes an analogy between the patients in the mental institution and the common people in 1950s American society. He also makes an analogy between the nurses and the authorities in mid-twentieth century of America. The rules in the hospital are same as the dogma and law in American society. The common people have to strictly follow the dogmatic rules and the autocracy; freedom does not exist. The patients in the book are like machines. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, using the analogy of a mental institution, suggests that 1950s American society is not free and that people need to rise up to try to change it. Firstly, the Big Nurse’s manipulation and subtle cruelty cannot give enough freedom for the patients. Secondly, the main elements of control are self-inflicted; the fear that holds them down is internal. Thirdly, McMurphy is a messianic figure, and his doom is inevitable. He brings liberation to others, and this is the true meaning to his own life. First, Nurse Ratched’s manipulation and subtle cruelty mirrors discrimination of the era. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the chief Bromden and the patients who are there are...
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...Gender Roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest The 1950’s was a decade characterized by traditional gender roles of women as homemakers downgraded to the domestic sphere and men as economic providers. With the arrival of the 1960’s, however, stereotypical gender roles were challenged and the American society underwent a variety of social transformations. American writers, such as Ken Kesey, responded to the change through writing. Kesey’s response to the times was his 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which is not only a social commentary about mental illness, but also a response to changing gender roles. By demonizing powerful women and uplifting powerful men, his novel promotes sexism and ultimately holds the misogynistic stance that powerful women must be subjugated. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the female characters can be divided into two extreme categories: "ball-cutters" and whores. The negative portrayal of powerful women can be seen in the problematic relationships that the male patients have with their mothers. Bromden, the half Native-American narrator, has a mother who constantly undermines his father, the chief of the Columbia Gorge tribe and a once-powerful man. Bromden’s mother dominates her husband and her son by acting in non-traditional ways, such as using her maiden name for the family’s last name rather than using her husband’s, which convinces Bromden’s father that he is weak and helpless. Because she herself is white, she is ashamed...
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...“The Cuckoo’s Nest” Many individuals may find themselves in a cuckoo’s nest. Not everyone merely is normal or abnormal, sane or insane, but live their everyday lives estranged by society. The society’s environment is constantly changing. Take a look at the economy; observe the wealthy and poor, evolving relationships, some who desire change, and those who don’t. These differences produce cultural abnormality and no-one knows where to fit in. The world is a cuckoo’s nest with revolving doors. The article Rosenhan exemplifies how no-one knows how to fit in. For instance, there were prestigious people selected to take part in an experiment to determine whether they were insane or abnormal. Unfortunately they were labeled schizophrenics in remission, unable to remove this title. These people were unsure of the rules; for instance, not knowing how long their visit was going to be, to act accordingly to their environment or remain absolutely different from their peers. Unlike the movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest,” people couldn’t leave on their own terms. However, in the movie, there were test individuals who would come and go as they please, and attend group therapy. These people had to adjust to a set schedule, try to fit in, prove their normality or insanity. What is insane or abnormal? Either act as a violation of societal norms or an irrational hatred, and contempt for someone. Many people will discount someone as “insane or abnormal,” if they...
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...curriculum. For Example, Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest should not be censored in high school curriculums. Critics argue that One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest should be censored because it encourages acts of violence. One of the main characters, McMurphy, is known for “fight[ing] too much” (Kesey 19) which shows on his knuckles that are “covered with scars and cuts, old and new” (Kesey 28). The cuts are proof of his violent nature which doesn’t change throughout the novel. Another cause for concern is when McMurphy shatters the nurses window for the third time, pins down Big Nurse, rips her blouse open, and pries his “heavy red fingers [into] the white flesh of her throat as if they were her neck bones” (Kesey 268). This almost kills Big Nurse and is a very violent act that critics don’t want children to imitate. However, the notion that reading about violent acts will make students want to commit violent acts is a faulty analytical assumption. McMurphy doesn’t attack Big Nurse simply to be violent; it was the other patients’ “need that was making him push himself slowly up from sitting” (Kesey 268) to commit the crime. McMurphy, a stable minded man in a mental institution, put himself on the line to help the other patients who were being manipulated by Big Nurse and her regime. Critics also argue that the novel is too sexual for a high school curriculum. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is riddled with sexual innuendo. As McMurphy challenges Harding for the position...
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