The struggle for power is one of the greatest struggles a person may face, this is seen throughout the entire novel, One flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. The desire for power is what ultimately leads to the death of the protagonist, Randle McMurphy, who spends a majority of the novel trying to remove Nurse Ratched’s authority. He manages to corrupt the minds of some of the other patients to turn against Nurse Ratched’s dictatorship. These instances contribute to the overall theme of the novel: one of the strongest drives is the desire for power. From the beginning McMurphy is different, he speaks with confidence. The narrator Chief Bromden thinks, “Still, even though I can’t see him, I know he’s no ordinary admission… when they tell him about the shower he don’t just submit with a weak little yes, he tells them right back in a loud, brassy voice that he’s already pretty damn clean, thank you,” (10). He begins to learn that Nurse Ratched does not like change, because change can often lead to conflict. Nurse Ratched states, “I recall some years back we had a man, a Mr. Taber, on the ward, and he was an intolerable ward manipulator. For a while,” (25). This passage shows Nurse Ratched has had people like McMurphy …show more content…
This can be proven when McMurphy says, “Bug her till she comes apart at those seams, and shows, just one time, she ain’t so unbeatable as you think,” (72). McMurphy is trying to move up the hierarchy of the ward by tearing apart Nurse Ratched’s reputation. It can also be seen when Nurse Ratched blames McMurphy for the death of Charles Cheswick and William Bibbit. McMurphy goes into the nurses’ station and tears open her shirt, revealing her breasts, which shows she is just an average women.. Nurse Ratched has finally pushed McMurphy over the edge, after this event he receives shock