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

“Kesey portrays his society’s definition of ‘madness’ as something used by an authoritarian culture to dehumanize the individual and replace it with an automaton that dwells in a safe, blind conformity.” (Teglen 226). One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a novel about the corruption of society, and the importance of individualism. It is told from the perspective of a patient, Chief Bromden, who is ridiculed for being deaf and dumb, even though he fakes these two qualities. He is among other “mentally unstable” patients, who are all controlled by Nurse Ratched. To her dismay, a man named Randall McMurphy enters the hospital and disrupts her control over the other patients. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey uses characters and
She is a super-rigid disciplinarian who is obsessed with power. Although at first she seemed harmless to McMurphy and the other patients, she was discovered to actually be incredibly manipulative. The Nurse used tactics to make the patients feel helpless and out of control. Administering unknown pills, talking to patients as if they were children, and group therapy sessions that openly ridicule patients are all examples of this. She also played loud, repetitious music and only gives patients privileges that she saw fit. Nurse Ratched had such great control over the patients that she seemed to have each of their moves planned out months in advance. She sits in her glassed-in office and constantly makes notes on her clipboard, obsessed with staying one step ahead of everyone. McMurphy was introduced into the ward and she realized that he was her greatest threat. She did everything in her power to stop him, and did not hold back on even the most drastic measures. When her cruel tactics led to the suicide of Billy Bibbit, McMurphy took matters into his own hands and strangled her (Kesey 319). She thought that the best thing for him was a lobotomy, and he quickly went into surgery. Although this ultimately led to his death, the Nurse was really the one who was defeated as she returned to the ward, broken, to find that the majority of the patients had gone home. Kesey’s heroic portrayal of Randle McMurphy clearly shows his disapproval of a rigid, rule-based