"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest" - In what ways and to what effect does Kesey present Mcmurphy as a Christ-figure?

Sarah Ghalaey English literature coursework "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest" Question In what ways and to what effect does Kesey present Mcmurphy as a Christ-figure? Throughout the novel kesey makes allusions to Mcmurphy as a Christ figure. The religious references increase in intensity and number as Mcmurphy's martrydrom becomes imminent. The use of Christ imagery in " one flew over the cuckoo's nest" is overall very effective. Mcmurphy actions frequently parallel christ's actions. Mcmurphy undergoes a kind of baptism upon entering the ward, and he slowly gathers his disciples around him as he increases his rebellion against Nurse Ratched. One of the first Christ like images was the fishing trip, Mcmurphy leaves the hospital with twelve patients, an allusion to the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. This positions Randle P Mcmurphy as a Christ figure in the novel and thus foreshadows future events. If Mcmurphy is a Christ figure, then he will face an impending cruxification. By sitting back and allowing the others to handle the storm, Mcmurphy helps them to prove they are worth something to themselves. This is just like how Christ taught his disciples to be self-sufficient in preparation for his death. The fishing trip is a transformative event for the patients, Mcmurphy is like Christ leading his disciples to sea to strengthen and test their faith in his methods and

  • Word count: 1245
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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How gender stereotypes in regard to control, are reversed in the novel "One flew over the cuckoos nest" by Ken Kesey.

How gender stereotypes in regard to control, are reversed in the novel "One flew over the cuckoos nest" by Ken Kesey. Until modern times, society has advocated that the male role was at work, whilst women were expected to remain in the home, adopting the role of primary care giver. Men were automatically granted power and authority as the women we pushed into the category of subservient domestic supporter. Within their social circles, the males fared an elevated status should their success be measured in terms of domestic harmony. It was the woman's role to ensure this, least forces of discipline by installed. These roles extended far beyond the family circuit into the mainstream of society, materialising in areas such as education, politics and employment. Although many women in most industrialised countries had won the vote by 1945, their status was still far from equal to men. In the early 1960's women began campaigning for the right to break free from traditional roles and to participate equally with men in every sphere of life. It was at this time that the United States Feminist Movement gathered strength from the U.S Civil Rights movement. Literature played an important role in the conquest for Women's liberation. Betty Friedons controversial; "The feminine mystique" had a profound effect on feminists, she challenged the values and status of marriage in society,

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest.How does Kesey present McMurphy's growing influence on the ward and hint at the novel's conclusion in the passage 'the vote is closed'...'crazy as loons' (p162-5)?

How does Kesey present McMurphy's growing influence on the ward and hint at the novel's conclusion in the passage 'the vote is closed'...'crazy as loons' (p162-5)? This passage focuses on McMurphy obtaining the deciding vote from the Chief on watching the 'ball game' and then the patients watching the 'blanked out TV'. It is crucial in the plot of the novel because it shows the first successful communal resistance against the nurse, but is also, I think, one of the more subtly written sections of the book. We can start to gauge Mac's growing influence by looking at the Chief's reaction to him. Bromden first comes into the passage as McMurphy tries to gain the last vote. The Chief's hand is described initially as moving inexorably on 'hidden wires'. This is highly reminiscent of his description of the Combine - e.g. machines 'hidden in the walls' - and hints, I think, at a truth the Chief is unwilling to admit (shown by the retraction of his statement: 'No, that's not the truth.'): that Mac's growing influence seems very much like that which the Nurse (previously the controller of the 'hidden' machines in the wall) has lost. McMurphy appears to be turning into his nemesis. I think that this shows, through the Chief's inherent aversion to authority, just how much Mac has. Very interestingly, Bromden describes McMurphy as 'standing over me in the mist'. This cannot be in a

  • Word count: 1209
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Show how the Author of One flew over the cuckoos nest uses more than one story to present the central ideas in the text?

Question 1) Show how the Author of a prescribed text uses more than one story to present the central ideas in the text? The novel "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" is a novel in which several inner stories are used to convey the main idea and aid in the readers understanding of the text. In particular the story of the narrator, Chief Bromden offers us the greatest clues to the central ideas portrayed. His story is one about a journey towards sanity, but also it is a representation of not only the events occurring in the ward but also in society and the outside world. Chief Bromden's story begins in his childhood in which he viewed and experienced societal oppression as part of his daily life. His father fought against this oppression for many years until he was eventually beaten into submission and forced to give up his tribes land to the government. To Bromden he viewed this metaphorically as his father becoming small and inturn he himself became small and insignificant to the world and society in which the "belonged". "I used to be big, but not no more" page 170 This beginning to Chief Bromden's story acts as an introduction to the reader into the circumstances within the ward. We are shown early on that the members of the ward live under the same oppressive conditions that Bromden and his Father lived under and that the patients are reduced to former shadows of

  • Word count: 935
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"The hell with you, buddy" - In what way does this exchange between McMurphy and Harding help you to appreciate the various conflicts and confrontations in the novel?

Read the passage beginning "Well say, buddy, is this the way these leetle meetings usually go?" (p53) and ending "The hell with you, buddy" (p55). In what way does this exchange between McMurphy and Harding help you to appreciate the various conflicts and confrontations in the novel? The passage deals with McMurphy's reaction to his first experience of Miss Ratched's group therapy sessions. (He immediately analyses and describes the meeting and the patients like a "Bunch of chickens at a peckin' party" (p54)). Upon hearing this, Harding becomes defensive, and in return tries to condescend and dismiss the description, "I have not the slightest inclination what you're talking about" (p54). He does this in order to patronise McMurphy, hiding his feeling of shame. However, McMurphy continues his analogy, and starts to talk of how the meetings can be compared to a group of self-destructive chickens who end up pecking each other to death. This is an important point in the text, being the first example of McMurphy rebelling against the hospital, appearing as an alternative to the institution's view. It could be used as an example of him acting as a 'Christ-like' figure, showing him as someone trying to teach the patients what is wrong with the so-called therapeutic meetings. His 'peckin' party' analogy could be described as a 'parable'. In other words, his story serves as a way of

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In Keseys One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Randall Patrick McMurphys sacrificial death is necessary in order for the patients of the ward to complete their evolution into autonomous individuals.

The Necessary Sacrifice Death is inevitable for all, but it is the sacrificial deaths that are told and retold throughout history, their glory unravaged by time. From the Bible to summer blockbusters, sacrificial deaths are revered and honoured. In Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Randall Patrick McMurphy's sacrificial death is necessary in order for the patients of the ward to complete their evolution into autonomous individuals. When McMurphy arrives in the ward, he witnesses countless cries for help from the emasculated and repressed patients. Over the years, the men of the ward have been controlled by the big nurse, who Harding admits to be "the master of forcing the trembling libido out into the open". (68) Harding himself is a hand-talker, but he often "wrings his" white, feminine hands "like a fly" to repress his emotions. (58) His rarely used laugh is "like a nail coming out of a plank". (59) In a ward devoid of any integrity and strength, the men are not willing to help each other simply because "as soon as a man goes to help somebody, he leaves himself wide open". (121) As McMurphy goes on to discover, "there are only a few men on the ward who are committed", and although they could check out, they just don't have "the guts". (167, 168) Seeing the need of the patients, McMurphy begins to lead them out of their shells, whether by defying the big nurse:

  • Word count: 938
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Essay on use of power in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Compare and contrast the ways in which Ken Kesey and Chuck Palahniuk explore the consequences of the use and abuse of power ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Fight Club’. The use of power for good and the abuse of power, as well as their consequences, are elements that are explored in both ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ by Ken Kesey and ‘Fight Club’ by Chuck Palahniuk. ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Cuckoo’s Nest)’ contains characters such as R. P. McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, and ‘Fight Club’ contains the Narrator and Tyler Durden, all of whom may both use and abuse power. Both Ken Kesey and Chuck Palahniuk had rebellious streaks at some point in their life, and the fact that characters in their novels that have power and are shown to abuse it would suggest that they have a negative outlook on power, possibly believing it is a source of corruption. For example, Kesey formed the Merry Pranksters in 1964, a group that rebelled against those with power, such as the law enforcement, by taking large amounts of LSD and fleeing to Mexico. The novels therefore feature characters who have access to power and experience the consequences in similar and contrasting ways, which I will explore in further detail. Firstly, characters in both novels use power to liberate others and give them their power back. McMurphy in ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' - Higher question - Narration

‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ Essay 2: Choose a novel in which the narrative point of view is a significant feature in your appreciation of the text. Show how the writer’s use of this feature enhances your understanding of the central concern(s) of the text. A full and correct understanding of a novel is created through an accurate and trustworthy narrator. However, confounding requirements is the narrator of Ken Kesey’s ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, Big Chief Bromden. Bromden is one of the patients at a mental hospital who, in battling against Nurse Ratched for power of the ward, suffers from series of hallucinations which assist the reader in understanding both the struggle and hardships of the patients in taking some power in the ward, and how McMurphy helps Bromden escape from his hallucinogenic world and into reality. The reader’s interpretation of Nurse Ratched and the power she possesses in the eyes of Bromden is made clear to the reader in the opening stages of the novel. She is furious at the behaviour of her assistants - dubbed ‘the black boys’ by Bromden – and in disciplining them, Bromden describes her as: “Blowing up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor” The hallucination of seeing Nurse Ratched growing in Bromden’s mind is a key aspect of understanding how he interprets things. Not only can he

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"It's the truth even if it didn't happen" - Discuss the function and effect of Bromden's dreams and distortions.

"It is the truth even if it didn't happen" - Discuss the function and effect of Bromden's dreams and distortions Bromden's dreams and distortions are the result of wrong attitudes to mental illness. He retreats into these hallucinations for safety and comfort. The effect of the hallucinations is to show literal manifestations of the metaphorical "grilling" of the members of the ward. This serves to convince the reader of Bromden's mental instability as well as to provide Kesey with a literary means of creating vivid imagery, atmosphere and biting satire. The fog is a strong image presented by Bromden. The fog represents lack of understanding of the human condition and acts as an escape from reality for Bromden. When the Chief is engulfed by anxiety or is without medication he slips out of reality and hallucinates about the fog. Although frightening at times, the foggy Ward seems to be a safer place because it obscures Bromden's unfavourable perception of reality. Indeed it represents Ratched's oppression of the patients. However, when McMurphy arrives he lifts the inmates out of the chains of their emotional repression and fear and thus lifts the fog. The subsequent clarity of thought is shown by the Chief in the line "When the fog clears...I'm sitting in the day room." The men prefer to be in the fog as they believe they are safer and less easily targeted by the Nurse.

  • Word count: 963
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The Character of Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest".

One flew over the cuckoo’s nest - Nurse Ratched Essay A novel which has a character who can be described as a villain is “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey. The villain of the play is Nurse Ratched, the head nurse in a psychiatric ward. The writer portrays the nurse as a villain through his use of imagery and description and this is highly effective in depicting the nurse as an evil character. Nurse Ratched desires control, and she wants complete power, so she manipulates the patients and the staff in order to fulfil her needs. In the novel the Nurse is often known as the: “Big Nurse” In this novel, size symbolises power and this is particularly relevant when describing the nurse as she is ultimately one of the two most powerful characters in this story. The name also has connotations to George Orwell’s novel, “Nineteen Eighty-Four”, in which the “Big Brother” has total surveillance of all the people and they are constantly reminded of the phrase “Big Brother is watching you”. The Nurse also has a similar power in the ward as she has total control of the patients actions and she watches their every move. The power struggle between the Nurse and McMurphy is also prevalent as although the Nurse wants to be in total control, she is often defeated by McMurphy who is also a very powerful character. This desire to control and manipulate

  • Word count: 1099
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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