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.

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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