One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest
Essay by review • February 24, 2011 • Essay • 476 Words (2 Pages) • 1,726 Views
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
The beginning of this story takes place in the present time of the 1950's in a mental hospital in Oregon. The main character of the book is Chief Bromden, or Chief Broom, who pretends to be deaf and dumb to hide his 6'7'' self. He's half Indian, and has been in around the ward since WWI, and seen everything there is to see in mental institution. Billy Bibbit is a man that stutters a lot from nervousness and anxiousness. His mother is overly involved and protective in his life, which lead to problems with his romantic relationships. Harding is another man that comes into play in the book; he is more of a "leader" of the acutes group, until McMurphy comes along. He went and graduated from college, he's a smart and well-read man. Cheswick is a man that, before McMurphy came along, was mostly ignored, but now that McMurphy is at the ward, he's more like a side-kick to McMurphy. He's all talk until McMurphy shows up. R.P. McMurphy is the mischievous person that sets everything that was in order to disorderly and dysfunctional. He is the rebellious rebel that comes in to this mental institution to make changes. He's a gambler, risk-taker, a War Hero so he'll go to any length to make sure that Nurse Ratched or Big Nurse doesn't have the control she desires. Nurse Ratched is also a very important character in the book; she is the manipulator, the control freak, and the boss of the ward. She likes to have things her way or she'll "fix" the ill-behaved rule breakers, with the help of her three orderlies. The Orderlies are three very black men that love to hate, and won't be afraid to take hate out on the patients. Nurse Ratched has also, over numerous years and many doctors, has found "her doctor". The guy she can push around, and he's basically just happy to have a job. He's easy to manipulate, he the doctor and she's the boss. This is how Nurse Ratched and the Orderlies keep things running smoothly, or robotically. That way none of the residents can think of rebelling or thing for themselves. The point is to manipulate the patients, and beat them when they're down so they don't have anything to do but fold under Nurse Rachted's orders. But when McMurphy comes, all that schedule stuff will soon be down the drain, after a few battles of course. All he needs is the entire
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