One Flew Over The Cuckoo And Rdquo Analysis

993 Words4 Pages
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Pages 24- 3 -operation of ward; staff& routine -treatment of patients medically, mentally & physically EST treatment Sexual harassment -Nurse Ratched; total authority and control - black boys operate on hate -patients have no backbone -foreshadowing of events Important passages Nurse Ratched’s control, treatment and reaction to disruption of her ward “I recall some yea s back we had a man a Mr. Taber, on the ward, and he was an intolerable Ward manipulator. For a while” she looks up from her work, needle half filled in front of her face like a little wand. Her eyes far-off and pleased with the memory “Miisitur Tay-bur” she says……. She cuts the…show more content…
~ In this extract Kesey uses a simple task to highlight the type of power Nurse Ratched has. All the way through the conversation he describes the way she handles the task by “jabbing the needle” while still looking “calm and smiling” this is a symbol/ metaphor for the extreme power and control she has hidden by a “sweet angel” façade. This idea then links to a part where Harding talks about how Nurse Ratched is “ a veritable angel of mercy”. ~This extract is also a first introduction into the case of Mr. Taber, this then directly links up to a story the chief tells about him. When Nurse Ratched adds “For a while” this insinuates instantly before chief tells the story that something was done with Mr.Taber to restrict him from being a “Ward Manipulator”. This directly foreshadows what happens to McMurphy. ~ The treatment of “Ward Manipulators” is also a direct reaction from the Nurse to a disruption on her ward. The reaction is some type of medical treatment that you then learn is entirely uncalled for. It isn’t for the benefit of the patient but for the benefit of her authority over the…show more content…
They come at her in a long black row of sulky, big-nosed masks, hating her and her chalk doll whiteness from the first look they get. She appraises them and their hate for a month or so then lets them go because they don’t hate enough. When she finally gets the three she wants- gets them one at a time over a number of years, weaving them into her plan and her network-she’s damn positive they hate enough to be capable.” ~Kesey isn’t being racist with the “black boys” terminology. He’s showing how society has turned them into angry, hateful people, so much so that Nurse Ratched has been able to harvest that anger and use it for her benefit. ~The black boys shouldn’t be in the ward as they’re not an appropriate fit to the recovery of patients. This is linked to the language they use, and the sexual harassment of patients by them. ~ there is also a reference to “her network” which includes the black boys. This then links up to where the chief talks about them being on the same “frequency”. This is another comparison to how the “combine” is a machine as frequencies are affliated with radioas
Open Document