Is McMurphy a Martyr? In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey gives the readers a hero. When Randle Patrick McMurphy first arrives at the ward, he sees the patients being under control. McMurphy notices that the acutes and the chronics are being controlled by Nurse Ratched. Each of the ward patients follows Nurse Ratched orders because they fear her.
Kim thought that since he was a doctor there he could get special treatment. Kim’s actions to the woman at the front start to make his ex-wife worry about his temper. With Kim’s reactions of him being impatient doesn’t really help him or Becky when he was in the room with Dr. Morgan. When he went to talk to Dr. Morgan he couldn’t control his temper “what the hell is it Dr. Morgan (Kim spat 56)”. Kim not thinking of his actions gets him into more trouble.
McMurphy stands up for the patients on the ward and sets the example that they have a right to ask the question, why. There are many ways of controlling those you want kept in a certain formation, Ms. Ratched’s way is by using scare tactics. She uses all types of ways to get the patients on the ward to believe that she is helping them, and sets up strict regulations for their own good. When she caught Billy Bibbit in the room with one of McMurphy’s girls, she threatened him by talking about telling his mother. Knowing that his mother is the root of his stutter and insecurities, she scared him back into the obedient patient he was before McMurphy came to the ward.
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
McMurphy represents freedom in a society controlled by fear and repression as he is the one who tries to fight the one who put fear in the patients, Nurse Ratched. His attempts are heroic as the rest fear her and the electro shock therapy The conclusion of the novel sees the legacy of McMurphy is the complete of the Nurse’s authority and the liberation of the other men. In the battle between the McMurphy and Nurse Ratched, it is ultimately Nurse
As kind and compassionate as nurses can be to their patients, they can be just as mean and hateful to their colleagues. With knowledge comes responsibility. Horizontal violence is prevalent in the nursing profession, and the experience of this behavior is psychologically distressing, threatening patient safety, nurse moral, and nurse retention. To understand how to eliminate lateral violence amongst nurses, we first have to understand exactly what it is. WHAT IS IT Lateral violence is a devastating phenomenon in the nursing workplace.
Her ward is operating as a machine that is dull and lust less. In order to receive and maintain her power she belittles the patients esteem. Like in part 1 when the keep demanding Harding to explain why he believes he can’t satisfy his wife. As she pressure Harding to provide a valid explanation the other patients question her. Big nurse replies “its good therapy”.
Comparably to The story of Tom Brennan whereby the protagonist fails to adapt to his new paradigm due to immense social and emotional barriers, Norman Jewison’s biographical film The Hurricane demonstrates that coming in terms with inner fear and anxiety allows one to overcome the emotional barriers and enter into a new world that affords a greater self. The protagonist ‘Hurricane Carter’ is an infamous African-American boxer who faces a corrupt world of racial prejudice. He faces an unprecedented calamity of imprisonment due to false allegations of homicide. The close-up shots of his blood-teary eyes conveys an intense thirst for vengeance. Similarly to Tom Brennan, this leads him to face immense psychological barriers such as schizophrenia, fear and antisocialism, which accordingly breeds his hatred and hinders his transition to adapt to his new world.
When McMurphy discovers that many of the patients are in the hospital because they don’t have the courage to get out into the real world he gets upset but also embarrassed because it is evident that Nurse Ratched’s therapy and methods to help the men are designed to undermine the little confidence they do have, not encourage it. In my opinion Nurse Ratched’s should be put into the asylum for abusing her authority and dehumanizing the patients and replacing it with blind conformity. McMurphy, is the person who sees everything that Nurse Ratched is doing. By showing the other patients how to create their own standards of sanity, McMurphy greets a bunch of institutionalized nervous wrecks back towards their humanity. McMurphy and I both think that society is corrupt and if you are no danger to yourself or society you are not insane, you may be different but you are most definitely not
The power struggle between McMurphy and Nurse Ratched is the main conflict in the novel because it affects everybody in the hospital also each use their power over the patients and nurse staff in different ways throughout the hospital. This has happened a lot through out history as well. The main purpose of everything that the two do to each other or the people around them is to establish power. However the power they gain or already have can be taken away or ignored easier than it was to establish. McMurphy does not always have power within the hospital; he loses it at some points but gains it back after.