Summary:
In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the mental patients' irrational and maddening behaviors play a very crucial role to the development of the plot. The character that portrays this the most is Randle P. McMurphy. He is a gambling con artist and the newest patient at the mental hospital. He soon becomes the leader of all of the patients, causing them to undergo major developments of physiological change.
In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the mental patients' irrational and maddening behaviors play a very crucial role to the development of the plot. The character that portrays this the most is Randle P. McMurphy. He is a gambling con artist and the newest patient at the mental hospital. He soon becomes the leader of all of the patients, causing them to undergo major developments of physiological change. His unreasonable and extreme antics bring about many changes concerning ward policy and also help the men to actually become men, overcoming their fear of the Big Nurse.
His arrival is very strange to the existing patients of the ward. He seems loud and out of place compared to the conservative and restrained personalities of the rest of the patients. The patients begin to warm up to him though as they realize his ability to bring about much needed change to the Big Nurse's strict and harsh rules. He tells the men not to be "rabbits" that conform and allow the Big Nurse to manipulate them, but to stand up and make things happen. He continuously uses his irrational behavior as a method to infuriate the Big Nurse along with the rest of the staff, allowing him to get his way. He is constantly acting up by singing or walking around half naked. In the group meetings he goes on and on trying to get benefits for the patients such as a game room for them to play cards. His witty attitude and keen sense of humor slowly begins to liven up the patients, allowing them to see that there is more to life than just what the Big Nurse allows. But as hard as McMurphy tries, Nurse Ratched counteracts just as hard.
The Big Nurse soon finds a way to influence her patients again, turning them against each other and lulling them back into their dormant states. By limiting her patients and treating them so harshly she isn't helping their physiological states, but making them remain meek and invalid. Vast improvements are shown though, as McMurphy convinces the patients to follow his lead once again. This causes the Big Nurse to once again find another method to sway the men. It seems that the more trouble he causes, the more independence and mental strength the patients find. McMurphy asks if he can take the patients out on a boat trip. They are then given the opportunity to finally stand up for themselves. They use their mental disability to their advantage, scaring a few rude gas station attendants. He even goes the extreme of punching through the Nurse's Station's large glass window, twice. Then McMurphy gets into a fight with the orderlies one night, which causes him to be sent to the Shock Shop for Electro Shock Therapy. McMurphy's behavior and willingness to put himself in danger stands out among the patients and they further praise him as their hero.
Because of McMurphy's bravery and leadership, the Acutes are speaking even more during the meetings, voicing their opinions and demanding what they want. After a tawdry night of drinking and partying in the secrecy of the ward's darkness, the patients are caught in the act and much grief follows. Billy Bibbit kills himself, after the Nurse says she will tell his mother of his disappointing actions. The Big Nurse is very flustered by her loss of control and goes to very drastic matters to prove she's in charge. She is given the opportunity when McMurphy, as a last straw, rips the front of her nurse's outfit off. She sends him to have a lobotomy and when he returns he is just a vegetable. The night McMurphy returns Chief Bromden (who McMurphy taught to be strong once again) mercifully kills him and then the Chief escapes from the hospital.
McMurphy, though a manipulator and a con man, uses his irrational and maddening behavior to yield reasonable and drastic results. Many of the Actues check themselves out of the hospital, transformed and now ready for the outside world because of McMurphy. His way of looking at life, and his persistent attitude towards being a non-conformist definitely brought life and happiness into the ward, if only for a short time. McMurphy dies a martyr for a very meaningful and significant reason.
This is the complete article, containing 720 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
