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...