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Allusions In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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McMurphy’s Last Supper

In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, author Ken Kesey uses various characters, settings, and plot points in order to integrate biblical allusions in his novel. These include a combination of character dialogue as well as their actions. Characters such as McMurphy and Billy directly mirror people in the Bible while scenes such as the fishing trip contain key events that remind the reader the extent of how relevant the Bible is for the story. For the duration of the novel, Kesey takes us on a trip through the good, the bad, and the insane of the holy book. Chief Bromden, the novel's narrator, gives us a remarkable description of the asylum. To him, the ward is literally Hell as it was a “huge room… shirtless …show more content…
The novel starts off with Ellis being “nailed against the wall” in the shape of a cross (Kesey, 16). Ellis is always constantly in a pool of urine which symbolizes the pool of blood that surrounded Jesus when he was crucified. However, the role of Jesus does not stay with Ellis for very long. When McMurphy arrives, he quickly will obtain the messiah role in the novel. Before he goes into electroshock therapy (EST), he asks if he can get a “crown of thorns” and is placed on a table that is “ironically, shaped like a cross.” (Kesey, 283)(Kesey, 69). Earlier in the novel, he is prescribed seizure medication. Scanlon, a pyromaniac who is also taking the anticonvulsant, gives McMurphy an ultimatum; take the pill and lose teeth, or don’t take the pill and be ill. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” is Scanlon’s ultimate answer (Kesey, 179). This dilemma is presented to McMurphy to foreshadow a problem he is going to need to make a choice on in the future. Will he abandon his friends and get out, or sacrifice himself for the benefit of his friends? McMurphy, like Christ, ended up choosing the second choice and sparing his friends. During the after-party, McMurphy hires a prostitute who turns out to be a very sweet girl. Candy, in her own way, reflects Mary Magdalene who is also a prostitute. Billy is the Judas of the story. In the Bible, Judas betrays Jesus for silver and ends up committing suicide because he is guilt ridden. Similarly, Billy does the blaming in exchange for Nurse Ratched to not tell his mother of him losing his virginity to a “cheap” and “low” class woman (Kesey 314). Billy, consumed by grief and perhaps guilt, takes his life, which leads to the crucifixion of R.P

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