...Cynthia K. Nessmith Professor Shawana Stanford American Literature 2130 14 April 2013 Film adaptation of the American novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest novel was written by Ken Kesey in 1962. The film adaptation version was directed by Czech Milos Forman in 1975. My goal in this paper is not only to compare the film adaptation to the Novel but to also explain what I think the symbols represent, critic’s analysis, themes presented in this film, and the significance of the Novel. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest film’s setting begins with a police car driving down the road to people sleeping in bunk beds, ending with a glimpse of a drawing taped to the wall with a crazy face centered in it. A nurse enters a locked down facility, while another prepares medicine for the patients. The police car arrives at the facility with a prisoner in handcuffs that is released to the hospital staff. The characters in this film are as follows: Randall P. McMurphy played by Jack Nicholson, a rebellious convict with a loud mouth and a set of sexual playing cards. He’s courageous and challenges the staff/system of the mental hospital. Nurse Ratched played by Louise Fletcher is a calm, cold, well mannered, and soft spoken head nurse of the mental hospital that plays McMurphy’s enemy. Chief Bromdon played by Will Sampson is a big and tall Indian who is described as “deaf and dumb” (according to the character Billy). Billy Bibbit played by Brad Dourif is a young...
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...Judith Guest’s novel, Ordinary People, and movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Milos Forman, both share a number of traits that correlate with one another . Such traits include vulnerability, perfection, and emotional imbalance. Both Ordinary People and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest captivate the emotions of the audience by addressing these three traits through a point of view, setting, and imagery. Since Ordinary People has two perspectives of a father and son, the point of view in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest focuses on Nurse Ratched’s confrontation with Billy. Furthermore, the vulnerability that Con develops after the death of his brother also applies to Billy when Nurse Ratched humiliated him in front of the other...
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...However, not all the rebellion in the book was in the form of challenging people. Much of the books rebellion was in the form of talking back to others. McMurphy was very good at sarcastic remarks to others. ¨’But you must understand: everyone… must follow the rules.’ . . . ‘ya know - that is the ex-act thing somebody always tells me about the rules. . . . just when they figure out I’m about to do the dead opposite’¨ (24). McMurphy uses these subtle remarks to challenge power, but not in an over empowering way. Telling Nurse Ratched upfront, that he won’t be following any rules, however he isn’t going to do anything right now. However, sometimes his remarks aren’t always actionless. When he rammed his hand through a glass window McMurphy...
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...In the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest the mental hospital is very strict with lots of structure. This causes many thing to happen that doesn’t necessarily have to happen. It's almost as if the patients are antagonized to overreact at points in the movie. As a human being we should be able to make our own choices, therefor its important to be able to make your own choices to feel like you are an individual. Not to mention, I would think it would be improvement to have the patients working together as a team, but Nurse Ratched didn’t reward or even compliment them on working as a team. Instead she punished them. Working as a team is an key element of human behavior, because at this point your not just thinking about yourself but of others feelings too. These situations are all very unethical to me, I believe no matter what state you are in, mental or sane,...
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...The pivotal character of Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is filled to the brim with imagery surrounding Christ—his twelve disciples, his miracles, his crucifixion—to the point where it is nearly impossible to not make a connection with the biblical. As McMurphy first lay down upon the cross-shaped table of the Shock Shop, Kesey is telling his readers something, guiding us to deeper meaning within that imagery. Through the cruel Shock Shop and sacrificial symbolism, Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest declares McMurphy a Christ figure, furthering the idea that even in the most oppressive, depairing trenches of humanity, a little hope is all it takes to spark revolution. When we get our first glimpse of McMurphy, it...
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...One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest As a child, the adults in my neighborhood would always say “stop acting like a crazy person, or else people are going to think you’re really crazy”. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Randle McMurphy does exactly what the old people of my community said not to do; he pretends to be crazy. The reason he does this is to avoid the punishment of jail time, he pleads insanity and ends up in a mental institution. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was released in 1975, it was directed by Milos Forman. It starred Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, Louise Fletcher as Nurse Rathced, and Danny Divito as Martini. Randle McMurphy is under the impression that he would rather serve time in a mental institution, than serve jail time, is admitted as a patient and attempts to play the role of an insane person. Immediately he realizes that the people who are his peers in the community have problems that go a lot deeper than his. He seems to be able to reach out to the clients and in the end; his demise is one person’s freedom. McMurphy teaches Chief, a Native American inmate how to fend for himself, and he encourages the other patients to rebel against the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched does not like her authority to be challenged, and a power struggle begins between she and McMurphy. McMurphy pulls many stunts during his stay at the hospital, but the one that sends her over the edge is when McMurphy throws party and brings prostitutes to the mental...
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...writings. Each gender has, at some point, had to fight the repression brought upon by the other. Most examples involve men as the dominate force over women in a patriarchal society. Less than a hundred years have passed since women gained the right to vote in the United States and just a few years ago women in Saudi Arabia were finally allowed the same right. The theme of a “battle of the sexes” has been around in literature for hundreds, even thousands of years in works such as Shakespeare’s comedies to various mythology. In the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken...
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...Kerouac, then the ‘60s and ‘70s belonged to Ken Kesey. Being a novelist in this time period, Kesey had close affiliations with the counterculture that dominated the decade. In its own way One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the twentieth-century Romantic manifesto, a ululation for the death of the individual before this rebellion went out of style and individualism along with it. This book verbalized what many where thinking: that the truly crazy in the world were the ones who wanted power while the truly sane were the ones who sought to be individuals and rebelled against authority. Because of this pronounced effect on society the book was a major contributor to the backlash against the entire psychiatric system in the early 1960s. As a result, state institutions began reducing their resident numbers and granting admitted patients more rights within the institutions. In addition to this change in the system, the book also pushed the development of more effective anti-psychotic drugs, thus allowing more patients to be treated within their own homes and live normal lives. Yet for many health professionals the book also had a profound negative effect, consequently changing the overall...
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...Albert Einstein once said, "All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual". One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a novel written by Ken Kesey is a story told in the perspective of a man named Chief Bromden, who has been in a mental hospital for 10 years, suffering from paranoia and hallucinations. Bromden’s worldview is obscured by his fear, and never has a clear view of the world while under the wing of Nurse Ratched at the hospital. With the arrival of Randle McMurphy, Bromden senses a different attitude about him. Randle McMurphy tells the patients that the Nurse is nothing to fear, protesting against her, and bringing out her inner rage. McMurphy later shows his leadership by taking a group of patients outside, and showing them their masculine...
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...One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey follows the life of men who have to live in the harsh environment of a mental institution. Although we are restricted to only the interior world of the ward, we do not meet any high level authority figure other than Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched is a very tyrannical individual whose goal is to maintain a harsh hierarchical structure which at the time that this novel was written, was fairly normal in mental hospitals. Nurse Ratched had many ways in obtaining the ideal order she desires. One of these is manipulation, which is seen in constant use throughout the novel. Under her tactics, the mental hospital transforms into a small world where anyone can be manipulated in order for people to get what...
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...Many questions have been asked if Hamlet, McMurphy and Chief Bromden are crazy or sane. Hamlet is the main character from a play by William Shakespeare called Hamlet. McMurphy and Chief are characters from a novel by Ken Kesey called One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. There have been many scenes in the play where Hamlet might seams crazy but without a doubt he is sane. Even though McMurphy do some crazy things he is definitely not crazy because he is aware of his actions and he does all these insane things just to make the Nurse Ratched mad. Chief Bromden’s character can easily be identified as sane because he knows how to stay out of trouble and from getting electric shock treatments. Hamlet says to Horatio “How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on,” (I. v. 172-174). This quote is said right after when the Ghost tells Hamlet that his uncle Claudius has murdered his father. Hamlet plans on pretending to be a crazy so he can get revenge on Claudius. He also mentions to Horatio that to keep this to himself as a secret. This is perfect quote to proof Hamlet is not crazy and puts on an act as a madman. When Hamlet talks to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, he tells them in a way that he would be portray as a madman that he has been acting insane. “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.” (II. ii. 132-133). He also let them know that their true reason for visiting...
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...In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey exposes us to the world of mental illness and mental wards. Kesey exposes us to two therapeutic strategies, external discipline and solipsism. Although Nurse Ratched was technically the medical professional, McMurphy inspired the healing by encouraging self healing and helping them escape Nurse Ratched’s control. As the person who had been on the ward the longest, Nurse Ratched dominated the ward as the leader, even though she was unqualified to hold that level of jurisdiction on the patients’ medical treatment. She controlled the ward by making everything fit into the molds she desired. The ward was the world that she could make perfect with rules, schedules, drugs, staff, and fear. By ordering...
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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...
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...Ken Kesey's, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a work of literature containing the theme of freedom and mental instability in a setting that restricted one's true self expression to evolve, as many of the main characters learn to face society and its norms. Randle McMurphy, is introduced to an insane asylum where Chief is the longest-residing patient. McMurphy is larger than life, intelligent, and observant. He stirs up the ward immediately by introducing friendly competition, gambling, and as well as encouraging the men to rebel against the petty rules created and enforced by Nurse Ratched. Slowly, McMurphy undermines Nurse Ratched’s system of control while remaining Mr. Nice Guy but nurse Ratched knows a little more than anyone. What...
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...In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, Randle McMurphy struggles to free himself under the dominating power of Nurse Ratched. The power struggle between the two demonstrates the need for free will. When McMurphy enters the halls of the mental ward in Oregon, he finds a group of men beaten into obedience by the head nurse of the ward. Nurse Ratched’s power over the patients extends beyond their actions into their minds. She controls their every second from where they have to be at eight o’clock in the morning to what their beliefs are. McMurphy disrupts this routine by openly disregarding the rules that Nurse Ratched placed. Throughout the novel, McMurphy continuously attempts to eliminate Nurse Ratched’s power in the ward. The first thing that McMurphy does when he is placed in the ward is to introduce himself to every patient. This unusual behavior allows McMurphy to gain the trust of the other men. McMurphy helps to unite the men and works to become the leader. Through this turn of events, readers see the power struggle between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy begin. Nurse Ratched retains her power by hiding her...
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