In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the movie McMurphy is more of a con man and is unpredictable and he stays the same till the very end of the movie. In the book, however, Kesey portrays him as more of an objective person and his personality changes throughout the book. McMurphy is the main character in both the book and the movie. The McMurphy in the movie is more unpredictable and disruptive. McMurphy has an unpredictable nature and that the viewer never knows what he might do next. On the way to the fishing trip McMurphy could have easily escaped after he climbed over the wire fence. Instead he decides to load the other patients onto the bus and takes them fishing. This was the first instance in the movie where all of the patients …show more content…
After the fishing trip the patients are empowered to stand up for themselves. After the trip Cheswick feels brave enough to yell at Nurse Ratched for withholding his cigarettes, McMurphy stomps to the nurse’s station and punches the glass. The craziness of the scene causes McMurphy to react in a way that no one will normally do. He punches the glass and gives Cheswick his cigarette in order to make him quiet again. In this metaphor the glass pane represents Nurse Ratched’s protection and power over the patient's. McMurphy is able to symbolically break her power with his bare hands by taking an action that no other patient would take. He dramatically resolves the situation in a disruptive manner. When McMurphy returns from shock therapy he acts like a mindless human to make Nurse Ratched feel like she has finally conquered him. All the patients believe that he has finally given up and that Nurse Ratched has gained all the power. But he suddenly changes back to his normal self to make Nurse Ratched lose all her power. This is a motif because McMurphy shows his rebellious side and that he will not let Nurse Ratched control all the patients. It also shows that he will not let a simple machine take control of him.