Analysis Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

753 Words4 Pages
Since the first moment Randle McMurphy is introduced in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it is blatant that he is extremely different than every other patient committed at the mental ward. He first enters the ward big, and bodacious with little intention to abide by the ward’s thoroughly enforced rules. This is obvious as our first introduction to McMurphy is, from the eyes of Chief Bromden, when he refuses to take his entry shower but instead, “tells them [the staff] he’s already plenty clean,” (Kesey 10). He is unkempt and untamed with a red mop of curls on his head, a “seam” across his nose and cheekbone, and a “wide grinning mouth,” (Kesey 11). Besides his physical characteristics, at the start of the novel McMurphy provides a contrast…show more content…
The reader is left wondering if McMurphy truly belongs in the mental war; if he is even crazy at all. Officially, McMurphy is admitted into the ward in the midst of serving a six-month sentence at Pendleton work farm. He is committed on the account of “repeated outbreaks of passion that suggest the possible diagnosis of psychopath,”(Kesey 44). The questioning of his sanity is a common theme throughout the novel. McMurphy very quickly becomes a symbol of resistance on the ward. Before McMurphy, the patients on the ward were treaty horrifically and manipulated by the Big Nurse. McMurphy makes it very evident that he is not going to comply with the rules. But the question lies if he is really trying to make positive change in the ward for the other patients and himself, or if he is just a psychopath who is only causing problems due to his manipulative…show more content…
He gambles a lot on the ward and is constantly using his superior gambling skills to take money from the other patients. Even the Big Nurse points out factually, that all of the other patients’ bank account balances have gone down since McMurphy has been on the ward; but his continued to go up. McMurphy also charged extra money for the big fishing trip he organized for the patients, and intended to keep the extra for him. When he was again caught by the Big Nurse he proclaimed, “Sure; I was keepin’ what was left over… I figured to make a little for the trouble I took…”(Kesey

More about Analysis Of Mcmurphy In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Open Document