Of The Patients And McMurphy example essay topic

Jack Nicholson as Randall McMurphy: What do you think you are, for Chris sake, crazy or something'? Well you " re not! You " re not! You " re no crazier than the average asshole out walking' around on the streets and that's it. This film presents an individual that chooses not to conform to modern society, and the consequences of that choice. The main character R.P. McMurphy would be best described as the antihero, and Nurse Ratchet would be the antagonist.

Both characters have an important role insofar as how the ward responds to their actions. The basis of this plot is a battle of wills between McMurphy and Nurse Ratchet. Before McMurphy entered the ward, Nurse Ratchet ran the place the way that was most comfortable for her, and not in the best interest of the patients. From their first meeting, McMurphy asserts that her dominance is not as things should be. Randall Patrick McMurphy's struggle against institutional authority in the 1975 Academy Award winning film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest brings to light one man's rebellion against the repressive and controlling powers of an oppressive institution.

McMurphy is committed to a mental institution after being ejected from a work farm due to his belligerent: some at the prison believed him to be crazy. Within the walls of the man-made cuckoo's nest McMurphy and his new peers are scrutinized without end under the total control of the facility's administration - for their own good, of course. Their access to information is restricted to the point where they are not even allowed to watch the current World Series on television; all their personal freedoms are forfeit. The daily degradation that strips away their humanity and self-regard is apparent to McMurphy from his first entry into the ward as all his personal belongings are collected and removed from his possession. From that point on he is treated as no longer a man, but a case file to be dealt with in accord with all protocol at the expense of any real therapy or rehabilitation.

The independently-produced film also swept the Oscars: it was the first film to take all the major awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress) since Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934). It was nominated for nine Academy Awards in total. The film's title was derived from a familiar, tongue-twisting Mother's Goose nursery rhyme called Vintery, Vintery, Cutlery, Corn: Vintery, minter y, cuter y, corn Apple seed and apple thorn Wire, briar, limber lock Three geese in a flock. One flew east And one flew west And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.

The one that flies over the cuckoo's nest is the giant, allegedly deaf-mute Chief Broaden. In Ken Kesey's original novel, Chief narrates the story, providing evocative images of an all-powerful bureaucratic 'harvesting machine' fostering functionalist social integration: a combine that would process out individuality, thus creating compliant individuals (the exaggerated representation of this in the film's ward is a microcosm of society at large). Those who did not conform would be relegated to a correctional facility for repair or removal. McMurphy strives to overcome the head nurse, Nurse Ratchet, and finds himself sympathizing with the others in the ward.

This can be described as social influence. Social influence is where other people impact the thought, perception, and behavior of a person. When McMurphy first arrives at the institution, the other patients adhere to the structure in the institution. Many of the patients are withdrawn from communication, and mindlessly follow the daily routine assigned to them. This society of order through regulation has a culture and common identity, attached to the stigma of their respective mental illnesses.

McMurphy changes this complacence through the influence of his relationships with the other patients, teaching them to interact with one another again. He also questions what they want, with respect to their accommodations in the hospital, as well as to the personal goals they might once have had for themselves. Nurse Ratchet becomes enraged at his attempt to change the system she strongly encourages and abides by. There is an unspoken feud between the two, and there is a role conflict between them as well.

The role conflict is between the power of the authority, and the obedience of the patient. Since McMurphy is expressing his desire for change, he other patients follow his lead and also demand their own desires. Nurse Ratchet begins losing her authority over the patients and McMurphy gains influence over the patients. The patients, led by McMurphy, form a group. This group interacts with one another, and recognizes their identity through their involvement with each other. Since there is only a group of patients in the entire ward that really interact with one another, this group becomes a primary group.

These are the select patients that grow close with each other and possess common thoughts and desires. There are specific norms in the institution that are expected to be followed by the patients, as well as the employees of the ward. McMurphy and eventually, the other inmates constantly violate these norms. For instance, McMurphy bribes a security guard to allow his female friends into the ward with alcohol, and the patients have a party during their sleeping time.

No visitors are allowed, and certainly no alcohol, but the patients enjoy themselves and disregard that they are violating a norm of the institution. Non-material culture is present both inside and outside of the institution. The patients outside of the institution violated the aspects of non-material culture involving appropriate behaviors and patterns of interaction. This is why they are living in the institution- they violated these norms of behavior and interaction. Some of the patients were voluntary, but they felt that they were inconsistent with the interactions with others in their personal lives.

Others, like McMurphy, were seen as dangerous or unhealthy to society, and their interactions or behaviors were inappropriate when compared with the non-material culture of their society. Due to the violated norms and inappropriate interactions of these patients, sanctions were the responses from the rest of society and also the medical staff of the institution. For instance, since the patients in the hospital were seen as unsafe to society, others sanctioned them by being placed in the institution. Also, when McMurphy violates the norms of the institution by rioting with the other patients, and he attacks a hospital orderly, he is given shock treatment to control his emotions and behavior. This sanction was a medical treatment that was deemed necessary by the hospital staff because they felt that McMurphy, as well as two other patients, were out of control and insubordinate to the norms of the institution. Each of the inmates in the institution are prescribed and administered medications by the hospital staff to control their illnesses.

In fact, there is one scene that emphasizes 'medication time', and each of the patients must take their prescribed medication in view of the head nurse. McMurphy questions the contents of his medicine, and is refused any information, even though it is his body the medicine is entering. This is a perfect example of, for these patients do not have a choice of whether they feel medicine is necessary for their treatment. The doctors make that decision for each patient based on their opinions and 'expertise'. Many of these opinions are based on the ideals of absolutism, where the doctors determine what is either absolutely right or wrong in the patient's behavior, and when it is wrong, what medical treatments are necessary for them. When the patients do something that is considered wrong, it is defined as deviance.

The patient's deviance is determined by whether or not their action, idea, or attribute is offensive, immoral, or strange to society. For example, McMurphy was originally sentenced to a work camp, the crime he committed was statutory rape, which is considered immoral to society. The expectations of these patients are to behave, think, and interact in accordance with society's ideals. Because the patients stray from these expectations, their actions are considered violations. The reaction to these violations is first, the admittance to the institution, and after that, of the deviants once they have entered the institution. This institution has the structure of a bureaucracy.

Although this is not a place of employment for the patients, there are a set of rules and expectations that the patients are expected to follow, and the doctors and staff rule the institution. The patients begin to violate the rules, voicing their collective frustration with the policies they feel are wrong or unnecessary. At group meetings, which are supervised and instructed by Nurse Ratchet, the patients not only ask for change to fulfill their wants and needs, but they demand them as well. The patients also show their demand for change by violating the rules one evening, and having a large party after McMurphy bribes a security guard. The ideology of the patients is that of the want for mental freedom and also more changes they feel are necessary.

After the patients take their collective action against the authority of Nurse Ratchet and the institution's policies and regulations, there is a collapse in the order of the ward. In order for the staff of the hospital to regain control after the party the patients held, strict sanctions are administered to some of the patients, and McMurphy receives a frontal lobotomy as a 'treatment' for his unwillingness to cooperate and abide by the rules and norms. From this point, McMurphy's fate is fulfilled. He committed an open revolt against the authority and failed. It is not questionable what retaliation he can expect.

Although he has tried to change and reform the world of the ward around him with peaceful and cunning manner, he failed. The institution (and its embodiment in Nurse Ratched) does not tolerate any deviation from what she considers correct. Knowing all of that, McMurphy's attempts are doomed to failure from the outset. His failure is coded in his character: he wants to live free or die if that's not possible. The conflict between that insoluble idealism and the entrenched realities personified in Nurse Ratched is resolved in a manner rife with subtlety yet ultimately not ambiguous: in his meteoric progression toward his self-destruction, McMurphy nonetheless triumphs by inspiring the caged cuckoos to rediscover their freedom. Jack Nicholson as Randall McMurphy: Well, I tried, didn't I?

Goddamn it, at least I did that.