Who Is The Big Nurse In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a story of a group of men that reside in a mental ward, faced with a dictatorial head nurse that runs it. This nurse is the main evil of the novel, and for good reason. Her school of thought can only be summed up by one common phrase, first said by Benjamin Franklin, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” The Big Nurse, as she is referred to in the novel, takes this phrase to the extreme, and applies it to more things than it probably should be. The patients are woken up at an exact time, shuffled along by the guards, or as they are referred to in the book, the Black Boys, and placed into the day room. Each person falls into one of two categories, the Acutes and the Chronics, based …show more content…
McMurphy had total confidence that he could prove to the patients that the Big Nurse wasn’t invincible, and he had all the right skills to do so. "The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants and how to make him think he's getting it" (74). McMurphy’s gambling skills came in handy in this situation; he knew how read someone and was able predict their next move. But although his mental assault was directed towards the Big Nurse, the other nurses in the ward were collateral damage. "...I figure by the way she rears back when he reaches the door of the station that she's probably been warned about him beforehand by the Big Nurse ('Oh, one more thing before I leave it in your hands tonight Miss Pilbow; that new man sitting over there, the one with the garish red sideburns and facial lacerations-I've reason to believe he is a sex maniac.') McMurphy sees how she's looking so scared and big-eyed at him, so he sticks his head in the station door where she's issuing pills, and gives her a big friendly grin to get acquainted on. This flusters her so she drops the water pitcher on her foot."