One Flew Over Her Nest Analysis

One Flew Over Her Nest It is a man’s world and the woman 's place is in the house. This popular misconception has plagued American society since the time of the founding fathers. It was believed that the man was expected to be the master, the leader, or the commander in chief, while the woman is supposed to be passive and subservient. Women did not have the right to dictate how they used their money, how they dressed in public, and how they behaved in the presence of men. For a long time, American society suppressed women with these conformations. It was not until the late-1970s that women were allowed to freely express themselves. However, the normal convention of omniscient male dominance is absent in author Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the …show more content…
At the asylum Nurse Ratched created the oppressive environment; she was the judge, the jury, and executioner. She had total control over the men’s lives. In many ways she did not allow the men to attain their basic necessities, which eventually led to the diminishing of their masculinity. The men were unable to assert their virility; when Dale Harding assigns animals to the people around him, he was compelled to call Nurse Ratched a wolf and the men rabbits (Leach). One of the ways Nurse Ratched generated her power was by using her large body proportions and her feminine beauty. Nurse Ratched embodied the American machismo’s worst fear, a strong woman who is unattractive to them (Darbyshire 199). She would use her beauty to manipulate the men into following her every command. Nurse Ratched would also use her alluring body to beguile the men. For example, her ample breasts gave a misleading symbolic representation of both nurturance and sexuality, which she fails to deliver on both counts to the men (Darbyshire 199). Nurses are supposed to kind and affectionate, but Nurse Ratched refuses to nurture the men in the ward (Darbyshire 199). To expand the extent of her power, Nurse Ratched takes away the traditions and customs that allow a man to become a man (Darbyshire 201). For example, she prevents the men at the ward from smoking, drinking, sexual exploits and watching …show more content…
Unfortunately, for the men, throughout the novel they were vitiated by the important woman in their lives, their mothers or wives. A prime example of this is the marriage of the Harding. Dale Harding is married to young and beautiful wife. During the 1950s and 60s, wives were supposed to be subservient, kind, and modest. Yet, Harding 's young wife behavior is on the other side of the spectrum, she is a castrating wife (Alvarado 355). For example, when Mrs. Harding is introduced in the novel with a photograph, she is seen openly filtering with the photographer in the presence of her husband (Alvarado 355). Mrs. Harding position and attitude in the photograph compared to her husband’s appearance, gives the impression that the she dominates the relationship (Alvarado 355). Mrs. Harding is openly defiant her sexuality, which causes her husband to feel inadequate. For example, when she visits her husband she spends the whole visit exploring the many ways she can allude to the fact that he is impaired sexually (Alvarado 355). Harding also feels emasculated by his wife body, “ample bosom at times gives him a feeling of inferiority” (Kesey as quoted in Leach). As a result of Mrs. Harding domineering nature, her husband is unable to achieve progress with his mental disability, which leads to his subordination to his wife. Like Mrs. Harding many of the wives in the novel emasculate