The Hero in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay

A hero is a person who is idealized for courage and sacrificing themselves for the greater good of the people. In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, new asylum admission, Randle McMurphy, is portrayed as the hero to the other patients. At the beginning, the patients of the ward are closed in with lack of self-confidence, but when McMurphy shows up he changes that and helps the patients become their own person. The patients believe that McMurphy is their savior because of how he stands up to authority against the brutal ways that the patients have been treated. However, McMurphy’s ways sometime do seem to be a bit scheming and conniving, he seems to do it to better his fellow patients. Overall, McMurphy is the hero of this book by opening the patients eyes. Although McMurphy’s tactics may not always be beneficial to everyone, he is viewed as a heroic figure in the eyes of the patients because of the way he tries to change things in the hospital.…

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a film directed by Milos Forman. The film was formed based on the novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest written by Ken Kesey. The movie, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, is considered as the best American movie of the 20th century. The film was the second to win every five main Academy Awards that include Best Picture, Actor in a Lead role, and Actress in a Lead Role, Director and Screenplay after It Happened One Night in 1934. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest…

Literature is often said to belong to one of four genres: romance, tragedy, comedy, and satire/irony. However, in some cases, a piece of literature can be argued to be placed in more than one genre. A prime example of this is the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. The novel takes readers behind the scenes of what life in a totalitarian-like mental hospital is like through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a schizophrenic Native American man who is perceived to be deaf and mute. Chief…

Imagine living your life in a controlled environment where you are to do as you are told at all times, and are always scared of whos watching you or how people will look at you. This is the feeling of being in the mental hospital in the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. At this hospital the patients lives are controlled by the staff that works there, especially Nurse Ratched, the head nurse. In a story that revolves around rebelling against power, the author is able to make a…

McMurphy is the tragic hero portrayed in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. By being fundamentally good and displaying a flaw that leads to his downfall in the book, McMurphy easily fits between Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero and the Modernist definition. McMurphy is a fundamentally good character, even though not noble of birth as stated in Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero. McMurphy is full of personality, independent, and life affirming. In the beginning, he seems more…

Potts, Stephen W. "Rebel, superman, bull goose loony: the hero as adolescent." Northwest Review, vol. 45, Literary Resource Center, Accessed 4 Dec. 2017. Stephen Potts shows the comparison of Randle McMurphy and Superman and explains how McMurphy's characteristics portray him as a hero. Potts begins by comparing One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest to other novels like Huckleberry Finn, The Awakening, The Great Gatsby, etc. Stephen says the novels above have much in common due to the fact that all…

As some might not see it, the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest actually had a hero quest in it. The movie has all the steps from the Departure all the way to the Return. When looking at the movie you get that feeling that Mac is the antagonist, but when the movie gets closer to the end you start to realize that he is actually the protagonist/hero. The thing that everyone needs to think about when watching this movie is if McMurphy was the hero or if he is just some patient that is only…

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey demonstrates a new perspective that rules must be broken. The setting takes place in the ward which is authorized by Nurse Ratched, and her impeccable schedule. Randle McMurphy, a tumultuous, lustful, and brawl-loving Irish disrupts this everyday monotone routine. McMurphy conveys the impression of being self-indulgent by gambling, inviting girls, and drinking. Many believe that McMurphy’s role is that of a selfish egomaniac, however, I believe that…

Focusing on one flew over the cuckoo’s nest and Catch 22 compare and contrast Kesey and Hellers presentation of characters that search to challenge the infallibility of the establishment. Catch 22 and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s nest both demonstrate and offer an insight into the methods taken by characters to defy the establishment. The authors use various characters to bring forth questions of how institutions like a psychiatric hospital and a small squadron in WWII aren’t trustworthy and…

In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, protagonist Chief Bromden narrates his experience as a patient in a mental ward in which the patients are oppressed and mistreated by the attending staff. Bromden recounts his past that has traumatized him to his current state of being. To remain aloof from the punishments that the staff inflicts on the other patients, Bromden acts innocuous and deaf. The ward remains under the iron fist of the head nurse, Nurse Ratched, until a new,…