Example research essay topic: Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest One Flew Over The Cuckoos - 1,623 words

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Ken Kesey's book One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest has made a far greater influence on the society than the society had on Ken Kesey himself. Thanks to the fact that the author managed to depict daily life situations so vividly, make successful personifications and create true to life characters, the book has influence on and appeals to thousands and millions people around the world. The main conflict of the book is the confrontation between Randle Mc Murphy, who is often referred to as the hospitals Christ, and Nurse Ratched, who is the ward superintendent, the ultimate authority demanding obedience and perfect order from every single individual. The Big Nurse is a woman perhaps that is why she aims at having moral control over people in the hospital that is men. Actually, controlling or imposing your thoughts to men is a rather difficult business. A woman should be not just clever and tolerant, but wise to make a man be under her control.

There is a saying that men rule the world while women rule men. This is true but not about all women. To make this come true women have to take into consideration a great lot of factors: the peculiarities of the mans character, his like and dislikes and many, many others. Nurse Ratched never did this. This is the evidence of the fact that she didnt just want to rule men she was a tyrant, a despotic person, who just wanted to be obeyed.

This woman is the only one in power throughout the whole novel. This character is described through the eyes of the Chief, who pretends to be deaf. Perhaps, he is doing it to avoid contacting with Nurse Ratched he is aware of the fact that once he talks to the Big Nurse he opens his mind and soul to some extent. And this makes him vulnerable he is trying not to face the horrible problem of confronting a woman like the Big Nurse. He is scared. He says: "She dips a nod at me as she goes past.

I let the mop push me back to the wall an smile and try to foul her equipment up as much as possible by not letting her see my eyes-they can't tell so much about you if you got your eyes closed." His fear and feeling that there is no way out is expressed in his words: "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as soon as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that. " Chief is introduced into the novel to show the power of this woman, her mental advantage and might. Chief uses a way of defense, which he calls fog this means being hardly noticeable so that nobody would bother you.

By saying that Mc Murphy pulls people out of the fog he means that he tries to make people speak their problems out stand for their rights and not try to hide in a secluded spot waiting for the situation to take a turn for the better. Actually, coming out of the fog can be considered the first step to happiness, to freedom. When one is not afraid of the circumstances of his / her rebellion, they are almost sure to achieve their aim sooner or later. The character of Randle Mc Murphy is called to protect the patients from the nurse. In fact, it is natural that he is referred to as the hospitals Christ he is a prime example of a hero, as far as he decided to make the Big Nurse attack only him and in such a way save all the others from this. Randle is a total antipode to the Big Nurse.

She is described as a reserved woman, who hardly ever smiles and apparently has no sense of humor, sympathy or affection. She is a cold egoistic creature and all she wants is being a strict mother for disobedient children, paying no attention to whether they are right or wrong. Randle Mc Murphy is totally different he is a cheerful and lively man he turns everything into a joke or pretends to care for nothing to cheer up the rest of the patients. In fact, he is a rebel he doesnt want to obey the rules set in the hospital and he feels sorry for his friends-patients who are obliged to obey. That is why he was the one to stand against the Big Nurses oppressive power. Mc Murphy appeared to be a genuine friend he always tried to help patients with a piece of advice or a helping hand, which is supposed to be the doctors or nurses work.

Randle comes up as a very strong, daring and courageous person. He is motivated by the desire to support his personal integrity and the team spirit and integrity of other patients, to stand for human rights after all. Harding, who is also one of the patients with serious problems (he also suffers from the influence of a woman his wife he is very concerned with her behavior and this drives him mad) admits: "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul. " Later on we can consider that Mc Murphys confrontation with the Big Nurse can be motivated by a usual conflict between a man and a woman who wants to rule him. This might be true because men and women are in constant conflict irrespectively of the fact whether they are in a relationship or not. Actually, this conflict can be globalized it embraces many social (material and non-material) issues.

First of all, considering the fact that Mc Murphy is associated with Christ, the reader can consider Mc Murphy and Nurse Ratchet as good and evil. To my mind, this comparison is right to the point as far as good and evil are always in conflict and it is almost impossible to define which of them is going to win. This is the same about Mc Murphy and the Big Nurse they are in conflict and the reader certainly wishes that the good won, but the problem remains unsolved till the end of the book. In addition, the globalization of this conflict is closely connected with the problems between an individual and the society. A mere individual is almost helpless he or she has to make great effort to oppose the society and not become the same as all the others. Mc Murphy is a personification of the individual, while Nurse Ratched represents a member of the system or the system as a whole.

Actually, individualism is not valued in the society, as well as in the hospital it brings destruction into the system. One is obliged to obey the social rules laws and there is almost no sense trying to change something. The world is ruled by the majority. "All of us in here are rabbits of varying ages and degrees... We need a good strong wolf like the nurse to teach us our place" However, there are no dead-end situations there is always a way out. Any idea is always worth trying.

Mc Murphy introduced his own ideas and methods and eventually he won the battle. At least, he laid the foundation for the others. By acting the way he did he became a person other patients looked up to he was admired for he was their idol, the one who made their thoughts and dreams splash out in words and actions. It is very difficult to decide who won the local battle.

But it is quite clear that Mc Murphy set forth for future victory. He set the foundation for a beautiful mighty house which is called freedom or justice and is meant to live forever. By freeing the minds and bodies of his friends he made his army stronger ready to fight till their last breath to defend freedom. This is an eternal problem the government, the authorities or the system always wanted to gain control over people, especially those who refuse to conform the society's desired standards. In this respect, people remind ants in the colony, who follow their leader and obey him but when they at least try to change something it can change their entire life. In addition, this is a very deep problem it causes many social conflicts like racial or gender discrimination.

In fact, gender discrimination is an important issue in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest as well the Big Nurse is a woman, who brings injustice into the lives of her patients men. Generally, Ken Kesey's book is very fascinating and impressing because of the problems enlightened there. The allegoric characters, things and meanings in combination with very appealing personifications and the ideas of generalization make this book unique. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is perhaps the only book to describe the past, the present and the future as it is. It shows peoples reaction to different events natural and unusual, and the changes that may happen when one is surrounded by different people. This book is really worth reading for those who realize that they create their destiny with their own hands and it is necessary to try your best not let the moment slip.

Bibliography 1. Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, July 1, 1989, Signet Book.

Research essay sample on Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest One Flew Over The Cuckoos