Let the Punishment fit the Crime

A detailed Summary of Let the Punishment fit the Crime

Sir William Schwenk Gilbert stated in the first act of The Mikado "Let the punishment fit the crime." In society punishments are given to make people suffer for their wrong doings. Is it fair that when man breaks rules but only in the name of righteousness that he be punished? In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, the author skillfully portrays man as one who suffers for breaking the rules, while trying to stand up for his beliefs and inspire others.

One may suffer as a consequence of breaking the rules, but he will suffer unfairly if he were only breaking them to stand up for his beliefs. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nurse Ratched constantly caused the inmates to endure unfair suffering when they broke the rules, even if they were breaking them to stand up for their beliefs. On the evening of the world series game, the inmates led by McMurphy held a vote so they could watch the game. The deciding vote was not submitted in time because "the meeting was closed" according to the Nurse. McMurphy rebelled against this unfair decision by skipping his chores and sitting there "with his hands crossed behind his head and his feet stuck out in a chair, a smoking cigarette sticking out from under his

alue" (p. 171). What the Nurse was really doing was punishing this man for standing up for himself. McMurphy suffers as a result of his courage to take a stand against the Nurse's unfair ruling. McMurphy rebels against the system by breaking Nurse Ratched's rules and laying down his own. To me this sounds like a leader trying to make a difference not a man who deserves punishment. In like manner, the Jews were unnecessarily punished for standing up for their religious beliefs. I believe this to be an unjust act, even though it has been ever present throughout history.

l, not a punishment given to a man who stood up for his peers. Even though McMurphy believed "[his] skull's too thick for them to hurt [him]"(p. 237), shock therapy is very harmful to one's brain.

In the last scenes of the novel unfair punishment is greatly expressed. One evening "At midnight, when Geever and the other black boy and the nurse went off duty, and the old colored fellow, Mr. Turkle, came on for his shift" McMurphy convinced him to "let [girls] in the window" because "It would be worth [his] while, [because] they should be bringin' a couple of bottles."(p. 247). "No sooner did they have the ward lit up like full daylight". With two girls "both in skirts"(p. 249) and "enough cheap port to go around"(p. 250) a wild party broke out. At the end of the drunken bash McMurphy had planned on escaping to "Cana

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Approximate Word count = 944
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics