McMurphy's Flight To The Nest Of Self-Destruction

A detailed Summary of McMurphy's Flight To The Nest Of Self-Destruction

In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, the character of Randle P. McMurphy

undergoes a gradual journey towards self-destruction. His actions go from the minuscule,

such as changing minor ward policies, to the act of trying to strangle Nurse Ratched. All

of his actions, minor and major, lead to his self-destruction. He continues this behavior

even after he discovers he's only hurting himself with his actions.

McMurphy begins by protesting minor but significant defects of the ward policies.

When he first arrives, he runs around in nothing but a towel and provokes shock and anger

from the Big Nurse. His actions let the nurses and patients know that he won't simply sit

back and take the staff's cruel treatment to get the patients to conform quietly and without

protest. He begins to gamble with the patients, first for cigarettes and eventually for IOUs,

despite the nurse's rule of no gambling on the ward for money (Kesey 102). He also

convinces the spineless Dr. Spivey to allow the patients to open up a separate day room

for their card games. He uses the doctor to implement these changes, which aggravates

the ward-- against medical advice-- to find their freedom. They understand that

back they are laughing again and feel more like people. But, Nurse Ratched can't let them

middle of the night, bringing in two prostitutes and intoxicating the patients with a mixture

motivation to kill himself. This infuriates McMurphey and he attacks the nurse viciously

order for the other patients to find themselves and their sense of freedom ( 427). The

On another occasion he crosses the line and throws a party on the ward in the

purposely destroys himself so that the other patients realize what the institution might do

McMurphy relaxes slightly; however, he eventually continues to harass the nurse,

Approximate Word count = 755
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.