wrongly committed mental patient with a lust for life. The qualities that garner McMurphy respect and admiration from

his fellow patients are also responsible for his tragic downfall. These qualities include his temper, which leads to his

being deemed "disturbed," his stubbornness, which results in his receiving numerous painful disciplinary treatments, and

finally his free spirit, which leads to his death. Despite McMurphy being noble man, in the end, these characteristics

hurt him more than they help him.

Throughout the novel, McMurphy displays that he has a wild temper. This temper aids him in his battle with the "Big

Nurse" Nurse Ratched for control of the mental ward. However, his temper eventually works against him. Upon

McMurphy's arrival to the ward he establishes himself as a con man and a gambler. One of his first bets with the other

patients is to see if, within a week, he can put "a bee in [Nurse Ratched's] butt, a burr in her bloomers. Get her goat.

Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams" (Kesey, Nest 69). McMurphy makes this bet after he learns

things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy" (Kesey

a fellow patient decides to kill him. This task is more difficult than he anticipates, because "the big, hard body had a

tyranny of the Big Nurse. This character is Randle P. McMurphy. However, it is McMurphy's own personality traits

and not admitting total defeat, but it shows his stubbornness as well. He attempts the impossible and refuses to listen

stay on the ward. McMurphy does this by teaching them how to laugh again, saying that "you have to laugh at the

McMurphy displays this temper throughout the novel, but one incident finally gets him into trouble. During an argument

This is one reason why the others look up to him so much. He helps them regain some control over their lives during his

accept defeat. This is portrayed when McMurphy makes a wager with the other men that he can lift a large control

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1061
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)