One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest :: book review, mental illness

Randall Patrick McMurphy is introduced by asking, "Do I look like a sane man?" Surprisingly enough, the answer was yes; in fact, McMurphy's sanity takes the ward by storm. None of the patients have met anyone like him. The other patients seem timid and quiet, yet McMurphy is cocky, loud, and confident. He doesn't seem to belong in the hospital at all. Everything about McMurphy marked a sane, logical, and capable man. You could tell that he was a hard working man, and even Dr. Spivey suspected a misdiagnosis, but nevertheless McMurphy was in for an experience of a lifetime. Nurse Ratched and her new patient, McMurphy, are in every way opposed to each other, she demanding control, he basking in freedom and independence. Inevitably, as the Nurse asserts her power, McMurphy rebels against it in both intentional and unintentional ways. Nurse Ratched had defeated past troublemakers with electro-shock therapy, or with lobotomies, the latter an operation that makes patients docile members of society at the expense of their individuality. McMurphy was asking for more and more freedom and awakening the other patients to things they have been missing. Nurse Ratched was intent on quelling this disturbance before it became a major issue. The climax is building when McMurphy comes back from electro-shock therapy and the rest of the ward is planning his escape. The two prostitutes Sandy and Candy arrive in the ward, and there is a wild party. This is where everything turns to chaos. McMurphy attacks Nurse Ratched, but he is immediately restrained and will never know of the hope he gave Chief. Chief believed that McMurphy made him â€Å"big† enough to finally lift the control panel that he throws through a window to escape. The resolution was fitting to the events of the novel, but it came rather quickly. It seemed as though there was the party, Billy Bibbit committed suicide, and McMurphy was lobotomized in just a few pages.