How Is R.P. Mcmurphy A Liberator In His Work? Essay, Research Paper
R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholas) arrived at the institution a rebel, and died a rebel who had saved the lives of the men at the institution. McMurphy unknowingly showed the men that they were adequate people who were no more crazy then the average nut walking the streets. While Nurse Ratched was bullying the men into a boring and dehabilitating routine, McMurphy showed up and began to challenge the system. First with the music. A simple thing, and McMurphy noticed all it did was arouse the men into yelling matches. Ratched of course didn t recognize this. Secondly, McMurphy challenged the routine that appeared to be set in stone by Nurse Ratched. During the first vote, it becomes apparent that the men are indeed terrified of Nurse Ratched and they vote not to disrupt the precious routine . McMurphy shows disgust in the men, and appears to challenge them into standing up to Nurse Ratched. The nest day, the men vote to watch the ball game, but Nurse Ratched informs McMurphy that the men who are severely impaired also need to vote and will not let the men watch the ball game, again demonstrating her power over the men. McMurphy s best cure for the men s sicknesses is when he escapes temporarily to take the men fishing. This is when the men are truly shown that they are functionable human beings. McMurphy shows his faith in the men when approached by the owner of the boat yard. He tells the man that all the patients are from the mental institution and that they are doctors, not patients. Watching McMurphy introduce each man as a doctor is mind-boggling, as each man smiles and nods to the man they all appear capable of being recognized as a doctor to the naked eye. McMurphy then hands the boat s steering wheel over to a man that is seems extremely paranoid at the thought of controlling the huge vessel, but soon loosens up and notices that he can actually drive a boat. This is something that many normal people cannot do, and yet with McMurphy coaxing him along, he can do it. The men have a splendid day of freedom, in which the shackles of their life are finally released. McMurphy is nearly tossed out of the institution for this, but remains and continues to do wonders to the patients. There is an outrage by a man during one of the sessions in which Nurse Ratched conducts. He demands that he has the right to have cigarettes, and begins to yell at Nurse Ratched. H e demands that They are MY cigarettes and I want them Now Nurse. I have the privilege to smoke and I want them now! This man takes a stand for himself and is defending his rights. Soon he, McMurphy, and the man who is presumed to be deaf and dumb, the Chief, are sent to be given electrical shocks for their outbursts. During this time, the Chief comes out and says his first words since being at the institution. He explains to McMurphy that since they thought he was deaf and dumb, they left him alone. McMurphy expresses jubilee towards Chief, saying You fooled em all Chief! You fooled every last one em! The Chief begins to show his trust towards McMurphy. When McMurphy discovers that he is committed to the institution, he realizes that the only way to get out is to escape. He devises a plan in which the patients have a wild night of drinking and fun, but the party is over in the morning when Nurse Ratched arrives. The men are scolded, but then Nurse Ratched finds Billy, a stuttering, scared and love-struck boy in bed with a woman. For a second, Billy appears proud in front of the patients, but Nurse Ratched abolishes this by telling Billy that she will tell his mother what has happened. Billy returns to the scared boy again, and is ashamed for what he has done. He begs her not to tell his mother, but she ignores. At this point, McMurphy and the Chief have a brilliant chance to escape, but they turn away when something terribly wrong happens. Billy commits suicide by slitting his throat. McMurphy, full of rage towards Nurse Ratched, attacks her in defense of Billy. He is taken away and no one knows what has happened. He arrives back one night and awakes the Chief. The Chief tells McMurphy he wants to escape now, and that he is ready for the real world. But devastatingly, McMurphy appears to be a vegetable. He is unable to even comprehend the Chief s words. The chief then realizes what McMurphy had become, and knows that McMurphy would never want a life like this. He does a heroic act in putting away McMurphy, and then amazingly tears a water fountain out of the ground, something that McMurphy had tried and failed to do. He hurls the fountain out the window and takes off into the real world, and he has McMurphy to thank for giving him the will to live.
McMurphy is liberator in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest . He gives the men the power to stand up for themselves, and makes them recognize that they can be functionable people in the real world. McMurphy. a simple man and a rebel on most terms touched the men s lives and made them feel human. He cured their ailments by making them see what no doctor or nurse could make them see; that all they have to do is stand up for themselves and believe in themselves.