One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey (1962) - The 3 main characters

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[...] But little by little, by figuring out how they get what they want (liberty, life or authority), we bring to light the real personality of characters: McMurphy is able to ‘self-sacrifice', Bromden was just afraid of life but now is ‘free', and the Nurse is a terrible dictator. In a nutshell, it is not the image that we return to the others at the beginning which determine completely men or women that we are. Sources One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest – Ken Kesey (book+movie) and Wikipedia (concerning the interpretation of characters and concerning the role of the movie). [...]

[...] He shows them that all women are not like the Big Nurse, inaccessible (it is the meeting with Candy). But this attitude is perceived as an insurrection against the law, and costs him his freedom, and in due course: his life. II. Nurse Ratched (Big Nurse) Then, it is quite true that the Big Nurse is strongly characterised by her goals too, and by her behaviour to achieve them. She is dressed in white, symbol of purity, and always has a little smile. [...]

[...] It is not a problem for her to restrict the access of amenities (beds) if it is the way to obtain what she wants, to suit her needs. She castrates psychologically her patients, she is an inhibitive person, and she attempts to get rid of people by thought-destroying. The most striking example is Billy Bibbitt. She can obtain exactly what she wants about him if she uses the threat of ‘informing his mother'. In addition, she does not step back in front of the intolerable: we presume that she ordered McMurphy's lobotomy. [...]

[...] He believes that society is under control. According to him, the “Combine” represents a malignant system of control. Chief's fears are due to a traumatising scene: when he saw his father, an Indian chief, humiliated. It was the beginning of his schizophrenia. In spite of his huge size (over six and a half feet he considers himself as a little man compared to McMurphy or to the others like the Nurse. McMurphy teaches him to play basketball for instance, explains things to him like a child Little by little the Chief has faith in McMurphy (he helps him to defend himself against the “Black Boys”), and gradually, Bromden regains his self- respect. [...]

[...] One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey (1962) - The 3 main characters Subject: “I know, to skin with, what a character wants; he exists for me as a kind of abstract creature, who wants a specific thing. So by figuring out how he gets what he wants, I learn about the sort of man he is.” Ken Kesey Discuss in relation to the characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey. At first sight, this quotation makes me think that in reality it is our acts which determine the person that we are. [...]