In the beginning of the novel, One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy is described by the judge as a psychopath. As the
story progresses McMurphy’s mental state does not follow a truly insane path;
he functions as an actual person and is an obvious stand out in the ward. His
actions lead the reader to question if he is truly insane or just a con man
trying to escape the work farm. McMurphy’s heroic role, his constant goal to
break the Big Nurse, and the votes he brings up lead the reader to believe he
is, more than likely, just a lazy con man.
Ever since McMurphy was transferred from the work
farm and admitted into the ward, everybody notices he is different than the
other patients; he’s loud, brassy, and always laughing. McMurphy is not intimidated
by the black boys, or even the Big Nurse, he is seemingly comfortable and
confident in himself. “Still, even though I can’t see him, I know he’s no ordinary
Admission. I don’t hear him slide scared along the wall, and when they tell him
about the shower he don’t just submit with a weak little yes…”(11) from the
start, McMurphy has stood out among the
patients. His loud, confident attitude does not reflect him being truly insane;
the patients that are insane are quiet, shy, and weak but McMurphy is nearly
the polar opposite.
McMurphy is described as a little bit of a gambler,
and since he has been transferred he has been constantly taking bets and wages.
One of the bigger bets was about McMurphy being able to beat Nurse Ratched at
her own game; “’…any of you sharpies here willing to take my five bucks that
says that I can get the best of that woman…’” (73). Since that day on the ward,
McMurphy has been doing everything he can to test the Big Nurse; he’s singing,
being obnoxious, asking to change things, all with a polite little smile on his
face. The first morning he is at the ward, he pretends to just be wearing a
towel, this really gets to the Nurse; “I think of a fact that she’d rather he’d
been stark naked under that towel than had on those shorts” (99). This particularly
got to the Nurse because she had realized she had been played. This shows
McMurphy is wittier than the other patients; pointing toward him being a con
man. His goals throughout his stay have all been about betting, gambling, and
conning the patients. There is no way anyone other than an experienced con man
would know how to break the Nurse this quickly.
Throughout the story, McMurphy has brought up votes
in the group meetings such as: using the tub room as a second day room, or
taking a fishing trip. One of the bigger
votes he placed was over the World Series; he wanted to change the tv time so
that the patients could watch the World Series instead of the news. No one
backs him up in that meeting and it really gets to him, he is genuinely upset
that he would not get to watch the games. “”Jesus, I haven’t missed a World
Series in years” (121) this makes McMurphy stand out as a normal human being;
mentally insane people are rarely ever recognized with such ‘normal’ things.
The World Series is something the normal population watches and enjoys; you don’t
expect a mentally insane person to get so worked up over missing it.
During McMurphy’s first group meeting the Doctor is going
over McMurphy’s paper work. The doctor reads that McMurphy has been filed as
having psychopathic tendencies; which McMurphy describes as, “’…’psychopath’
means I fight and fuh—pardon me ladies—means I am he put it overzealous in my sexual relations” (47).
This description does not sound like a truly insane diagnostic; this describes
many criminals, and leads the reader to believe that McMurphy belongs in a
prison or work camp not on the ward.
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