Woman in Ken Keseys One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest Essay

Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest is a book in which he dealt with the issues of racism, sex and authority that is going on in a mental institute. In the novel, the women are depicted as the power figures who are able to significantly manipulate the patients on the ward. There are four ways of Ken Kesey’s using of â€Å"woman† as a subject: Superiority of male sexuality over female authority, matriarchal system that seeks to castrate men in the society, mother figures as counterpart of Big Nurse and â€Å"Womanish† values defined as civilizing in the novel. Over centuries women have been objectified, meaning they have been treated as objects valued mostly for their physical attributes, rather†¦show more content†¦So. Does anyone care to touch upon this subject further?† and McMurphy, holding his hand up, asks for permission to speak and says â€Å"Touch upon what?† and Nurse Ratched in a shocked way says â€Å"W hat? Touch-† and adds â€Å" Touch upon the subject of Mr. Harding’s problem with his wife.† And McMurphy says â€Å"Oh. I thought you mean touch upon her - something else.†(44). Speaking of breasts, McMurphy usually asks Big Nurse’s breast size, â€Å"the actual inch-by-inch measurement†, and he collapses her authority when she feels it’s topmost: â€Å" [...] then destroyed her whole effect by asking something like did she wear a B cup, or a C cup, or any ol’ cup at all?†(176-7). So, as we can understand, McMurphy’s insulting manners to get over her dominion includes men sexuality with his fifty to position cards, his pride in having had a voracious fifteen-year-old lover and his Moby-Dick boxer shorts, clashes with the sterile and sexless ward that Nurse Ratched tries to maintain. The â€Å"fear† of women is one of the novel’s most central features. As most of the male patients in the novel have been damaged by relationships with overpowering women. The hospital, run by women, treats only male patients, showing how women have the ability to emasculate even the most masculine of men. The narrator of the novel, Chief Bromden, witnesses theShow MoreRelatedSexism/Racism in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest1542 Words   |  7 Pagesmust Explain this, I payed little attention to the novel and movie, but this Essay will more then likley get you a C or a B, Depending on if you make changes to the paragraph that starts with The portrayal of woman in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is in a way, a role reversal. The Woman are strong, leaders and feed off the power they possess as the men are weak, passive-non aggressors who get ordered around and (until the introduction of McMurphy) have no say in what activities or what happensRead MoreGender Issues in One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest Essay examples736 Words   |  3 PagesA.P. 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