One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Gottschalk 1 

Lauren Hope Gottschalk

Mrs. Robbins

Critical Analysis of Film and Literature 

19 December 2014

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Throughout the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, one could think of many reasons why the film 

focused on the rebellious hero R.P. McMurphy. Is he there to make the film more comedic? Is he 

there to show how truly insane the men in the mental hospital are with his unexpected normality? He 

seems to be there for those reasons, but also to give the men an experience. Whether it was in the 

mental hospital or on a fishing boat McMurphy gave those men an experience while he was at the 

hospital. The first time that he gave them an experience was when he narrated the World Series for the 

men without any audio besides his and the other men's voices in the mental hospital after Nurse 

Ratched refused to let them watch it on the television because of too few votes. At first he is subtle, but 

then he stands up and his voice gets louder, he even tells Martini to look at one of the baseball players. 

In the end, the men seem to become overwhelmed and overjoyed with the excitement of McMurphy's 

attitude and narration.

The second experience that McMurphy gave the men was when he takes them on a boat to go deep sea 

fishing. While on the boat, McMurphy gives the men the experience of getting away from the mental 

hospital and out onto the ocean, he lets Cheswick steer the boat and helps the men catch a fish. In this 

experience he helps the men accomplish something besides swallowing a few pills with some juice. 

They are physically doing something without being monitored or sedated.

Do you think the men were affected by the experiences given to them by the protagonist McMurphy?