Matriarchy In Cuckoos Nest essays

Matriarchy In Cuckoo's Nest essays Until modern times, society advocated that a man's role was at work, while a woman was required to stay home and assume the role of the main caregiver. Men were given power and authority, and women, conversely, were expected to be meek and subservient. These roles extended beyond the family and out into society, and materialized in areas such as education, politics, and occupations. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses the reversal of these stereotypical gender roles to demonstrate the chaotic and sometimes tragically comic world of a mental institution. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, the women are the power figures and are able to significantly manipulate the patients on the ward, as shown by the characters of Nurse Ratched, Mrs. Bibbit, and Vera Harding. Nurse Ratched, whose power is expressed in bluntly sexual terms despite her attempts to deny her sexuality, maintains her position as the sloe voice of authority on the ward by suppressing the patients' laughter. The men under her jurisdiction use sexual references when talking about her, and after the first group therapy session the new admission R.P. McMurphy calls her a "ball-cutter." The nurse attempts to hide her sexuality, and the schizophrenic Chief Bromden first brings the reader's attention to this denial in saying, "A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what otherwise would have been a perfect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it." (Kesey 11) Nurse Ratched's ultimate authority on the ward stems from the fact that she controls people who would normally be her superiors, namely Dr. Spivey, who Dale Harding says is, "'exactly like the rest of us. . .completely conscious of his inadequacy. He's a frightened, desperate, ineffectual little rabbit, totally incapable of running this ward without our Miss Ratched's help and he knows it. And, worse, she knows he knows it and reminds...