Throughout history, women stereotypes have gone into various changes. Basically, domestic women turned into femme fatale. These changes were supported by the Civil Rights Movement and Feminism. Women started to be regarded as individuals and gained rights; therefore, strength. As an anti-feminist, Ken Kesey responded to these changes in the society through his writing. In his book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, ken Kesey reflects his ideas with creating one-dimensional characters such as Nurse Ratched, Mrs. Bibbit, Mrs. Harding through the life in a mental institution where men are victims of matriarchy.

The characters have problematic relationships with feminine figures, especially with their mothers and ‘big brother’ Nurse Ratched. I would like to begin with Nurse Ratched who watches and suppresses all the characters from panopticon tower. She functions as the matriarchal figure in the novel. Even her name is stiff, it sounds like ‘rigid’. She is the big nurse who leads a monarch regime in the mental hospital. She controls everything. She moves strategically and ‘smells out the fright of the patients and put it in use’. She takes advantage of her position. Although she should be loving and nurturing as a nurse, she is a ‘ball-cutter’ ( page 60 ) in McMurphy’s words. She belittles men and weakens their sense of sexuality. She is mechanic ‘big as a trucks and smells hot oil…’ ( page 96  ) and devoid of femininity from the perspective of patients. Towards the end of the novel, McMurphy tears her uniforms. Although McMurphy uses humor, his laughter as strength at first, then this shifts into real violence.

Another important character is R.P. McMurphy. He is Nurse Ratched’s rival. He is notorious for his ‘big’ laughter and masculine attitudes. He represents the repressed sexuality of patients, freedom and self-realization and determination. He tries to revive riots and help other patients to realize their individuality in any way. He laughs loudly and later the patients start to laugh, too. His laughter is an infectious thing. It gives them strength and realize their own voices which are deemed by the perpetual music in the ward and Nurse Ratched’s authority. He could also be seen as a Christ-like figure from a different perspective. McMurphy’s actions parallel that of Christ’s. He is baptised, enters the ward and leads his disciples to the sea. His attack on Nurse Ratched and afterwards his so-called treatment on a cross shaped shock table reflects a Christ-like martyrdom by sacrificing his freedom and sanity. When he first enters the hospital he is sane; nut later, he turns into ‘a vegetable’ (page 32).Chief Bromden realizes this shift, suffocates McMurphy as he wants him to die in peace rather than watching what he has become because of them, the patients. That’s why, in my opinion, although McMurphy is portrayed as the hero especially in the film and from the perspective of patients, McMurphy could be taken as a victim of the system and the patients. Rather than McMurphy, I believe that Chief Bromden is the real hero as he is the one who experience the transformation and gains his bigness both physically, spiritually, and vocally back. 

Chief Bromden is the narrator of the novel. he pretends to be mute and deaf. His muteness stems from his memories of war and his confrontation with with officials who do not regard his voice. Of course, gets his mother is another component of the reasons for his muteness; because, he gets his surname from his mother not his father. It is obvious that his masculinity is suppressed. This reflects his father’s acceptance of his wife’s dominance over him. As his mother gets bigger, his father becomes helplessly smaller. This scene could actually be reconsidered with the light of the colonization of Native America. Moreover, Chief Bromden creates a fog, hides in a fog whenever he feels threatened to protect himself from ‘the Combine’. He takes advantage of his paranoia, the fog and hid muteness and deafness and gets anywhere and hears anywhere he wants to. Although he is afraid of the Combine, the outside, the authoritarian figures and rules; in the end, he gains his voice and physical power back and proves his bigness. Although he does not know what would happen with the outside world, he takes courage and escapes the hospital after suffocating McMurphy.

Billy Bibbit is an acute in the hospital. His mother is a friend of Nurse Ratched. Bibbit is there because he tried to commit suicide. During of the therapies, he confesses that he loved a girl. As Ratched knows that his mother is not informed about it, she uses this information to dominate him. Towards the end of the novel, Bibbit commits suicide by cutting his throat; because, he is afraid that Nurse Ratched would tell his mother about his relationship with a prostitute, Candy. His afraid of the feminine as his mother diminishes his sense of masculinity by taking him as a child. ‘..do I look like the mother of a middle-aged man?’(page 295 ) she says. As it is obvious from the quotation, his mother does not regard him as an adult, a man and Bibbit begins to feel insecure and decides to remain in the ward, even though he could go out. It should be noted that matriarchy results in his stuttering and his death.

Harding is an acute, too. He has problems with his wife. He does not trust her and feels belittled, insecure and different. Nurse Ratched talks about this issue in the therapy room in the eyes of others and asks other patients’ ideas. Nurse Ratched uses his wound to empower him. Harding says ‘We are victims of a matriarchy here, my friend.’ (page 63 ) and sees McMurphy and Nurse Ratched as wolves and the patients and himself as rabbits. His thoughts prove Nurse Ratched’ dominant character. Another important thing about Harding is his hands. His suppressed sexuality, his homosexuality reflects itself with his hands. He cannot utter that obviously because homosexuality is seen as illness in 1950’s but his body language reveals this truth. Therefore, this is a muted aspect of Harding. 

Cheswick’s opposition to Nurse Ratched about the cigarettes results in his drowning in the pool. He considered that he would be supported by McMurphy, but things did not go as he thought. McMurphy’s realization that Nurse Ratched could release him, crates a turning point in the incidents. Therefore, Cheswick commits suicide because he was defeated. Cheswick, a man of much talk but little action drowns in the pool -possibly a suicide- after McMurphy does not support him. 

In addition, among the feminine figures in the novel, prostitutes are portrayed as less terrifying -although they empower men sexually-  in contrast to Nurse Ratched. Even the Japanese nurse in the Disturbed think army nurses are ‘ a little sick of themselves’. 

To give different aspect for  what I have written above, from a feminist perspective, Nurse Ratched could be accepted as the victim. Because she is a woman, a nurse, she is deemed to be nurturing and vulnerable; however, her portrayal as malicious and merciless with her use of the authority to abuse others contrast the ideal feminine stereotype. A woman of power and authority seems to create danger for males. Why a woman, a nurse, a professional who is unattracted to men in a setting like mental institution portrayed as a danger? Considering all the women stereotypes except for prostitutes who are nurturing the masculinity, women are always sued for not having the ideal feminine qualities of a male gaze. Is Nurse Ratched considered malicious because she did not respond to McMurphy’s sexual behaviours? What would that make with these big breasts? Why do the male patients care about it? I think that women are considered bad when they are not submissive and the problem begins with the male dominated understanding of the ideal woman.

As a conclusion, Ken Kesey builds these characters to turn stereotypes upside down and writes this novel as a response to the incidents in his era. Although the stereotypical positions of the ideal women are pregnancy, breeding, raising and being dependant. In the book women, especially Ratched, depicted as dominant and powerful. In my opinion, such characterization might be a result of Ken Kesey’s anti-feminist approach and his failure to accept women without the sacrifice of femininity

WORKS CITED

Kesey, Ken, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1963)

Daniel J. Vitkus, ‘Madness and Misogyny in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’

Madden, Fred, ‘Sanity and Responsibility: Big Chief as Narrator and Executioner’

Darbyshire, Philip, ‘Reclaiming ‘Big Nurse’ a feminist critique of Ken Kesey’S portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’