ENGLISH: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST Essay: Freedom and Confinement PDF Free Download
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Essay: Freedom and Confinement
Freedom is not something that is commonly associated with mental asylums. Humanity has a
stereotypical belief that if someone is mentally ill, enforced confinement, restraint and authority is
required and mental asylum are exactly where these things are found. In the movie “One Flew Over
the Cuckoo’s Nest” directed by Miloš Forman, freedom and confinement are explored on various
levels. The protagonist of the film, “R. P. Mc Murphy” is a character that was sent to prison for
“statutory rape”. Due to the intense and demanding acts that are shown in prisons McMurphy
decided to act mentally ill, in order to be moved from prison to the Oregon psychiatric hospital.
McMurphy was unaware that many of the patients had actually chosen to be in the asylum; they
were “voluntary” and could leave whenever they wished to. This means that perhaps for some
individuals, freedom is not something that they desire. Instead confinement within a community like
a mental asylum, which abides to regular schedules and doesn’t take someone out of their comfort
zone, may be more suitable.
Within the Oregon psychiatric hospital, there are various characters that actually don’t wish to be
free. In fact, McMurphy discovers that most of the men are in the ward voluntarily – he’s one of two
patients that have actually been committed. When he discovers this, he’s astounded and asks why
the men stick around. That’s when he realizes that most of the patients are too afraid to be out in
the "real world." After this scene it is apparent that McMurphy tries to change their views of the
outside world. To do this McMurphy threatens the wards authority and breaks free from the
institution. He climbs over the fence and hijacks the institution bus with the rest of the asylum’s
patients, he then attempts to show them the real world by taking them on a fishing trip. Billy, a
character who is in the mental asylum after attempting to commit suicide and suffers a nervous
stutter in response to stressful times is introduced to Candy.
Candy is a friend with benefits of McMurphy’s or a party girl who “sleeps around”. It is obvious that
as soon as Billy is introduced to Candy a spark is lit inside him and he is instantly attracted to the
first female besides, Nurse Ratched that he’s been in contact with. McMurphy notices this and says
to Billy “What are you doin' here? You oughta be out in a convertible bird-doggin' chicks and bangin'
beaver” a line that again questions why Billy stays in the ward when he could be out in the real
world meeting girls like Candy whenever he liked. For Billy however, leaving the institution is
something he wouldn’t even consider. It becomes evident towards the end of the film, after he
achieves his goals with Candy, as to why he voluntarily remains in the in the institution.
McMurphy managed to convince Orderly Turkle, to let them “have a little party” as he described it,
one that resulted in Billy losing his virginity to Candy. Unfortunately however, in the morning the
ward returned, and Nurse Ratched demanded to know where Billy was hiding, she eventually found
him and instantly applied her evil enforcement and authority to gain power and dominance over the
patients, especially Billy. She used a deeply painful and distressing threat to do so, Nurse Ratched
said “You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this.” And instantly Billy’s
stutter returned “Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Ratched.” It was clear
that there was an underlying problem that Billy and his mother had, one of which Nurse Ratched
knew she could use to gain power. Due to this threat, Billy unfortunately just moments after
committed suicide. It could be said that the small taste of freedom that Billy experienced at the party
that night was the source of his suicide and that if McMurphy hadn’t tried to change the order and
restraint that was present within the mental asylum then Billy would have remained alive.
On the notion of staying alive, Chief Bromden is a very different character when compared to the
other members of the asylum because unlike all of them he has no real mental disorder. “The
Chief”, as McMurphy calls him, is a character who becomes Murphy’s best friend within the Asylum,
the reason as to why is perhaps because McMurphy likes the way he listens without any back talk.
The reason however that there is no back talk is not because he is “a deaf and dumb indian”. It is
because he acts this way in order to stay out of trouble. The Chief actually likes the confinement of
the mental Asylum, he tells McMurphy about his father which revealed the reason as the why he
stayed in the mental asylum. Chief said “My pop was real big. He did like he pleased. That's why
everybody worked on him. The last time I seen my father, he was blind and diseased from drinking.
And every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he didn't suck out of it, it sucked out of him until he
shrunk so wrinkled and yellow even the dogs didn't know him.” This was a statement that made
sense to McMurphy, he understood that the Chief didn’t want to live a life like his father’s, and that
perhaps the only way to escape a future like his was to be in a mental asylum that provoked
freedom.
Nonetheless, McMurphy was eventually able to persuade the Chief to escape. They had dreams of
Canada, a place that they considered to be the epitome of freedom. Unfortunately, McMurphy didn’t
manage to proceed with the escape that the two of them had planned, after their party was busted
by Nurse Ratched and her evil threats towards Billy, there were some serious consequences for
McMurphy. After McMurphy saw that Billy had commited suicide, his anger and frustration over
powered his self control. McMurphy started strangling Nurse Ratched, almost to the stages of death,
and as a result he was turned into a “vegetable”. This term is used to describe those who became
“brain dead” after excessive electric shock treatment, a result that is irreversible and practically
takes away an individual’s purpose in life. Chief saw McMurphy lying in his bed and approached
him, unaware of what had been done. He said to McMurphy “Mac... they said you escaped. I knew
you wouldn't leave without me. I was waiting for you. Now we can make it, Mac; I feel big as a damn
mountain”. After which he realised, however, instead of leaving McMurphy to suffer as a person who
symbolised exactly what he was against, no freedom, no opinion and no rights, the Chief made a
decision the end his life and his misery right there and then. Through killing McMurphy the Chief
was able to let both himself and McMurphy escape, without doing so McMurphy would never be free
again, it was as if death was the only way for him to be released from confinement the thing that he
hated most about the Asylum.
Dale Harding it a character that was generally regarded as the leader in the asylum before
McMurphy joined. Harding is a relatively normal character who voluntary stays in the asylum, the
reason why is because his life was constantly accompanied with the repression of his homosexual
urges. While doing so it is also discovered that Harding suffers psychologically from the humiliation
of never fully pleasing his wife, who has been continually cheating on him. As a result it is seen that
Harding stays in the asylum almost to escape his real life. It suggest that perhaps the confinement
control and authority of the asylum, is something that Harding, a relatively normal individual, needs
in order to stay mentally sane. As displayed by the Chief who is also “normal”, freedom is a right
that some people do not search for in life. If Harding were to leave the asylum and be faced with the
challenges at home, with his wife he would be suffering and psychologically unable to cope. The
Oregon Psychiatric hospital is sanctuary or “safe haven” for Harding that provides refuge or safety
from pursuit, persecution and other danger.
In a way, this notion of the asylum providing its patients with safety from persecution and other
danger, relates to McMurphy’s situation. He is someone who strives for freedom, yet is unable to
realise that the consolidation of the Oregon Psychiatric hospital, it was saved him from being
mistreated in the prison that he previously belonged to. If McMurphy had instead focused on the
positives that the asylum gave his life, for example, the fact that he was free to do what he pleased
during the day and was able to make real relationships with the other patients, then perhaps he
would have eventually been released from the Asylum. Instead McMurphy pushed the envelope,
and tried to overpower the authority, confinement and control of the Asylum itself, a cause that
eventually led to McMurphy’s death.
