NURSE RATCHED MIGHT BE YOUR NEW FAVORITE COLLEAGUE
Welcome back, my loyal friends!
This week, we are moving from Cathy Ames’ brothel to a psychiatric institution in Salem, Oregon in 1963. Has anyone had anything in mind about which novel we’re talking about today?
Let me give you another hint. This novel’s adapted film version won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976, featuring Jack Nicholson.
No, it’s not The Shining.
Fine, let me tell you. The novel we’re discussing today is One flew over the cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey.
The book follows a big, redheaded gambler, Randle McMurphy who disrupted Nurse Ratched’s regime inside the hospital through the eyes of the narrator, Chief Bromden, an apparently mute half-Indian patient of paranoia and hallucinations.
However, like our previous entries, we’re here to discuss the female antagonist of the book, in this case, it’s Nurse Ratched.
1. Always find amusement at the workplace:
You may not always be rewarded or valued for the work you do, regardless of how excellently you accomplish your work. Moreover, you may also find yourself in multiple challenges in your workplace such as a few promotional opportunities, little fulfillment or workplace bullying. Therefore, in order to enjoy yourself at work, always remember to find amusement because, despite the importance of money, your health matters more. (Orane 2015)
Speaking of health, let see how Nurse Ratched coped with the stress at her workplace.
During daily Group Meetings which also called “Pecking party” by McMurphy, Nurse Ratched always encouraged the Acutes, a group of patients diagnosed as can be cured, to assault each other in their most vulnerable spots and humiliate them into submission. If a patient rebel, she would send him to receive electroshock treatments and sometimes, a lobotomy.
Blair (2017) stated that “There are plenty of men at the top of every one of societies institutions using physical violence and mental manipulation to keep the masses controlled. Men love destroying the masculinity in one another as much as any woman ever would.” The joy Nurse Ratched found in her workplace not only entertained her but also helped her remain order in the establishment. The joy of a woman’s power overshadows men’s masculinity.
However, don’t take this too seriously my friends, we can always find the workplace’s joy that suits us without harming the others.
2. Are we living in Cuckoo's Nest real-life version?
In the book, we’re introduced to an imaginary oppressive force of authority named “Combine" which governs the asylum Chief Bromden and other characters were living in. According to Chief, Nurse Ratched is the human face of the Combine but she is just a gear in that system. Moreover, Chief constantly described her like a machine from her behaviors and her look to even her name.
The name “Ratched” is a pun of a ratchet, which is a device using a twisting movement to tighten bolts into place (Cliffs Notes n.d). This pun serves an excellent metaphorical purpose in portraiting Ratched’s manipulative and controlling performance on her patients and wards. In addition, Chief Brom also reported her as resembling a doll on the outside, but mechanical and calculated underneath.
Ratched’s symbolic description instantly reminds me of today’s scenario when humans are gradually becoming gears in the Combine-like system. You can see the similarities between Ratched and humans nowadays. For instance, we work like a machine to obtain an order in our life, we dress to impress but maintain the calculating inside and last but not least, we are living under the unrecognizable oppression of “Technology” authority, real-life version of Combine that governs and controls every movement we make.
Our antagonist has taught me to see through our own “asylum”, attempt to live more human-like than machine-like, escape the silent oppression of technology and live a fulfilling life.
3. Be proud of being a woman:
Throughout the book, Nurse Ratched had exhibited her sexless gender by wearing an overly-starched, tight-fitting uniform to conceal her large breasts – a symbol of womanhood and sign of vulnerability. The intention behind was explained by Dale Harding, the former leader of Acutes before McMurphy’s arrival, that she dressed and behaved that way to undermine men and provide them an idea of being powerless over a woman. (Kesey 2003, p. 55)
Her secret to establishing joy at the workplace as I have mentioned above.
Moreover, by estranging herself from sexuality, Ratched had forgotten she could be a subject of humiliation and sexual harassment. McMurphy is the only one that demolished Ratched’s sexless figure through his dirty jokes, and his last attempt to avenge his friend by strangling Ratched and almost killed her.
“[…] He grabbed for her and ripped her uniform all the way down the front, screaming again when the two nippled circles started from her chest and swelled out and out […]” (Kesey 2003, p. 246) This action not only exposed Ratched as a human being but also invalidate her power over her patients.
The way Nurse Ratched empowered herself teaches me that no women have to conceal our true selves as well as our natural features to feel powerful. We must feel proud of who we are and still feel muscular about it.
Word count: 858
Reference list:
Blair, L.M 2017, ‘What I learned from // One flew over the cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey’, Zen and Pi, blog post, 7 November, viewed 20 July 2019, <https://zenandpi.com/2017/11/07/what-i-learned-from-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-by-ken-kesey/>
Cliffs Notes n.d., ‘Character Analysis Nurse Ratched’, Cliffs Notes, viewed 17 July 2019, <https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/o/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest/character-analysis/nurse-ratched>
Kesey, K 2003, One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, 8th edn, Penguin Books, US.
Orane, M 2015, ‘From JOB to JOY: How to find JOY at work, no matter what your job is’, Huffpost, 22 June, viewed 25 July 2019, <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/from-job-to-joy-how-to-fi_b_7121238>