How is McMurphy a Christ-like figure in One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest?<\/p>\n
The metaphors that Kesey employs to demonstrate McMurphy\u2019s Christ-like status recur throughout the novel. In the early part of the story, his adversary Nurse Ratched punishes McMurphy by forcing him to have electroconvulsive therapy, which he endures willingly \u2013 Kesey notes that the procedure requires him to lie down on a cross-shaped table. The fishing trip which he takes the others on deepens the Christ metaphor; McMurphy takes twelve patients along with him, just as Jesus had twelve disciples, and the Chief\u2019s narration remarks after the experience that they \u2018weren\u2019t the same\u2019 (Kesey, 1962, p.215), showing McMurphy\u2019s burgeoning leadership. He continues to encourage them to fight back against Ratched, which they begin to do. The party – which is the catalyst for the end events – is the setting for the betrayal of McMurphy\u2019s Jesus figure. Nervous patient Billy is reminiscent of Judas in that, upon Ratched\u2019s discovery of the party\u2019s aftermath, he blurts out that \u2018McMurphy did it!\u2019 (Kesey, 1962, p.264). McMurphy then \u2018sacrifices\u2019 himself by attacking Ratched; she subsequently has him lobotomised in vengeance. McMurphy is a Christ-like figure because the patients in the ward are in need of someone to \u2018save\u2019 them from the situation they are in \u2013 without McMurphy\u2019s encouragement, none of them would have found the courage to rebel against the tyrannical regime of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy\u2019s sacrifice, like Christ\u2019s, inspires the patients in their grief, and they do not allow Ratched to \u2018rule with her old power anymore\u2019 (Kesey, 1962, p.269). Unlike Christ, McMurphy\u2019s death saves the patients from sins perpetrated against them by society at large rather than their individual sins. Despite this, Chief promotes remembrance of McMurphy\u2019s ideals to the patients, and ultimately uses his memory as the motivation to escape the sanitarium (which he could have done all along).<\/p>\n
Kesey, K. (1962). One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest. London: Penguin Classics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How is McMurphy a Christ-like figure in One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2921,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n