One Flew Over The Cuckoo´s Nest

9 Pages 2245 Words

d she weakens her patients through a psychologically manipulative program designed to destroy their self-esteem.The big deal here is that Ratched´s control is based as much on intimidation, as demostrated in chapter four, by her threat against Mr Taber. The meetings that Nurse Ratched organiced demostrate the intimidation and domination techniques that she uses, humiliating the patients describing their personal psychological problems infront of other patients, in my opinion the purpose of these meetings was to pit the patients against one another."Now. At the close of Friday´s meeting...we were discussing Mr Harding´s problem...concerning his young wife, his wife was extremely well endowed in the bosom and that this made him uneasy because she drew stares from men on the street..." (40) "And the best way to do this, to get you to knuckle under, is to weaken you by getting you where it hurts the worst" (57) she knows their weak spots and exactly where to peck. The patients try to please her during these Group Meetings by airing their darkest secrets, she maintains her power by the strategic use of shame and guilt, ads well as by a determination to " divide and conquer" her patients. We can see that Big Nurse is manipulative and dictatorial, using methods like this one to assert her power over the patients. Moreover Nurse Ratched represents ideas of sexual repression, authoritarism and conservatism. There is no question that the repression of sexuality is an important part of the Nurse´s tactics, one of Nurse Ratched´s gratest crimes is that she represses and denies the sexuality of her patients and even, her own sexuality. The patients of the ward are victims of a matriarchy " We are victims of a matriarchy here , my friend" (59) this is one of the most controversial themes in the book, the repressive power the Chief calls the Combine seems to be represented mostly by women, Nurse Ratched, Mrs Bibbit and Mary Louis Bro...