Sarah WardMs. DashoEnglish 13/115/14Cuckoo's Nest"I want to see a man beaten to a pulp with a high heel stuck in his mouth, like an apple in a pig's mouth." -Andrea Dworkin. In the fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, a mental hospital is turned upside down when a new patient, Randle Patrick McMurphy, is committed and challenges the authority of the overbearing antagonist, Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched is an asexual, controlling woman whose main goal is to emasculate the hospital's patients. She carries the theme of emasculation throughout the book by asserting fear on others, creating a “therapeutic community,” and instilling sexual repression in the room. The power that Nurse Ratched possesses gives her the ability to impose fear throughout the room. After McMurphy's first therapy session, he discusses with Harding why patients put up with the nurse's cruel actions: "Nobody's ever dared to come out and say it before, but there's no man among us who don't. think about it, it doesn't feel the same way you do about her and this whole thing - feel it somewhere deep in her frightened little soul” (62). Harding admits that patients know what's going on and often wonder silently about it. They believe it is wise to remain silent rather than become shrewd. The men began to be afraid to oppose the nurse. All the while, this fear eroded their manhood and empowered the nurse. Chief Bromden reveals the staff's reactions to Nurse Ratched's cold presence in the hospital: "'I tell you I don't know what it is,' they say to the personnel manager. "Ever since I started in this room with this woman, I've felt like... middle of paper...... weakening her where it stings the most. Nurse Ratched is a cold and icy antagonist who completely dominates the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Her main goal is to eliminate all traces of masculinity in her parish. She achieves this by formulating fear in men. making a harmful hospital community and ridding the idea of ​​sexuality in every way The patient's actions show how easy it is for a man to lose himself when placed under the complete control of a powerful woman. Nurse Ratched offers a new perspective on the concept of power and evil. In most stories, men are usually dominant while women are submissive. This results in men being antagonists full of evil thoughts. completely different in this novel. Ironically, Nurse Ratched was supposed to be the patients' protector; instead, she was their oppressor.