One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

Society has different expectations for men and for women. Stereotypically, men are supposed to earn the money and the women are supposed to take care of the house. Men contain the power and control, and act superior to women. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest written by Ken Kesey, however, Kesey shows that women can also have complete control of not only themselves, but men as well. Kesey uses key characters to represent female power and control, by use of Nurse Ratched, Vera Harding, and Mrs. Bibbit. These characters have control over one or many of the patients on the ward in the mental institution. These women are able to control the men by use of words and actions, without showing any physical power over the men. Nurse Ratched, Vera Harding, and Mrs. Bibbit show their dominance over the patients on the ward, convincing them that they, the women, are at the top of the social hierarchy.

Nurse Ratched controls every patient on the ward, using insinuations and mind games. Her main tactic is to take away the patients' self esteem, and make them afraid of her. When McMurphy, the protagonist of the novel, suggests that the patients should be allow to watch the World Series, the other patients are too afraid to vote. When McMurphy asks the other patients why they didn't vote, Harding says, "It's still a risk, my friend. She always has the capacity to make things worse for us" (pg. 107). The patients are too afraid to go against what Nurse Ratched wants. All the patients in that meeting who are afraid of Nurse Ratched actually do not have to stay in the ward, and can check themselves out. Ratched has effectively scared the patients into expressing their own opinion, and succumbing to her self-made authority. The men at the meeting could have voted to watch the world series, and if majority voted, could have watched the game. Even when the men were given an opportunity to openly disagree with Nurse Ratched and potentially overthrow her decision, they were too afraid to do so. Nurse Ratched also controls the patients by humiliating them. McMurphy describes the meetings as a pecking party. According to McMurphy, a pecking party is when "the flock gets sight of a spot of blood on some chicken and they all go peckin' at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds" (pg. 55). This perfectly describes the meetings with the Nurse. The Nurse makes a comment about a patient, delivering the first "peck," and lets the others comment and humiliate him. Harding falls victim to this pecking party, and his self esteem is ripped to shreds. Nurse Ratched wants this to happen, she wants the patients to tear each other in to pieces, metaphorically. When none of the patients are secure about themselves, how can they stand up for their beliefs? Simply, they can not. Nurse Ratched takes away the patients backbone, making them spineless, cowardly chickens.

Vera Harding controls her husband, Dale Harding, by using his insecurities, as well as her own actions, against him. At this point on the novel, Harding is still keeping a secret about his homosexuality. Vera makes