One Lew over The
Essay Preview: One Lew over The
Report this essay
I. Identify character by name
A. Randle Patrick McMurphy ( Jack Nicholson)
II. Describe behavior
A. McMurphy is not very liked by doctors, nurses, or the guards at the hospital. It is revealed that McMurphy is in custody for statutory rape with an underage girl, in which he claims she was quite willing. His description of how he saw nothing wrong with having relations with a fifteen year old girl, “Between you and me, uh, she might have been fifteen, but when you get that little red beaver right up there in front of you, I dont think its crazy at all and I dont think you do either. No man alive could resist that”, seems abnormal. He takes risks to feel alive and even tries to get the other patients to embrace life as well. He then has this crazy idea to take the patients on an adventure on a fishing boat. McMurphy seems unafraid and knows that they will be caught and sent back to the ward. It is quite visible how rebellious McMurphy is, and he tries to challenge authority in the institution, such as Nurse Ratched. During one of the therapy sessions, he provokes the men to laugh at their problems, and stand up for themselves. (Cheswick and his cigarettes )
III. Diagnosis and Label
There are many arguments that are still not clear, whether or not McMurphy was mentally ill. However, he did have certain characteristics of anti-social behavior. Some of the symptoms of anti-social behavior are: disregard for the feelings of others, impulsive and irresponsible decision-making, lack of remorse for harm done to others, lying, stealing, other criminal behaviors , and disregard for the safety of self and others. When he decides to do something, it seems like McMurphy has no thought of consequence and refuses to see what will happen in the future. He is a bit cocky and seems very rebellious, which leads to his violent and irrational behavior, such as fighting, the fishing boat, etc. When it is revealed that McMurphy is in for statutory rape of 15 year old girl, and the description which shows he saw nothing morally wrong with his actions , shows a slight case of pedophilia and sexually promiscuous. After Billy commits suicide, McMurphy takes out all his anger on Nurse Ratched by strangling her. This showed his aggression and violent behavior. He has tried all the stages of