Ken Kesey’s, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, takes place on a psychiatric ward where two almost deity like central figures, struggle for control over the ward’s denizens. This ward becomes a world within a world, or microcosm, where the patients have become devoid of life because of the presence of a strong central female figure who has taken away their lives through the loss of freedom. This world is a “little world inside that is a made to scale prototype of the big world” (Kesey 48). This independence has been taking away with threats of electro shock therapy and the castration of the mind, lobotomy. When one loses life, they die, so in turn the ward has become a “dead world” because of this loss of life. The Nurse, the ruler of the ward, uses a vise like control to control the ward according to her jurisdiction and takes away any vestige of masculinity, freedom, and life the patients once had. She is repeatedly referred to as a “mother” tending to her helpless children and takes the form of a goddess figure throughout the novel. The patients believe they cannot survive without her help and on some level they have accepted the need for a mothe

Brumfield, Allaire Chandor. The Attic Festivals of Demeter and Their Relation to the Agricultural Year. New York: Arno Press, 1981.

It is very important to understand the roles and archetypes that the Nurse fulfills within the Chief’s story. The first place to start would have to be simply her appearance to the chief, McMurphy and the rest of the patients on the ward. Chief describes her as follows, “Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils-everything working together except the color on her lips and fingernails and the size of her bosom” (Kesey 11). The Nurse’s description seems very rigid and orderly like the way she runs her ward, but her description is also very similar to a figure known as the White Goddess. Robert Graves’ description of the White Goddess is strikingly similar to the description of the nurse. The White Goddess is described as, ”lovely, slender woman with a hooked nose, deathly pale face, lips red as rowan-berries, startlingly blue eyes and long fair hair” (Graves 24) It is clearly shown that Nurse Ratched takes the resemblance of a White Goddess in appearance with her blue eyes, large breasts, and white uniform. But, she also resembles a White Goddess in her actions as well. The Nurse has metaphorically castrated these men of their masculinity so that she may better control their minds and their actions within her ward. She threatens them with the possibility of electro shock therapy and the ultimate castration of a lobotomy if they are to misbehave her jurisdiction. While McMurphy is refuting Harding about being remissive in front of the Nurse, McMurphy says, “Right at your balls. No, that nurse ain’t some kinda monster chicken, buddy, what she is, is a ball-cutter” (Kesey 57). This idea of castration goes along with the dismemberment idea that is concurrent with Osiris and Dionysus. Osiris was torn into 14 pieces by his evil brother Seth and Dionysus who was torn apart by the titans and then resurrected by the titan Rhea. With the loss of their manhood they lose their lives and remain in the dead world controlled by the Goddess like Nurse. The Nurse’s rule is even compared to a “matriarchy” by Harding. Usually the Great Mother is associated with giving life but Nurse Ratched relates more to the evil mother goddess Kali. In India, Kali is the goddess of death, destruction and war. Kali also goes by the name of “Terrible Mother” (Neumann 150). She may only be appeased through bloodshed and destruction of human life. Specifically it is stated, “she must be satisfied by the killing of men and animals; whether as goddess of war she perpetually demands the blood of men, or as the goddess of death destroys all living things without distinction”(Neumann 71). The nurse finds appeasement in the castration and utter submission of her male patients within her ward. Nurse Ratched finds this necessary because she feel she is the one who is giving these lost men order, similar to Kali where it is said, “For to the Goddess is due the life blood of all creatures – since it is she who has bestowed it” (Neumann 152). This castration justifies the Nurse’s existence it gives her purpose, because without her she feels these men would have no order. It is “Ol’ Mother Ratched’s therapeutic nursery” (Kesey 107).

Osiris was the first born from the two Egyptian gods, Nut and Geb. Osiris was also known as a farmer of sorts because, “He taught the Egyptians how to plant wheat and barley, how to gather the fruit from the trees and to cultivate the vine” (Baring 228). Eventually he was betrayed by his brother Seth and sent down the Nile as was stated above. Not only was Osiris a farmer but he was also a great symbol of masculinity. Osiris’ dead body was dismembered by his brother Seth and the story says that

Some topics in this essay:
Dionysus McMurphy, Nurse McMurphy, Osiris McMurphy, Cuckoo’s Nest, Logos Logos, Logos Dog, Man” Anderson, Weir Perry, Christ McMurphy, Broom” Kesey, life patients, life death, white goddess, dead world, death rebirth, electro shock therapy, fertility gods, electro shock, shock therapy, cuckoo’s nest, patients ward, ultimate castration lobotomy, takes psychiatric ward, symbol death rebirth, john weir perry,