Nurse+Ratched

=Nurse Ratched=

Ana Cvetkovic
Nurse Ratched is the villain in the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey which was adapted into a movie about a decade later. The novel is set in an insane asylum where Ratched is the head-nurse. She abuses her power by completely controlling her patients' medications, basic necessities, and privileges which she capriciously grants and revokes. Ratched's superiors pretend not to notice her action's because she is able to keep the patients in order. She scares and humiliates her patients into obeying her and feels no guilt about doing so. One patient that she is particularly successul in frightening is Billy Bibbit. She manipulates him by using his mother, who he fears more than Ratched. "You know Billy, what worries me is how your mother is going to take this" is what Ratched says to Billy after he loses his virginity to a prostitute. Ratched's enemy is Randle McMurphy. He threatens her dictatorial rule by not submitting to her threats and punishments. The more Nurse Ratched fights him, the more resistant McMurphy becomes. He eventually chokes Ratched, leaving her unable to speak due to damage to her vocal cords. She thus loses her power and can no longer intimidate her patients. During the course of the novel, Ratched is even responsible for the death of three men - two by suicide and one by lobotomy (a surgical procedure that cuts the connection between two lobes in the brain), which shows the extent of her villainy. Ratched can be compared to a machine and is even nicknamed "Big Nurse" (a connection can be drawn to George Orwell's Big Brother in the novel //1984//). She stays calm and collected and is efficient at controlling her emotions, being careful not to reveal her true self. This composure is representative of the mechanical oppression of our modern society.


 * Her frightening stare seems to have the ability to pierce through anyone
 * She has a stern, hard face
 * Her emotionless face resembles that of a robot
 * She wears a blank expression to hide her true self and control her emotions, and by controlling herself, controlling others
 * She doesn't have a hair out of place which relates to the machine comparison
 * Her highly arched eyebrows give her a menacing look

This video clip shows the manipulative control Nurse Ratched has over her patients.
media type="youtube" key="J74Yj2Dn8M8" height="340" width="560"

And now for some comic relief...
media type="youtube" key="dSiVZ524yW4" height="317" width="389"