Don’t Fly Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Jeremy Yun
Fifty-seven years after Ken Kesey’s fictional novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
sent shockwaves with its unsettling critique of authoritarian control over individuals, the
infighting among literary critics remains unsettled: is the ending a triumph or a tragedy? The
story chronicles antagonist Nurse Ratched’s abuses of her patients, protagonist Randall
McMurphy’s efforts to liberate them by undermining her rule, and the final confrontation
between the two that precipitates each other’s downfall. After the nurse’s command over the
ward collapses, Chief Bromden, the story’s narrator, kills McMurphy out of mercy. Soon after,
many of the patients leave the ward. To some readers, the empowered liberation of inmates and
the fall of Nurse Ratched’s tyrannical regime are sufficient to declare the ending a triumph. To
others, the more diabolical fallouts from the events render the story a tragedy: McMurphy’s
scheme on behalf of Billy Bibbit backfires with the latter’s suicide, and McMurphy all but
predestines his own lobotomy before being killed by one of his own men. In my opinion, what
tips the scale towards tragedy is the larger truth revealed when we zoom out from the particular
dynamics of the ward and see them through the wider lens of society and American history: the
pervasive existence of oppressive systems that Bromden refers to as “The Combine.”
Those who view the novel as a triumph point to the emergence of self-confidence among the
inmates who extricate themselves from Nurse Ratched’s oppression. After McMurphy’s
ill-fated final scuffle with the nurse, Bromden reports that “Sefelt and Fredrickson signed out
together Against Medical Advice, and two days later another three Acutes left” (275). Upbeat
readers would argue that these patients’ departures represent redemption for McMurphy’s
sacrifice. The defiance exhibited in leaving “Against Medical Advice” shows how far they have
come. By the time Nurse Ratched recovers from the fight and returns to the ward, “Harding had
even got the tub room back open and was in there dealing blackjack himself” (276). Those who
argue for a triumphant ending say that by entering a previously restricted space, Harding enters a
new emotional space where he can begin “dealing” his own fate. Indeed, when asked about his
future plans, Harding says, "I want to do it on my own, by myself, right out that front door, with
all the traditional red tape and complications" (265). Optimistic readers see his emphasis on “my
own” and “by myself” as indicators of confidence that he previously lacked. A sense of self-
assured urgency fills the ward.
Another argument advanced by those who frame the ending as a triumph point to the decline of
Nurse Ratched’s authority through the efforts of McMurphy. During McMurphy’s final attack on
the nurse, Bromden recalls that “the three black boys weren't going to do anything but stand and
watch” (275). Those who see the story as a triumph see their “stand and watch” passiveness as an
act of insubordination to the nurse’s command. Furthermore, Bromden later notes that she
“jumped back two steps when we approached, and I thought for a second she might run” when
he and Harding approached (276). Those with triumphant views note that the formerly iron-fisted
maiden’s retreat is an about-face from earlier when the inmates were the ones retreating from
confrontations. Bromden also observes that Nurse Ratched’s uniform “could no longer conceal
the fact that she was a woman.” (276). For most of the story, she had been
