In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the power and manipulation present on the ward greatly affects the patients and their idea of independence. Before McMurphy arrives, Nurse Ratched holds all the power on the ward and knows how to manipulate the men into thinking and doing what she likes. Since the men know of nothing else besides Ratched’s power system, they naturally fall victim to it and lose their own sense of individuality. Ratched’s manipulation evokes a strict group mentality on the ward that she sees as ideal, while the men learn to accept it as they think is unchangeable.
Imagine Dragons’ song “Round and Round” establishes similar themes of manipulative power and a lack of independence. “We think we’re making our own way;” just as the men see their lives on the ward as a place to better themselves for their own personal benefit. Yet, they only feel this way because Ratched “maneuvered” them to in order to retain her power and control (56). Imagine Dragons writes, “We are afflicted by fiction,” which the men are by being twisted to believe and feel a certain way, despite their true opinions. The protagonist, Bromden, describes the ward as a large machine, and Ratched is able to turn knobs and flip switches to bring all the men under her control and take away their independence.
Imagine Dragons writes, “We are all living the same way/We are a part of the same play.” The men are all a part of Ratched’s “play” and they are forced by her power to live by her rules, rather than their own. This loss of independence causes the men to feel as if they are only “playing [a] role” and as if they must act the “way little animals are meant to” (66). A patient, Harding even goes on to say, “Failures, we are – feeble stunned weak little creatures in a weak little race” (67). A race in which Ratched is winning because the men are, in the words of Imagine Dragons, “[set] up to fail.” The men live their lives on the ward not as individuals, but as the group of members in Ratched’s play, living “without a sense of purpose,” as stated by Imagine Dragons in “Round and Round.” However, when McMurphy shows up, he manages to strip Ratched of her power and change the men’s roles significantly.
Bromden describes Randall McMurphy's arrival as "no ordinary admission" and the remainder of his time on the ward was no different (10). After speaking with the patients about the way things are run on the ward, McMurphy was appalled by the way the men live as "rabbits," weak followers or victims, rather than strong, leading "wolves" (64). He encourages the men to retaliate and stick up for what they believe in, rather than living under Ratched's manipulative control. Although it takes a lot of time and effort for the men to finally take action against Nurse Ratched, when they do, they begin to grasp a sense of their identity as they work towards individualism.
Imagine Dragons’ song “Round and Round” establishes similar themes of manipulative power and a lack of independence. “We think we’re making our own way;” just as the men see their lives on the ward as a place to better themselves for their own personal benefit. Yet, they only feel this way because Ratched “maneuvered” them to in order to retain her power and control (56). Imagine Dragons writes, “We are afflicted by fiction,” which the men are by being twisted to believe and feel a certain way, despite their true opinions. The protagonist, Bromden, describes the ward as a large machine, and Ratched is able to turn knobs and flip switches to bring all the men under her control and take away their independence.
Imagine Dragons writes, “We are all living the same way/We are a part of the same play.” The men are all a part of Ratched’s “play” and they are forced by her power to live by her rules, rather than their own. This loss of independence causes the men to feel as if they are only “playing [a] role” and as if they must act the “way little animals are meant to” (66). A patient, Harding even goes on to say, “Failures, we are – feeble stunned weak little creatures in a weak little race” (67). A race in which Ratched is winning because the men are, in the words of Imagine Dragons, “[set] up to fail.” The men live their lives on the ward not as individuals, but as the group of members in Ratched’s play, living “without a sense of purpose,” as stated by Imagine Dragons in “Round and Round.” However, when McMurphy shows up, he manages to strip Ratched of her power and change the men’s roles significantly.
Bromden describes Randall McMurphy's arrival as "no ordinary admission" and the remainder of his time on the ward was no different (10). After speaking with the patients about the way things are run on the ward, McMurphy was appalled by the way the men live as "rabbits," weak followers or victims, rather than strong, leading "wolves" (64). He encourages the men to retaliate and stick up for what they believe in, rather than living under Ratched's manipulative control. Although it takes a lot of time and effort for the men to finally take action against Nurse Ratched, when they do, they begin to grasp a sense of their identity as they work towards individualism.
