Letter from Chief

Dear Nurse Ratchet,

 

            I am writing you this letter to explain my feelings towards the whole McMurphy situation, and to explain why I decided to escape. When you and the other nurses were giving Cheswick his electroshock therapy, I revealed to McMurphy that not only can I hear what everybody is saying, but that I can also talk. This was time in which we began planning our escape from the ward. When McMurphy invited the two girls into the ward that night and we “partied” with them, McMurphy and I planned on escaping with them. However, we got sidetracked when Billy Bibbit wanted to stay with the brunette girl, but felt that he wasn’t ready to leave the ward. So, McMurphy locked the two of them into a room together for them to spend the night together, and said that we would leave in the morning.

            After we found Billy dead in the office, you could tell by our faces that we were shocked. We all felt saddened because we all cared about Billy, but we also felt the same as McMurphy. McMurphy felt angry, and felt that it was your fault that Billy had killed himself because you kept telling him that you were going to tell his mother. When the orderlies took McMurphy away after trying to choke you to death, we all thought you were giving him electroshock therapy again, and figured that he would be back soon. However, McMurphy was still missing after a week, and there were rumors going around that McMurphy had escaped by himself. I felt betrayed because we had made a plan to stick together, and escape together. However, the night that the orderlies brought McMurphy back changed everything.

            I awoke to the sound of the orderlies practically dragging someone to the beds. I looked up, and noticed that it was McMurphy. Once the orderlies left, I walked over, and started to talk to him about how glad I was that he had come back to escape with me. When he was not replying, I took a closer look at him and noticed the lobotomy scars on his head, and realized what had happened. I was furious that the nurses thought it was okay to do this. You took away his emotions, and left him as a brain-dead zombie. I was unwilling to let McMurphy live his life in this way, so I suffocated him with his pillow. Afterwards, frustrated with the nurses and orderlies in the ward that the power of trying to change us get to their heads, I decided that I needed to escape. So, I went into the showers, and ripped the water control panel off of its stand, and crashed it through the window. I ran through the window, and ran as fast as I can away from the ward. From a distance, I could faintly hear Taber screaming in joy of my escape.

            So, that leaves me to where I am now. Right now, I am writing to you from Utah, but
I will probably be somewhere different by the time you get this letter. I have been hitch-hiking, and catching rides with nice people who have been willingly to drive me as far as they can. Since I left the ward with no money, I have been begging people for either food or money. Most people have given money. I’ve been using the money to buy food, and I had some leftover to send this letter. I just wanted to let you know that although you think you have power, you do not have all the power. I believe the power has gone to your head, and I advise you to control the power you think you have. McMurphy’s attitude towards the ward, and his opinion on the ward is what motivated me to leave the ward. Not only has he inspired me, but he inspired the whole ward to step up and fight for their uniqueness, which you are trying to take away from them. I wish you, Nurse Ratchet, to see our perspective on what is best for us because I believe that the people who know what is best for us are the people that are going through it themselves.

 

Sincerely,

Chief

Chief letter

Spencer Altman

Period F

12-15-14

Chief Letter

Hey it’s the Chief. I am writing because I want to inform you on my decision to kill Patrick.  I only did it because he was suffering so much after the hospital basically disconnected his brain.  Patrick was such a good guy to me and he did not deserve to life the rest of his life motionless. I could tell that he wanted to be dead when he was in that condition.  He got me to know that my voice was heard and he was my first friend.  I will never forget when he took us fishing and broke out of the mental hospital just for our own enjoyment.  I will miss him dearly but I know that he wanted to be dead when he was in that condition.  I also broke out of the mental hospital because nurse Ratchet disgusted me and always put me into a bad mood.  Nurse did not care about the inmates and she did not want what was best for them.  I took off the water source because I knew that Patrick wanted to do that but he did not have the strength that I do.  I was very proud to throw that water source through the window and get out of the terrible mental hospital.  After I broke out I went to start a life of my own because Patrick helped me find my voice.  I now live a life of peace and harmony and i’m not afraid to talk to people and embrace my inner self.

Letter from Chief

Sunday-

I am writing this because I have just escaped from the insane institution I had been stuck in for the past 9 years. Prior to my escape, I had made one of the only friends I had ever made. His name was Randal Patrick McMurphy. For the sake of space, let's call him RPM. He was the first guy I'd ever met to stand up against the awful Nurse Ratchet and show her that she doesn't have all the power in this place. Anyways, after a string of events, the awful people gave RPM a lobotomy; one that basically made him useless. He couldn't say anything, he couldn't look me in the eye. So I decided that he'd rather be dead than be in a state like this, so I put an end to his life. You could say it's murder, which it technically is, but I'm sure he is a whole lot happier now. I used his idea of taking one of the sink stations and using it to smash through a main window in order to escape. It worked perfectly, smashing the glass and giving us a way outside. After I escaped, I scrounged up enough money for a bus ticket and I decided to go to California. Yea, it's a long ride, but I want to feel that warm sand beneath my toes. I am about halfway there, and I will write again once I arrive.

-Chief

Dear Diary,

I finally escaped the Cuckoo’s Nest when I got the chance. As I was sleeping, Randall suddenly woke me up because he just got a lobotomy. Randall would be like a potato for the rest of his life and I couldn’t let him live like that. Randall is my best friend in the whole world and the only person I opened up and talked to. The monster Nurse Ratchet is the only reason Billy committed suicide and why Randall didn’t escape. As Nurse Ratchet was about to call Billy’s mom, he slit his throat. This caused Randall to strangle Nurse Ratchet and almost kill her. I wish he killed her. After this Nurse Ratchet was still butt-hurt so she decided to give Randall a lobotomy.  When Randall got back from his surgery I couldn’t live with him being like this for the rest of his life. I needed to take him away from his misery. So I strangled him to death. The next thing I did was pick up the control panel and throw it through the window. It was pretty heavy but it worked. I jumped out the window and then met up with my tribe.

-Chief

Letter from Chief Bromden

I am chief, and i’ve just broken out of the mental hospital and am on my way to Montana. It is rural and nobody will find me out here because of the low population. By the time i’m finished with this letter i should be in Montana. I have found a small apartment that i will stay at with the money that i got off the street. I left because i didn’t deserve to be there and nobody was friendly except for McMurphy. He was the only one that cared about me and tried to help me because he knew that there was no reason to be mean to me and call me stupid. I think back to the times he did things with me. For example, helping me understand basketball and letting play in a few games. I actually had fun, i’d been a long time since i had felt that feeling. Also, he got me out of my comfort zone and got me to talk to him. I felt like i had a connection with someone for the first time since my dad had died, he was was almost like the missing piece after he died. Even though i had to kill Mr. McMurphy, it it was best for him, i hope he is free know and not locked in hell or some terrifying place. As for everyone else, i hope they all rot in hell and end up killing themselves. All they ever did was make fun of me and call me mean, harsh names. I wish nothing but the worst for them because they never gave me a chance or tried helping me if i was actually def. Then the nurses and the 3 blacks guards are okay i guess, they tried helping everyone in my opinion and they never hurt me or gave me any crap. We’ll as for me, this train is almost to my stop so i will wrap it up here, time for a new life just somewhere in Montana.

- Chief Bromden 

Letter from Chief Explaining His Reactions

When Randall was just laying in his bed no responding and emotionless after the two men placed him in his bed, I knew something was wrong. I had to go over to him and see what was going on. I watched the two men walk out of the hallway and lock the doors. I then unstrapped myself from my bed and walked over to Randall. I had never seen him like this before. He was so emotionless and a blank stare on his face. I could not believe it. He was not responding to any of my questions. Was he ignoring me? I looked at his face and decided that he no longer should live and probably does not want to live anymore. He is lifeless. What is the point of that. I slowly put the pillow over his face and suffocated him until he was dead and no longer breathing. Randall taught me a lot about life and I know that if he could respond to me he would want to die because he is life less and cannot do anything. I then went to the control panel which is a large granite slab of stone with silver pipes coming out of it. I used all my strength to lift it off the floor and pick it up. I could not believe I had the courage to do that. It was so heavy. I needed to do that though. I walked down the hall and threw it at the window and jumped out. That felt so good. I was free. Free as I'll ever be! From that point on, I walked down the road and found my old tribe that I was originally in. I kept all of the lessons and wise words of Randall in the back of my head. I am going to live life to the fullest and deal with everything life throws at me even if I am a little different than the rest of the world.

Letter From Chief Explaining His Intentions and Life after the Breakout

English 4

Alex Merrill

Jeffrey Baker

Response #3

Write a letter from Chief explaining your actions at the end of the film and your motivations for them.  What happened to you after you left?  

Dear Reader, 

I can guess you are probably thinking, “can a deaf and dumb Indian really be writing this right now?” Well, he is. Over the past weeks, ever since Randall has been in my life, I’ve noticed a change within myself. I have noticed that I have started to rely on people, especially Randall, to keep me from breaking out. When I saw him on that bed, shaking him, and then proceeding to talk him, I wanted a conversation, a response at the very least. I did not get anything out of him; he was completely brain-dead. Not only would he not respond, but also he would barely even nod or show any signs of life. That is when I decided to suffocate him. After I made sure he was dead, I went over to the tub room and remembered what Randall had been talking about. I remember him saying that he would use the main water dispenser to break out through the glass. He could not lift it at the time, but I knew I could. So after I lifted it, I walked over to the glass, and smashed it right through. I heard Taber screaming behind me as I hopped over and started running. I didn’t know whether he was mad, upset, or confused, but whatever the case, I kept running, not even stopping to look behind me to see if anyone had followed. I did stop at one point to reflect and convince myself of why I did it. I finally came up with the only reason I could find: McMurphy was a great friend of mine who I came to rely on. I learned basketball from him, we went through electric shock together, and overall we became great friends. He was not the same when the two workers left him on that bed, I could see it right away. I was not going to let him live like that, so I choked him and escaped, plain and simple. I now reside in a community where I am some what respected by mostly everybody, which is great considering they did eventually find out about my past. Though I reminisce sometimes on what could have been, I realize that in my heart, I am a good person and I did what was right, which is all that really matters in the end.

Sincerely,

Chief B.

Write a letter from Chief explaining your actions at the end of the film and your motivations for them. What happened to you after you left?

William Gitlin
Someone living but not living life is two different concepts. When someone is just living they are alive but cant experience or have emotions to the same extent as someone who is living life. Someone who is living life actually has emotions and can think for themselves and what they believe in. One night when I was sleeping, my good friend, Randall McMurphy had come into the room with a state of mind I had never seen him before. He was emotionless, which was unusual for someone of his character who has always been screaming and yelling. When the two men put him down and slowly paced off down the hallway, I glanced over at Randall. Randall looked like in this case as if he was just living. I walked over to him with no hesitation of what could be the outcome of this situation. As I slowly lifted his head off the crisp white pillow, his head flopped back as if he was unconscious. His eyes were open and he had no reactions to my action of lifting his head off the pillow. At that moment I realized that this was no way of life for my good friend and my only friend I had ever had in the insane asylum. I grasped his pillow from under his head and tightly pushed it against his face. There were no sounds that had been yelped out by Randall, instead his arms and legs were flailing around, trying to get a break of air. Suddenly moment had stopped and Randall had been suffocated to death. It was the best way for him to go and I knew if Randall were alive he would have wanted me to end his life if he was in a condition like that. I then walked over to the bathroom and took the waterspout connection to the ground; and with all my force I hulled the spout off the ground and carried it over to the window. I threw the big waterspout at the window, which caused the giant window to shatter, giving me the opportunity to escape. As I took my first step outside of the insane asylum, I felt like a new man, and a free one. Randall would have wanted me to escape and if he were alive he would be right next to me running away. I pursued the dream that Randall wanted to have, which was drive to Canada after he escaped.

Trevor Krupp

12/15/14

Nurse Ratchet

Nurse Ratchet has the most power in the movie and constantly has arguments with some of the insane people in the “Cuckoo Nest”.  Nurse Ratchet doesn’t seem have much of a personality; she seems more like a robot. She seems to manipulate most of the people in the “Cuckoo Nest” except for Randall and maybe the chief. I think this because the people in the “Cuckoo Nest” hate it their and want to leave. She manipulates them so they feel like they cannot life in the outside world. Randall sees this and tells them they are as crazy as the people walking the town. I think that Nurse Ratchet represents a person who decides which people are insane or not.  I think Randall represents a sane man living in a insane asylum. He realizes the screwed up things they do to the patients. He constantly protests the ruling in the “Cuckoo Nest”. The first conflict is when the majority of the people voted to switch the schedule around and she did not change the schedule so they could watch baseball. I think baseball is a motif for freedom and that is why the Nurse doesn’t want them to watch it. This leads to Randall wanting to break out of the “Cuckoo Nest”. The other conflict is when he doesn’t want to eat the medicine. The nurse did not answer the question of what pill she was giving him so Randall didn’t want to eat it, which is understandable. But, he spat the pills out. I think the pills control every persons mood in the “Cuckoo Nest”. Another fight they had was when the Nurse took away their gambling and smoking privileges. The nurse then shocks the Chief and then shocks Randall.

Nurse Ratchet RPM Spencer

Spencer Altman

Period F

12-12-14

Nurse Ratchet

Nurse Ratchet represents sanity because she is the one who is in charge of all of the  “crazy” people.  Nurse Ratched is kind of a bitch and she is mean to Patrick, I think that she knows that he is normal but she just wants to get at him.  I find the medicine that Nurse Ratchet gives to have too much power. I think it is a hardcore drug.  Nurse does not care about the lives of her inmate because she mean.  The whole mental hospital is corrupt.  The glass between the workers and the inmates is a barrier between the   sane and the insane.  I disliked Nurse Ratchet more and more throughout this movie.  She thought that she was better than everyone else.   I felt bad for all of the characters is the movie when Nurse Ratchet is around.  RPM is just a badass and he does not give a shit about what people think.  He is a criminal who plead insane so he did not have to go to jail.  He has a nice side to him though because he cares about the people in the mental hospital.

Nurse Ratchet and Randall Patrick McMurphy

     In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I believe that Nurse Ratchet represents something of totalitarianism but she controls everyone not through violence or threats, but she rather remains calm but enforces things the way she wants. Nurse Ratchet is the perfect villain for a plot revolving around an insane asylum since none of the people in it will ever stand up to her. That is until RPM comes along. RPM in my mind, represents a bridge between insanity and absolute genius. He has complete cognition of Nurse Ratchet's actions and why he does them, so he is able to easily find ways to get around them, which no one else in that institute would ever do. Throughout the story, it seems like RPM starts to control the people in order to show that Nurse Ratchet does not have full power.
     Now, a symbol we find in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is the glass that separates Nurse Ratchet from RPM and the others in the institute. Somewhere around halfway through the movie, RPM shatters that glass in order to get a pack of cigarettes for another guy. This is very important, since that glass was like a divider in a hierarchy; a separation of power between Nurse Ratchet and the others. RPM was the first to step up and make a move like that. The whole movie is just their fight for power, and RPM's fight to escape the insane asylum.

Response to Film: What do Nurse Ratchet and RPM represent? How about their conflict?

In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Nurse Ratchet and R. P. McMurphy juxtapose each other, resulting in conflict throughout the story.
Nurse Ratchet is the embodiment of the phrase  "calm and collected." Her aura is icy and her actions are calculated. Nurse Ratchet represents the oppression  of society. OFOTCN toys with the meaning of insanity and often compares committed patients in the mental institution to the average asshole on the street.According to OFOTCN the difference between sanity and insanity is how a person measures up. It is up to the group who decides who is sane and who is not. Nurse Ratchet represents society deciding who is sane and who is not; she is the ultimate authority. 
RPM is boisterous, animated and flippant. The question is: is RPM actually insane or is he a fantastic fake avoiding his sentence? RPM stands for gambling, prostitution, theft, drinking and all manner of profanity. 
RPM is the subject of speculation for insanity; he represents those under scrutiny, the "insane". 
Nurse Ratchet, being in complete control of the ward is the one who decides if RPM is crazy or not. Her group therapy sessions carried out under the premises that the group can help the guy by   showing him where he's out of place, target individuals by exposing weakness to peers turning members against each other while fueling her fire. Because RPM challenges her authority and refuses to conform to her ideals of an insane society she strives to make his life hell. 
Their conflict is the clash of personalities, the controlling manipulative Nurse Ratchet or the wild rebellious RPM.

Nurse Ratchet, Randall Patrick McMurphy, and Their Relationship

In “One That Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Nurse Ratchet represents the power or people that are trying to take away the uniqueness of the “insane” people (AKA take away their insanity). She has group therapy session with the patients, and forces them to talk about what they did to get into the insane ward. Nurse Ratchet pesters Harding to talk about his issues with his wife, and tries to get Billy to talk about him proposing to a girl and trying to commit suicide. She makes them talk about their personal lives in front of the other patients, which makes them feel vulnerable. When Randall Patrick McMurphy comes to the ward, she tries to do the same technique on him, but finds that it doesn’t work like it does on the other patients.

            RPM represents the opposing power or the people who don’t want to give up their insanity or uniqueness. At first, it seems that RPM is the only one that wants to fight the power that is trying to change them. This is shown during the first vote, when only RPM, Taber, and Cheswick are the only ones to vote in favor of changing the schedule. However, during the second vote, all the patients present at the group therapy session vote in favor of changing the schedule. RPM also escapes and steals a bus full of the patients, and takes them fishing. RPM fights against Nurse Ratchet, which makes the other patients question her authority.    

            The relationship between Nurse Ratchet and RPM is a conflict. RPM is the first patient to question her authority/power over the patients. Nurse Ratchet does not like this, so she does everything in her power to stop it. When the second vote occurs and it’s 9-9, she claims that it is not the majority. When RPM gets the 10^th vote Chief, she claims that the group session has ended, and so has the vote. This makes RPM even more willingly to fight against her power, which causes him to escape and going fishing, gamble with the other patients over cigarettes, and sneak girls and beer into the ward. Overall, the conflict between Nurse Ratchet and RPM represents the fight between society wanting to change the “insane people” and the “insane” people wanting to stay just the way they are.

Nurse Ratchet, RPM, and Their Conflict

In the movie, Nurse Ratchet is played by a women. See is seen as someone of a higher power along with her assistant nurse who does not say as much but is always with her. They are like the untouchable people. Also, the men in the place see them as the normal people and the ones who are not messed up. Nurse Ratchet represents the power in women and how they can take over lives and rule over everyone. All of the men in the hospital are in there due to some issue with a women outside of that place. For example, Billy Bibbit, was going to propose to the girl he loved and his mother got mad at him for not telling her first and he was then sent to the hospital. That's how power us women can be at some points.

Randall comes into the hospital with a lot of confidence and energy. He tries to talk to the Chief who is deaf (we find out that he is actually not) and then yelling and talking to everyone. All the guys think he is so weird. Randall represents a life that is crazy and a little messed up but still can okay and survive in the real world.

The conflict between these two is a strong one. There are a few scenes in the movie that hint at this. Randall tries to change the place and help out the guys in the hospital but Nurse Ratchet forbids him from doing so. All the characters in the hospital have these therapy sessions led by Nurse Ratchet and a couple times, Randall asks for a vote so that they can watch the World Series Games and a few times he fails because all of the other guys do not want to go against Nurse Ratchet but the third time, his plan works and all of the guys raise their hands to change the rules. Nurse Ratchet is amazed.

Another huge moment in the movie is when Randall punches the glass between the Nurses station and the guys. This is significant and saying that all these barriers and opinions about people being crazy and weird can be broken and changed. It just takes some people to stick together and have the same thought.

Response #2 To One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Conflict between Nurse Ratchet and McMurphy and what they represent)

English 4

Mr. Merrill

Jeffrey Baker

Response #2 to One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

What does Nurse Ratchet represent? What does RPM represent? What about their conflict?

Nurse Ratchet is a character that is higher than most of the other characters in the movie. She portrays someone that over the course of his or her life has never had to deal with being considered different. This idea comes up when she is overlooking the –patients during one of their recreational times. The camera strays away from the basketball court and pans over to where she is in the window, just looking and thinking what to do next. She represents the people that think of the patients as virtually untreatable and lesser than them. She can be thought of as a barrier between Randall and the others and reality of the real world. In the nurse’s station, she is protected from them because of the glass, which essentially designates the end of the lobby and the beginning of the nurses’ station. When Randall McMurphy breaks the glass, it quickly becomes known that the barrier can be physically broken and perhaps eventually mentally broken as well. Randall plays a crucial role because he represents a sly liar and the smartest patient in the place. When confronted by both Dr. Spidey and Nurse Ratchet, they both seem to figure out that he is not crazy at all, but rather a man that just thinks differently from everyone else. In a way, he is the exception because he mentions that he thinks that the only way to appear normal is to act like a sitting vegetable. He of course cannot abide to those rules and decides that not only will he not listen to the rules; he will break them to an extent that will cause harm to the rest of the facility.

            The main conflict between both Nurse Ratchet and Randall McMurphy is miscommunication. This miscommunication often arises in the middle of the group therapy sessions. During one of these sessions, Randall suggests that the schedule can change for a day so that they can watch the World Series, which means obviously means a lot to Randall. Nurse Ratchet is not too fond of the idea and sneaks in tricks that make the decision to change the schedule go in her favor. Nurse Ratchet constantly does not want to listen to Randall and it affects the personal relationship between the two of them.

            To conclude, these characters both represent a conflict, a conflict that is uncoordinated and unprepared meaning that not only does it not work, it causes permanent damage to the facility and also brings out the outrage within them all.