Essay example --

In the novel One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey we are introduced to the theme of the machine controlling the patients in the ward. The agree, as it is referred to several times throughout the novel, is a machine that is used in farming that is used for cutting crops. In Cuckoos Nest, the combine is used as a metaphor for society and how it controls, destroys and manipulates the patients. The purpose Nurse Ratched is a high ranking official (p. 165) of the combine with nearly every character in the novel under her control. With extreme intelligence, she uses her power to influence how the population of the ward acts and what they do. Fear is a major component of the nurses tactical manoeuvre as she uses it to get what she wants and gets things done exactly how she wants it. The two types of patients in the novel, the Acutes who are still sick enough to be fixed (p. 13) and the Chronics who cant be repaired (p. 14) are treated much differently by the nurse and her staff as she must be more strict with the chronics and is allowed to be more mild with the acutes. The ...