Hello, I need some help reviewing my essay on the hero from the story One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The prompt was to state reasons why McMurphy could be considered an archetypal hero. My essay is listed below please help me with any grammar issues, wording, or lack of detail that is missing. I am a Junior in high school and this is a major grade in my English class and I really want my essay to be top notch. Thank you.
- Joey
In the story One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, there is one character that helped all the others. This character did not realize that he was an archetypal hero throughout the story. R.P McMurphy forces himself into being the archetypal hero by doing good deeds to the victims in this story. To fit the archetype McMurphy helps the patients with their problems, fights against a villain that in reality isn't, and wears a mental disguise. The following paragraphs will describe reasons in detail as to why McMurphy is known as an archetypal hero.
To begin with McMurphy attends the ward because he wants to get off the work farm. He then involuntarily helps the patients without thinking of it. The patients in the ward are in desperate need of relief from the Big Nurse's restraint. McMurphy was a gritty, middle-aged partier who cared for nothing more than a good time. This was a healthy influence to all the patients who were deprived of this lifestyle due to the wards policy. He gave the patients hope and slowly but surely gave them back their pride that the Big Nurse brutally took away. Also, with him constantly fighting the authority of the ward he gave the patients their strength back. Although this is not the way an archetypal hero would help someone it still fits into the archetype of a hero.
Secondly (as mentioned in the second paragraph), McMurphy fights against the will of the Big Nurse who is the center of the patients troubles. Although in reality McMurphy is the criminal, the story is told from a perspective showing that the ward and all its authority is the only thing that commits a crime. The ward itself confines and tortures the patients clearly showing that what they are doing is the real crime. The ward is operated by the Big Nurse (Miss Ratched) who forces everyone in the ward to perform a daily routine. This routine is very mechanical and has little to no therapeutic value. It is McMurphy's task to destroy Miss Ratched and her demented routine. He fights her in many ways such as teasing her, disrupting the daily routine and eventually throwing a massive party which breaks Miss Ratched's rule book ten-fold. McMurphy's way of fighting crime is another reason why his character corresponds to the archetype of a hero.
Finally, McMurphy's disguise is a key ornament as to why he is classified as an archetypal hero. All heroes have their own masked identities and so does McMurphy if you look close enough. For example let's take a look at his personal character; Rough, rugged, gritty, and above all a party animal. These traits are nothing of an archetypal hero. A normal archetypal hero would attempt to blend in with society not stand out in the ways McMurphy does. McMurphy's "Mental" disguise was enough to fool even the keenest of people in this story, the big nurse. He portrayed himself as a vandal, a low life, and a thug and at the same time had more therapeutic value than the entire ward staff combined. This small detail is the largest of them all as to why McMurphy fits into the archetype of a hero so well. With McMurphy's mental disguise on it took the big nurse too long to figure him out. This lead to the recovery of almost the entire ward which was exactly what Nurse Ratched did not want. As soon as the nurse saw through his disguise she knew that a lobotomy was the only option to rid of this hero. This is the final reason why McMurphy is an archetypal hero.
In conclusion, McMurphy helped the patients of the ward, fought the tyranny in the ward and wore a mental disguise to trick the authority of the ward in order to help the patients secretly. This perfect blend of secrecy and trickery that McMurphy was known for throughout the story ended in his death and the healing of the patients. Overall McMurphy is entitled to be known as an archetypal hero for his deeds of good fortune to the patients and dying a martyr to the all. Without his arrival, leadership, courage and daunting stature the patients of the ward would be victims of the nurse's wrath forever.
