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Nurse Ratched - Coggle Diagram
Nurse Ratched
Key Quotations
"her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load."
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"there's no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she's got that bag full of a thousand parts...wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter..."
"but the strain was beginning to show in other ways. By the way she jerked the adhesive tight as she could, showing her remote patience wasn't what it used to be."
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Appearance
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"her painted smile twists, stretched to an open snarl..."
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"Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, skin like flesh-coloured enamel...-everything working together "
Role in the Novel
Nurse Ratched is a former military nurse who is now head nurse at the psychiatric ward and is a reflection of the combine.
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Themes
Power
In order for Nurse Ratched to gain power over the men, she hides her feminine qualities from the men on the psychiatric ward.
Most of Nurse Ratched's power comes from her ability to emasculate the men through electric shock therapy and personality alternating pills.
The power structure has reversed with Nurse Ratched being in control even over Doctor Spivey and usually it would be the other way round.
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Emasculation
Nurse Ratched uses Emasculation as her main way to control and dominate the men on the psychiatric ward.
By emasculating the men, there identity is taken away from them making them less powerful and allows Nurse Ratched to have full control.
In order to emasculate the men, she uses physical force such as electric shock therapy and personality alternating pills as well as mental force such as intimidation and manipulation.
Relationship with others
McMurphy
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From the beginning, McMurphy challenges Nurse Ratched's rules and pushes the limits.
McMurphy is able to expose Nurse Ratched's weakness which is her feminine features. Once her feminine features are exposed, Nurse Ratched loses the authority over the men. In order for Nurse Ratched to control, she must be of a masculine figure.
Billy Bibbit
Nurse Ratched is close friends with Billy's mother which allows Nurse Ratched to control and manipulate Billy. He is afraid of his mother and so Nurse Ratched uses this as a way of controlling him and making him conform to the combines rules.
Nurse Ratched's power over Billy eventually causes Billy to commit suicide as he is afraid of what his mother might say.
Billy's previous suicides are also caused by the emasculation from both his mother and Nurse Ratched