Randle P. McMurphy is described as a free spirited individual who shows complete disregard for authority of any kind. Despite the fact he is a pretty crook, he has numerous qualities which many of his fellow patience admire. Discuss his influence on his fellow patience in the Acute ward. Are his intentions more honourable than Nurse Ratched would believe?
I think McMurphy is the only character who sees the truth in the story. He is very much a a Christ-figure. He is only dangerous to Nurse Ratched and her obsessive control over these men. He seems to care deeply about his fellow inmates, often putting justice and their well-being over his own desires to escape the institution--which inevitably costs him his sanity. McMurphy represents freedom and self-determination versus societal repression--a battle McMurphy ultimately loses in order to pave the way for the rest of the patients to see the light. In many ways, he becomes a sacrificial lamb for the sake of enlightenment and awakening, both within the novel and for readers. McMurphy's character is remembered as a martyr who inspires real-world social change.
