Mcmurphy Symbolism In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's

McMurphy crosses the first threshold of his bet by disobeying the restricted bathroom procedures. He sings loudly in the bathroom and brushes his teeth with soap instead of waiting for toothpaste. When Nurse Ratched walks in, he wears only a towel. She fulminates and loses her tranquility: “Now she’s madder and more frustrated than ever… Her doll smile is gone, stretched tight and thin as a red-hot wire. If some of the patients could be out to see her now, McMurphy could start collecting his bets” (98). This breakout is the first one Randle causes of Nurse Ratched, but she manages to regain her composure. However, he wore boxers underneath that were given by a literary major who said McMurphy is a symbol himself (84). It foreshadows his heroic journey, as he is the one who changes the ward and restores individual …show more content…
It surprises everyone when he reveals them: “She’s glaring at those big white whales leaping round on his shorts in pure wordless outrage. That’s more’n she can take” (99). The white whales on his boxer shorts symbolize Moby-Dick, one of the most powerful symbols of American literature. Moby-Dick’s enemy is Captain Ahab, as the white whale bit off Ahab’s leg and the captain seeks revenge on it. It draws an analogy; McMurphy is to Nurse Ratched as Moby-Dick is to Ahab. Ratched and Ahab are seen as the evil characters, and McMurphy and Moby-Dick are the heroes trying to fight off the evil ("Moby-Dick; Or, The Whale"). As stated by Buddha, “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it” (Bodhipaksa). McMurphy needs the evil wrath of Ratched to show what goodness actually is. The ward regulations do not prevent McMurphy from portraying the truth and proving how they should be treated. He took his first hit towards Nurse Ratched and continues