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Randle McMurphy Randle P. McMurphy, a wrongly committed mental patient, plays the role of the hero in Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The qualities of McMurphy, along with the respect and admiration from his fellow patients are responsible for his tragic downfall. These qualities include his temper, which leads to his being deemed "disturbed," his stubbornness, which results in his receiving numerous painful disciplinary treatments, and finally his free spirit, which leads to his death. Despite McMurphy actually being a good person, in the end, these characteristics hurt him more than they help him. Throughout the novel, McMurphy displays that he has a wild temper. This temper aids him in his battle with Nurse Ratched for control of the mental ward. However, his temper eventually works against him. Upon McMurphy’s arrival to the ward he establishes himself as a con man and a gambler. One of his first bets with the other patients is to see if, within a week, he can put "a bee in [Nurse Ratched’s] butt, a burr in her bloomers. Get her goat. Bug her till she comes apart at those neat little seams" (Kesey 69). McMurphy makes this bet after he learns about the Disturbed Ward, and also about the "shock shop". Since McMurphy is not in the habit of losing, he wants to be certain that he can get away with harassing the Big Nurse without receiving any of these punishments.
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