McMurphy, plays the character hero in Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest. McMurphy is a mental patient who loved to live life to the fullest and was wrongly committed in the ward. His tragic undoing was a result from the qualities that McMurphy admired and respected from the other patients. He had a bad temper, was very stubborn and this led him to be "disturbed." This caused him to receive many painful disciplinary treatments. He finally lost his lust for life and his free spirit which ultimately caused his death. Regardless of McMurphy being the man he was his traits were his worst enemy. .
As people read the book they will get the picture of just how wild McMurphy's temper was. However, his temper helps him fight the nurse from hell, Nurse Ratched. Mcmurphy wants to be in control of the hospital and Nurse Ratched wants to maintain her position. In the end however, this temper turns on him. When Mcmurphy comes to the hosptial he lets people believe that he is a gambler and a very good scam artist. His first act is to get other patients to bet with him that he can get under Nurse Ratched's skin. To see how mad he can make her. Nothing would please him more then to see her really lose her disposition. Learning about the shock thearphy is what causes McMurhpy to get this angry. The Electro-Shock theraphy is given to the patients that didn't want to co-operate with the rules. McMurphy never getting use to losing his bets thought he could bug the Bad Nurse and not get any discipline from his actions. One of the patients told him that if he kept his temper under control and gave the nurse no reason to discipline him, he would be safe from the shock treatments. This only made him mad at the patient. Losing his temper from this statement only proved how bad he was after just being on the ward one day.
All through the book McMurphy shows how bad his temper is. One event actually gets him in big trouble .
