Randle Patrick McMurphy exhibits many of the same characteristics typical to Jesus Christ throughout Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest. However many of the similarities the two of them share are meant to be taken humorously or symbolically. The life of Christ consists of a common man coming out of nowhere and changing the course of earth's history. While he is alive he preaches to anyone who will listen to what he has to say, regardless of who they are or what religion they do or do not belong to. He creates chaos and confusion among the people in charge of his ancient society, which leads to their plotting against him. Jesus knows his destiny of , but he carries on with his preaching because he knows putting other people in front of yourself is the right thing to do. They lure one of Jesus" best friends into accepting money for the delivery of Jesus. Jesus is arrested and then subjected to mockery, crucifixion upon a cross, and being crowned with a crown of thorns. All of these things are present in the life of R.P. McMurphy in one way or another.
McMurphy's life begins in the novel as just a regular patient coming into the mental hospital. The only difference between him and the other patients is he is not mentally handicapped even the slightest bit. This importance is like Christ's characteristic of being fully human and fully like God at the same time. McMurphy almost immediately begins his preaching on the ward after the first therapeutic session he sits through. He preaches against women in general and especially Nurse Ratched. Nurse Ratched and he quickly become bitter enemies, constantly butting heads, usually over minor ward policies. This is again characteristically like Christ because Christ fought the Sadducees and Pharisees over the Jewish laws. McMurphy is eventually punished by Nurse Ratched, but he is given the chance to escape further punishment by admitting that he is wrong for causing all the disorder on the ward.
