One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Randle Patrick McMurphy, the main character in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", is the perfect example of a hero. He is committed to a mental institution after faking insanity to get out of a work camp. From the beginning of his presence on the ward, things start to change. He brings in laughter, gambling, profanity and he begins to get the other patients to open up. All of this, however, clashes with the head nurse, Nurse Ratched, who is trying to press conformity and obeying authority. It is then a battle between McMurphy and the nurse, McMurphy trying to set the patients free and the nurse trying to make them "normal". The most obvious hero type of McMurphy is an out-law hero. This is evident in his struggle against the nurse and the combine which represent society. He is an outlaw because he is his own person. He has freedom to act how he wants, think what he wants and be what he wants, and society is out to make him be like everyone else, to conform. At first, McMurphy's rebellion against authority is just a selfish attempt to make his life on the ward more comfortable. But later on he realizes that the other patients rely on him and need him to help them be free. This is seen in the book when Cheswich drowns himself after McMurphy starts to give in to the nurse. Then, McMurphy sees that he has to be the leader and continue to resist authority. In this way McMurphy is sort of the like Christ, whom he is compared to many times in the book. They are both leaders and they both sacrificed themselves to save their followers. Another one of McMurphy's hero types is an anti-hero, which is a hero who lacks some attributes of being a classic hero. A classic hero is a hero with ethics and morals and who respects everyone and everything. This is not who McMurphy is. He swears all the time, he gambles and cheats the other patients out of their money, not to mention the fact that he was accused of statutory rape and put in a prison camp.
