Character Development and the Meaning in a Novel, Essay Example

McMurphy is the major character in the novel. There are three ways in which McMurphy develops throughout the novel. These ways will be explained comprehensively below in this essay. This paper will focus on the meaning of the essay based on the development of the character in the novel. The essay’s central argument will be these ways of character development in the novel and how the character brings out the novel’s meaning.

The development of McMurphy in the novel is illustrated. McMurphy is the major protagonist. The author uses him to come up with the main idea in the novel. To explain the development of this character in the novel, the author ensured that McMurphy appeared in the stage of the novel and the various adaptations of the film of the novel (Kesey, 1962). The character was portrayed clearly in the novel’s film by Nicholson after the author of the novel clearly explained the development and the roles played by the character in this novel. The author of the novel used McMurphy on the stage. The author has used McMurphy as a character who is a con man who is rebellious and who gets involved in activities like gambling and battery. The whole novel explains the development of the character in terms of various bad negative Behaviours that he got involved in from the start of the novel to the end. The author uses McMurphy as a protagonist who portrays bad acts in the course of the novel development, as explained below.

McMurphy gets involved in various criminal activities such as battery and gambling. It does not go for long until he is arrested and proved guilty of these criminal deeds. He is imprisoned and punished by strict rules to be a worker on the prison work farm. The character is also charged with a case of statutory rape. All these three crime activities make him end up in jail. After being taken to jail, he serves for a short period and then comes up with a personal plan to escape the harsh jail life of working on the farm. He thought that getting out of jail and being admitted to the hospital would help him be a free man with luxury and comfort. He thinks that a mental institution is a good place than a jail. After being taken toward, he is taken care of by a nurse known as Ratched (Kesey, 1962). He is wise enough to be able to play various tricks on the nurse through various games. As a result of having freedom in the hospital, the character emerges as a conqueror in the ward because of being able to stand by himself because of tricking the nurse who cares for him. McMurphy misbehaves again by sneaking two prostitutes into the ward. The protagonist causes chaos in the ward with his nurse, giving him a good reason and opportunity to be set free from the hospital.

The bad habits development of McMurphy is facilitated by various scenarios, as explained throughout the novel. The character would have rectified his bad behaviors if he could not have been taken to the hospital after pretending to be insane. A serious test could have been conducted to check whether the character was mad or was pretending. The act of him being taken to the hospital while not insane contributed to the continuation of his bad habits instead of reforming (Kesey, 1962). He felt a winner by pretending and got out of jail to the hospital ward. When he went to the ward, the presence of a nurse he easily tricked was another reason that facilitated this character’s worse habits. Nurse Ratched contributed to more negative Behaviours in character. The nurse gave the criminal a chance to have freedom in the ward instead of dealing with him with caution as she knew well that she was from prison. The freedom in the hospital ward accelerated the bad habits in character. McMurphy causes chaos in the ward to get a chance to be free.

The development of the negative habits of McMurphy contributes to the meaning that the novel takes. The novel aims to give meaning to the control of institutions and the dignity of humans (Kesey, 1962). The development of McMurphy contributes to the meaning of the control of institutions. The jail lacks good control. It allowed McMurphy to get out of prison while not insane. The aspect of the institutional control comes out in the scenario of the character being permitted to get out of jail. Institutional control is also postulated where we find that McMurphy controls the nurse in the ward in the hospital and gains the confidence to even play games with her. The bad character in the novel’s protagonist brings out the meaning of the novel; Human dignity. The character is described as lacking personal dignity by not giving himself self-respect (Kesey, 1962). He was arrested and sentenced to jail because of a lack of personal dignity through getting involved in battery and gambling. In the novel, human dignity also comes out when McMurphy pretends that he is insane to escape from prison life. The character also lacks dignity when he causes chaos in the hospital ward after illegally helping two prostitutes sneak into the hospital ward. All these scenarios give meaning that the novel takes. The development of McMurphy and the meaning of the novel have been explained well in the paragraphs.

Reference

Kesey, Ken. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962).” Critique 2 (1962): 81-84.