Salvation through McMurphy - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

'One flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo's nest.' It is from this children's rhyme that Ken Kesey based the title of his book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Set in a 1960s mental hospital, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest focuses on the battle between the fun loving but rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy and the head nurse, Miss Ratched. McMurphy's disciples are the weak patients in the mental ward. …

…night, Chief Bromden smothers him, then breaks out of the hospital himself. The men are saved and emotional salvation has been achieved at the highest human cost. Thus, Randle Patrick McMurphy, like Christ, exhibits supreme loyalty - loyalty to a cause he felt was worth a bloody hand, electrical shocks, and even his life. And it is because of this loyalty that McMurphy emerged as a Christ figure and 'led the twelve...to the ocean'.