First Cuckoo's Nest Blog

Anti-Hero: I believe that McMurphy best fits the description of an anti-hero. Initially I thought that he could be a Hero but  finally decided that while I was drawn to his personality as if he were a hero, holistically, however, he best fits the anti-hero category. Starting out he is very genial and communicates well with the other patients on the floor. This can be seen in sections such as "Damn, what a sorry looking outfit. You boys don't look so crazy to me." and his incessant use of the word "buddy" when talking with the men. Even when he is talking less than positively about them there is still the sense that he cares about the other men, I suppose the genuine quality is created through "buddy" as a term of endearment. I am inclined to call him an anti-hero because of his behavior and set of morals that seems to have brought him to the hospital. The only reason he is in the hospital is because he was able to con his way out of not going to a work camp. Not exactly the picture of societal greatest, therefore, anti-hero.

Tragic-Hero: I'm not quite sure. There is not really one true, good, honest, Super Man-esque hero in the book, but there does seem to be a few characters who have Hero elements to their personality. One such individual is Chief. We like him He seems nice. And I feel that their is some level of sympathy that we as the audience feel towards him as we discover how tragic his life has been and his current afflictions. His honesty and yearning for justice make him a hero. This qualities are best exemplified through " I been silent so long now its gonna roar out of me like flood waters and you think the guy telling this is ranting and raving my God; you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But, please. It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen." I also pull my belief that Chief is a tragic hero from this quote as well. The last sentence is bitingly ironic as it contradicts everything Chief had just said and all of the importance he put in his words. His ideas of delusion plague him throughout the passage and loosening and tightening their grip as they pull at our heart strings. His inablilty to see reality and over come his illness makes him a tragic hero. 

Villain: The Big Nurse. She drugs people with medication that they don't want to take. She manipulates the patients and instigates feelings of inferiority. She picks her help based on the fact that they have just enough hate in them. The extent to which she will play the villainous role is still to be determined but I am certain that she is the villain.