In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey warns against allowing women to have power of their own, and instead advocates for them to play a supporting role to men in society, by portraying women in power as cruel and overbearing, while women who are available to men as kind and sexualized. In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey supports typical gender expectations through the women psychologically emasculating the men and repressing their own femininity.

In the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey argues that the murder of McMurphy is morally right because it sets McMurphy free from the constraints of the combine. Through the experiences of the patients, Kesey explores the dangers of separating those that are different from society. It is through these experiences that Kesey demonstrates that society has a moral responsibility to accept those that are different and if it does not, progress will stagnate and ultimately society itself will collapse under the pressures of unattainable standards.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest implies that women are unable to hold positions of power by portraying women in authoritative positions as manipulative and power-hungry. This is demonstrated through Nurse Ratched’s utilization of manipulative tactics to gain power and through Sandy and Candy’s loss of power due to their compliance with gender roles.   In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey uses the contrasting motives of Nurse Ratched and McMurphy to support the idea that manipulation is wrong when it is used to to make someone feel powerless.

Things to Remember!!! --No 1st or 2nd person pronouns in academic writing ( I, me, my, we, our, us, you, your, you’re) --Never question the reader ie. no rhetorical questions. --No contractions (Don’t, can’t, won’t, it’s, etc) --Novel titles need to be in italics ie. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest --Refer to the author by his first and last name the first time you mention him. After that, refer to him by last name only. --When writing about literature, you should be writing in PRESENT tense. --ALWAYS come back to your thesis. Every example you use should relate back to proving that argument.