Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Obstacles to Personal Freedom
The film underscores the loss of personal freedom with
recurring patterns of barriers, gates, fences, bars, locks, and
shackles. We hear the ward door slam ominously behind Nurse Ratched
as the first sound of the movie. We see Bancini locked in overnight
restraints. McMurphy first appears in manacles. Throughout the film,
faces are filmed behind wire mesh and bars to emphasize the hopelessness of
captivity. The glass of the nurse’s station represents the barrier between
the individual and power—a barrier the patients are forbidden to
cross, even though it appears more transparent than bars. McMurphy
first crosses the barrier when he attempts it to turn down the music
so he can think, but Nurse Ratched escorts him out, unwilling to
tolerate independent thought. Later he shoves his hand through the
glass, shattering the boundaries maintained by the authoritative
state, with dire consequences.
Games
Games feature prominently in the film, not solely as a
simple pastime but also as an affirmation of life, health, and enjoyment. McMurphy
teaches blackjack and basketball, games he sees as manlier than
the pinochle and Monopoly the patients play prior to his arrival.
Under his coaching, the patients have the empowering experience
of beating the orderlies in basketball. Enjoyment is important to
McMurphy: for him, driving a boat is fun, fishing is fun, sex is fun,
and games of all kinds help the patients feel alive. He tells Martini
when he teaches him to fish that he is not a loony but a fisherman.
In addition, the World Series take on pivotal importance in McMurphy’s
battle for life against Nurse Ratched: the baseball games symbolize
unity, as the ball players work as a team, and also, as a distinctly
American pastime, echo the antiauthoritarian strain in American
history.
The Rebel As Savior
Repeated references to Jesus draw attention to McMurphy’s
role as a life-giving savior. The men follow him as disciples. When
he is exasperated, McMurphy frequently invokes Jesus. He takes the patients
fishing on the sea, in a literal representation of Jesus with his
followers. He performs the “miracles” of getting the Chief to speak
and Billy Bibbit to stop stuttering. He joins the men in the pool,
dunking as if baptized. Because of his rebellion against authority,
he suffers for them on the electroshock table. Finally, he sacrifices
his own flight to freedom to help Billy Bibbit. Sefelt tells legends
about McMurphy’s mythic escape just as the disciples spread word
of Jesus’ resurrection in the Bible. When the Chief kills McMurphy
out of mercy, the scene echoes the death, the tomb, and the resurrection
that leads to eternal life.
Hearing As a Human Connection
Many of the film’s scenes reflect upon the sense of hearing
as a means of understanding and connection among the characters.
The Chief pretends to be deaf in order to withdraw from his surroundings,
but McMurphy talks to him anyway as a means of establishing a human
connection. His affectionate chatter begins to engage the Chief
in life once again. On the other hand, the numbing music that Nurse
Ratched plays is so loud that McMurphy complains he can’t hear himself
think. He tells her the men wouldn’t have to shout if she would
turn the volume down. Nurse Ratched, however, opposes thinking,
understanding, and any other activity that would lead to healthy
human relationships between the patients.
