setting

• s para 1

  “White walls and white basins...not any shadows” This represents how the ward is sterile, lifeless, boring, and emotionless and as it has no shadows makes it feel like there is nowhere to hide and makes the patients feel like they are alone.
• s para 1

  The Chronics “are machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired” This repeated imagery of a machine shows that the ward is divided which further isolates the patients from each other and shows how they’re oppressed and made to conform to the hospitals wants. In this case it shows how just like society they're separating people into groups and how its outcasts individuals who aren’t made in the image they would believe to be normal
• s para 1


  symbolises how society rejects those who do not fit and turns them into people who do “like a hatch of identical insects” this simile shows how the setting of the hospital is what acts as a combine and produces identical people into society and aims to fix them to their ideal image. This shows how the through the setting Kesey shows the oppression of the patients as they are seen as broken and are made to seem less and outcasts to society. 
• s para 2

  “precision-made machine” This word choice shows like the setting she is there to fix and make the patients construct to society and is part of making the hospital efficient and running the machine efficiently this robotic word choice also shows how the nurse may make the setting scary as it portrays her without human qualities.
• s para 2

  “as big as a truck " This simile shows she is an oppressive, all-knowing authority that the patients think they can’t beat her as she is so big this shows how she adds to the idea of oppression, and she is who acts as the oppressor to the patients and makes the ward a cruel place.
• s para 2

  ball-cutter "This metaphor shows how the nurse is seen as emasculating the patients and adds to the setting as making it scary
• s para 2

  The imagery of a machine-like setting is brought up again through the nurses’ character as her name “ratched” is similar to a ‘ratchet’ which is a mechanical tool. This adds to the setting as her machine-like qualities add to the idea of the ward being a combine and a cold place that the patients are afraid of and how the nurse builds it to be an efficient machine. 
• s para 3

  The Chief believes “fog” is being rolled in through the vents by the staff although he feels safe hiding in it. The fog represents how the nurse has control over the patients as the patients use it to hide from her as they fear her and shows how they have a troubled state of mind.
• s para 3

  “coming out of the fog” and “dragging the men up by their hands” We see McMurphy manages to take away some of the fear of the setting of the hospital and helps the patients and represents the idea of freedom find themselves and no longer hide in the fog
• s para 3

  “clear” again showing the McMurphy has changed the setting making it feel more safe for the patients although in the end of the novel McMurphy makes the ultimate sacrifice for them and his death represents how together have defeated the ward as they didn’t let McMurphy remain as an example but let him be free showing they stood up to the oppression and how the settings vibe has now changed to feel less full of fear into somewhere where they feel they can have a voice again and have taken back power.