In "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" there is one pair of foils which makes up the entire plot; that is McMurphy and Ratched. McMurphy is a convict who got himself sent to the mental hospital to get out of prison work, and Ratched, or Nurse Ratched, is the head nurse in the ward where McMurphy was sent. Ratched brings out McMurphy's disdain of authority, his fun and outgoing nature, as well as his treatment of the patients as human beings. McMurphy brings out Ratched's rigidity, her resistance to change, her lack of respect for the patients, and her manipulative nature.
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