 | Healing
 | Mac "cures" the Chief's
"deafness" with a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. |
|
| Institutional
Evil
| Nurse Ratched as the embodiment of the evil
inherent in The Establishment, robbing others of humanity by their
own complicity. |
|
| Judas figure
| Billy betrays McMurphy out of Billy's own fear and
then kills self. |
|
| Liberation
| The escape from the mental institution to go on a
fishing trip. (ch 14-15) |
| The Chief's escape at the end of the movie. |
|
| Rebirth/New Life
| In the concluding sequence, it is
obvious that McMurphy has empowered at least one of his disciples to
do what was once unthinkable. "Chief" hurls a limestone
bathroom fixture through the window and escapes the hospital,
personifying a resurrection similar to that of the closing scene in Cool
Hand Luke. ("The
Messianic Figure in Film: Christology Beyond the Biblical
Epic," Matthew Mc Ever, Journal of Religion and Film,
1998) |
|
| Resurrection
| The final scene's broken window as an "empty
tomb" image. |
|
