Cuckoo's Nest Part Two

As I continued to read the book, I have slowly began to develop a theory about how Keesey wanted to portray the women in his book. All of the women so far in the book are meant to be feared. Nurse Ratched is said to be a beautiful women, but she also emasculates all of the men in the ward. All of the women mentioned in the book are said to have destroyed relationships with the men in the ward. For example, Chief Broom's mother supposedly constantly put him and his father down, and built her self up to be better than the men in their family. Chief Brooms mother prevents him from developing into the strong masculine man he is supposed to be. The hospital, run by women, treats only male patients, showing how women have the ability to emasculate even the most masculine of men. Emasculation and castration are one of the major themes in the book, and Keesey wanted to make them known, and also the power that women have over the two. He is trying to say that both topics are somewhat the same. Both emasculation and castration remove a man's individuality, freedom, and ability for sexual expression. Kesey portrays these two things as symbolically the same.