The Power of Manipulation is a very powerful tool and can easily be misused to benefit the person using it, while harming the people who suffer its effects. If left unchecked, a large group can be controlled by one person. Much of this manipulation has been seen by nations seeking to control the population, such as in Germany during World War II, in order to maintain an illusion. The manipulation used by Nurse Ratched and McMurphy in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is primarily used for their own benefit, while harming other patients. This causes harmful events that later affect other patients. Nurse Ratched gains much of her power through manipulation of downstream patients. One of the tactics it uses is to leak personal patent information. While group therapy sessions are supposed to get patients' problems out in the open so others can help, everyone turns into a "flock of chickens at a peck party." (Kesey 57) The nurse manipulates the patients by forcing them to give up many of their personal secrets. They do this because of the fear Nurse Ratched developed over their own years living in the ward. This is counterproductive to the recovery of patients on the ward to a normal life outside the ward. Instead, the information is used to keep patients under his complete control by taking away their sense of power and, ultimately, their own manhood. A direct consequence of this maneuver was the loss of control of old Pete who, after repeatedly exclaiming "I'm tired" (Kesey 51), finally hit one of the black boys who tried to take him away. in bed. Also attached to middle of paper ......r to increase their own respective position in the room in several ways. McMurphy seeks to improve his financial situation, while Nurse Ratched seeks to impose her totalitarian domination on the ward. Their actions against each other have negative consequences on other patients in the department. As many lose part of their savings, others feel the nurse's growing strain as more drastic measures are taken to control patients. One of these methods even leads to the death of a patient. This leads to the assumption that Nurse Ratched and McMurphy are not acting entirely in the patient's best interests and that each of them is committed to acting in their own benefit, above all else. Works Cited Kesey, Ken. One of them flew over a cuckoo's nest. New York: Signet, 1962. Print.