OFOTCN #2

Nurse Ratched's name describes her personality perfectly. Nowadays, Ratched means 'bad' or nasty. Ratched is how Mr. Bromden describes her. She is a heartless, cold, emotionless woman who refuses to show anyone her soft-side. The word ratched also means (from encyclopedia.com) "Mechanical device that transmits intermittent motion or permits a shaft to rotate in one direction but not in the opposite one." The Big Nurse refuses to loosen up and let anyone unmask her hard outer shell. Bromden often describes her as mechanical and uses 'transmition' as a metaphor for her 'control' over the patients and her employees.