Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "A man can be destroyed but not defeated." There is indeed much to be said for this statement, as it can be taken to mean many things. Initial impressions are that Hemingway is speaking of personal honour, and how no man can have his honour taken away from him forcefully. No matter how great the suffering, or how undignified the death, the very nature of honour is that it is something …showed first 75 words of 1219 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1219 total…he had given them the taste of a normal life. He had made them feel like real people, not waste products of society. This is what gave them the courage and the inspiration to finally face the outside world, and carry on with a normal life. Kesey portays this brilliantly, and as readers we feel as inspired as the paitents themselves. While McMurphy may have been destroyed, his victory was of a grand scale indeed.