One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

'"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was written by Ken Kesey. Kesey spent some time working in a mental institution where he got his ideas for this novel that was published in 1962. The novel was a huge success and was later made into a play and movie that Jack Nicholson starred in.'==NOTES==



Author Biographical Information
'The author, Ken Kesey, was born in 1935 in LaJunta Colorado. After graduating from the University of Oregon; he went on to Stanford. He was working on a book and because he was broke he became a test subject for new drugs. He took all kinds of mind altering drugs like LSD and mescaline. He then worked at a mental institution and that is where he got the ideas for this book. The book was a huge success. It was made into a play and also into a very successful movie that Jack Nicholson starred in. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was his first published novel. ==NOTES==

Setting: Historical Information
The story takes place in a mental institution in Menio Park in the 1950's during a time when electric shock treatments and lobatomy was a common practice to treat or control mental patients.==NOTES==

Genre
'Allegorical Novel or Protest Novel. Characteristics of the genre: The patients in the mental institution were doing things to protest the way they were being treated when McMurphy joined the group. The patients followed his lead instead of just following Ratched's rules regardless of how they felt because they were afraid of what she would do to them. An example of that is when Nurse Ratched refused to let them watch the world series; the patients sat in front of the television pretending to be watching the game.'==NOTES==

Plot Summary
The story takes place in a mental institution. The narrator of the story, Mr. Bromden, is a patient in the hospital. He is a really tall, half- Indian who the people at the hospital think is deaf and dumb. He pretends to be that way so that people there will leave him alone a lot and they do. The orderlies call him cheif Broom and they make him mop the floor. They talk about him and other things in front of him because they don't think he can hear anything. They talk about having sex with him and laugh. Miss Ratched is in charge of the ward. Bromden calls her Big Nurse. She is a big woman that will send you to seclusion or shock therapy if you act out. She can also send you for a lobotamy if you don't comply. The patients were in the day room because that is what they do most of the time. They sit and work puzzles. They heard someone being admitted, but it didn't sound like a typical patient. This guy was loud and he told them he didn't need a shower. He came out into the day room and introduced hisself as R.P. McMurphy. He was grinning and told them the other patients that he liked to gamble. The patients didn't know what to think about him. The staff really didn't know what to think of him either. He actually showed emotions that non of them showed, but he wasn't ordinary. He was not really crazy like the others. He was sent there from the work farm to be evaluated. The patients had to go to group sessions and they were awful. He changed things in the ward. He asked if the patients could watch the world series and when Ratched refused to turn the T.V. on he and the other patients sat in front of the T.V. pretending to be watching the game. Ratched was furious. He got the others on the ward to gamble with him when playing cards. They gambled for cigarettes. He got a basketball team going with the patients. He got a fishing trip to the ocean together also with the help of the doctor. The trip included women or whores as McMurphy called them. There was beer to drink on the trip. They were almost like regular people while on the outing. After that McMurphy even snuck whores into the ward. There was a lot of drinking going on. All of this was done with the Big Nurse Ratched fighting against him and the other patients. She did everything she could to hurt them. When Ratched caught one of the patients named Bibbett with a whore; she caused him to commit suicide because she told him she was going to tell his mother about the incident. McMurphy attacked Ratched and ripped off her shirt and was choking her. He hurt her, but she survived. He was taken out of the ward and no one knew what they had done to him. Ratched came back bruised up and assured them that he would be back. The doctor had to resign. After three weeks, McMurphy was wheeled into the ward on a gurney that had lobotamy written on it. His good friend, Bromden couldn't stand to see McMurphy like that. He smothered him to death with his pillow. Bromden escaped from the mental hospital that night after breaking out a window in the tub room. He had gotten the idea of how to escape from McMurphy. He got away. He was free.==NOTES==

Characters

 * Mr. Bromden - Mr. Bromden's role in the story is narrator and he is a patient in the mental hospital. He labels himself as a Chronic which is someone that can't be fixed. Significance-He is one of the most important characters in the book besides McMurphy and Nurse Ratched. He pretends to be deaf and dumb and they believe that he is. He changes when McMurphy comes to the hospital. He winds up smothering his friend and escaping to freedom. An adjective to describe him would be: good, tall, quiet.==NOTES==
 * R.P. McMurphy- McMurphy's role in the story is he is a new patient at the mental hospital. He came there to be evaluated from the work farm. Significance-McMurphy is not crazy like the others in the ward. He brings excitement and change as he gets the patients to gamble and other things that challenge Nurse Ratched's authority. He organizes bingo parties and has the patients playing basketball. He organized a fishing trip to the coast. He talked the doctor into ordering Playboy and other different magazines instead of the boring ones they had there. He grins and talks loudly. He seems to have emotions like non of the other patients show. Nurse Ratched hates him because he doesn't want to comply with her rules and has the others in the ward involved. During the whole story there is a battle of wits between McMurphy and Ratched. Unfortunately, Ratched wins in the end and McMurphy is given a lobotamy. Adjectives: wild, fun, exciting, loud, strong..==NOTES==
 * Billy Bibbet - Bibbet's role in the story is that he is a younger guy who is very shy. Significance-He stutters really bad and during group meetings is badgered by Nurse Ratched about women in his life. He has a hard time talking to women. McMurphy gets some whores to come to the hospital and after being caught with one of them; Billy commits suicide because Ratched told him she was going to tell his mother what he had done. An adjective to describe him: shy, timid.==NOTES==
 * Nurse Ratched-Ratched's role in the story was that she was the head nurse on the ward at a mental hospital. Significance-Ratched was a cruel and controlling woman that the patients in the ward feared. They knew if they did not comply to her rules that she would make their life worse than it was. Nurse Ratched had a power struggle with McMurphy from the time he arrived at the hospital. He was the patient's hero. They were changing and questioning her authority and that was something she could not tolerate. Adjectives to describe her are: cruel, cold, controlling.==NOTES==
 * Mr. Harding- Harding's role in the story was that he was a patient in the mental hospital. Significance-He was or had once been pretty smart. You can tell by the way he talked. He was married and talked about his wife and the fact that he thought she had gone out on him at the group meetings a lot. Harding eventually started regaining his strength and personality because of McMurphy. He actually checked himself out of the hospital in the end.Adjectives to describe him are: smart, and scared.==NOTES==
 * Mr. Cheswick-Cheswick's role in the story was that he was a patient in the mental hospital ward. Significance-He was a real nervous acting guy. He talked a lot and he began to side with McMurphy right off to bat. Cheswick drowned in the pool at the hospital.Adjectives to describe him are nervous and rambler.==NOTES==
 * Candy Starr-Candy's role in the story was that she was one of McMurphy's whores. Significance-He called her an old friend and when he called her she showed up. She went on the fishing trip with them and she also snuck in the hospital. She was pretty, but she was wild. She had sex with Bibbet.Adjectives to describe her are wild and pretty.==NOTES==

Author's Style
'The author writes using a narrator, Mr. Bromden, who is a patient in a mental hospital. The patient's telling the story as it happened or as he remembers it and it is sometimes a little confused because of the pills they give him or the shock treatments he receives. An example of that is when they were shaving Mr. Bromden and he said, "They start the fog machine again and it's snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they don't have a hold of me."==NOTES==

Setting
The story takes place during the 1950's in a mental hospital. The ward where Bromden is kept is run by a controlling nurse named Ratched. Bromden tells the story as he remembers it. He tells a story of a scary, miserable place that he struggles to survive in by pretending to be deaf and dumb. The people there talk in front of him about things because they think that he can't hear them. During this era of time, mental patients were subjected to shock treatments that were thought to cure their mental problems. They also gave patients lobotomys which actually took their personality away from them and left them without emotions. The other main characters in the book were the other patients in the ward. They had to obey Nurse Ratched and she had them afraid to question her authority until McMurphy arrived there. He was sent to the mental hospital from the work farm. He brought life back into the patients. His behavior and attitude scared them at first, but then they looked up to him. He had the guys gambling, drinking, and playing basketball. McMurphy even snuck liquor and whores into the hospital. The only change in scenery was when McMurphy got a fishing trip together for the patients. When the patients returned to the hospital, Ratched was even more determined to get McMurphy. She hated how he was affecting the patients she had under her thumb until he came. The constant battle between McMurphy and Ratched ended finally with McMurphy dead and Bromden escaping to freedom. He had regained his courage to live again.==NOTES==

Themes

 * Theme One - Insanity-Throughout the book; I kept thinking that if the patients weren't crazy that they would be soon because of the way they were treated and medicated. Nurse Ratched badgered them in these group meetings all the time. She liked to humiliate them in front of the group. They were medicated also and I think that kept them confused a little. Then if the patients questioned or disagreed with Ratched they were sent to get shock treatments and those treatments destroyed their memory making them seem even more crazy. They were always in fear of what would happen to them if Ratched got it in for them. Bromden wanted them to think he was deaf and dumb so they would leave him alone more. He said in the beginning of the book that he wanted to walk by the orderlies without being seen. If you were really crazy would you have those thoughts? McMurphy wasn't crazy; at least in the beginning of the book. He came in grinning and laughing. He was loud and wanted to do things that weren't usually done there and because Ratched did not want to loose the total control she was used to having there was constant conflict between them. Sadly, in the end, McMurphy was given a lobotomy and his mind was ruined. The affect that McMurphy's sanity had on all the patients made such a difference. They began to stand up for themselves and Bromden got his courage back to live. It makes you wonder if they were crazy or drugged and tormented. Maybe they were just full of fear.==NOTES==
 * Theme Two-Control-The men were under Nurse Ratched's control. She was cruel and the men in the ward were afraid of what would happen to them if they questioned her authority. She intimidated them by telling them examples of people who had questioned her in the past. She had the power to make their lives even more miserable than they were now. They had basically lost their self-esteem until McMurphy came to the hospital. When he was placed in the ward the patients began to change and then there was a power struggle between McMurphy and Ratched throughout the book. Two of the patients ended up dying because of the battle between them and eventually McMurphy died too.==NOTES==

Symbols
The fog is a symbol that illustrates how the patients in the mental hospital go in and out of reality; either by medication or by insanity.==NOTES==

A symbol of power is the medication and treatments that the patients are forced to take if they question the nurse.==NOTES==

Significance of the Opening/Closing Scenes
In the opening of the novel; Bromden is walking down the corridor trying to avoid being seen by the black orderlies that are standing around. He tells us how they talk about things in front of him because they think he is deaf and dumb. He talks about the hatred they feel for the job and some of the awful things they say. Then Ratched comes through the door and he knows it's her by the sound of the key turning. He describes the Big Nurse as he calls her and the feeling of the mental institution he is in. The opening really gives you a feeling of this dark, miserable place that these poor patients are trapped in. There is a feeling of helplessness. They obey the rules because they are afraid not to.==NOTES==

McMurphy had brought life back to the patients in the ward. They smiled and laughed again. When Bibbet committed suicide and McMurphy attacked Nurse Ratched; he sealed his fate. She sent him for a lobotomy and he was mentally gone. Bromden couldn't stand to see him like that so he smothered him to death. He could not let Ratched win. Bromden got his courage back. He escaped and started living again.==NOTES==

Memorable Quotes
"When the fog clears to where I can see, I'm sitting in the day room. They didn't take me to the Shock Shop this time."==NOTES== The significance of that is that Bromden is constantly going in and out of a fog. It is the drugs that they are giving him. If you aren't crazy when you get there; you will be soon.

"Most days I'm the first one to see the Admission, watch him creep in the door and slide along the wall and stand scared till the black boys come sign for him and take him into the shower room, where they strip him and leave him shivering with the door open while they all three run grinning up and down the halls looking for the Vaseline."==NOTES== The significance of this quote is that it shows how the patients were raped by the orderlies working at the hospital. The patients were mistreated there all the time, but were drugged or shocked and helpless.

"Which one of you claims to be the craziest? Which one is the biggest looney? Who runs the card games? Its my first day, and what I like to do is make a good impression straight off on the right man. Who's the bull goose looney here?==NOTES== The significance of this quote is that McMurphy goes into this mental hospital and makes the patients really uneasy. He is not acting like everyone else does there and they are beginning to like it even though it scares them a little.

"The hell with that; she's a bitch and a buzzard and a ball-cutter, and don't kid me, you know what I'm talking about."==NOTES== The significance of this quote is that McMurphy tells it like it is. All of the patients fear the nurse because she is heartless and cruel to them. This quote shows the hatred they have for Ratched.

"No my friend. We are lunatics from the hospital up the highway, psycho-ceramics, the cracked pots of mankind. Would you like me to decipher a Rorschach for you? No? You must hurry on? Ah, he's gone. Pity."==NOTES== The significance of this quote is that Harding answered when a man asked them if they were in a club because they all wore green uniforms. This shows how all the patients have changed since McMurphy had been around them. They had become much more normal and able to see humor in things.

==Stylistic Prose== 1.) Point of View-The narrator of the book was Bromden. He is a patient in the mental hospital where the story takes place. He tells the story as he saw things when he was a patient so at times it gets kind of confusing. He goes in and out of fog.==NOTES==

2.) Symbolism-The fog is a symbol in the novel. Bromden thinks that its a fog but we know it is the medication he takes or the fact that he really is crazy and he comes in and out of reality.==NOTES==

3.) Tone-The tone is a feeling of helplessness that the patients feel. You feel sorry for them and also feel hatred for Nurse Ratched and her co-workers because of the way they treat the patients.==NOTES==

4.) Flashback-Sometimes when Bromden was telling the story, it was flashbacks of the way he felt when things happened in the past.==NOTES==

5.) Mood-The mood was a feeling of empathy for the patients in the hospital and a feeling of hatred for the workers there, especially Nurse Ratched who was a cruel woman. The mood changed when McMurphy arrived at the hospital and there was conflict going on between the patients and the staff. The patients seemed to regain their personalities and strength with McMurphy around.==NOTES==