One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

Short Summary Just read this One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest takes place in a mental institution in the Pacific Northwest. The narrator of the novel is Chief Bromden, called Chief Broom, a huge man whom all of the inmates and staff assume is deaf and dumb. Bromden often suffers from hallucinations during which he feels the room filling with a dense, overwhelming fog generated by a huge mechanized matrix called The Combine which controls everyone in its grasp. The institution is dominated by Nurse Ratched (Big Nurse), a cold, precise woman with calculated gestures and a calm, mechanical manner. When the story begins, a new patient, Randall Patrick Mc. Murphy, arrives at the ward. He has just come from a work farm at Pendleton as part of his sentence for statutory rape. He clearly is completely sane and lucid, at the hospital only to avoid the work detail. Ratched immediately pegs Mc. Murphy as a manipulator.

Take notes on this Major Themes / Ideas / Symbols Rebellion Against Authority (Individualism) Vs. Conformism Repression vs. Sexual Freedom: The conflict is represented by the war between Mc. Murphy (freewheeling, instinctive, "natural" sexual freedom) and Nurse Ratched (clamped-down sexual mores). Roles of Women (novel criticized for being sexist)— will we agree?

Take notes on this Major Themes / Ideas / Symbols cont’d *Independence vs. Acquiescence: Throughout the novel, we consistently root for the inmates to find freedom, either through a mass escape or by overthrowing the regime and winning a new order in the institution. *Race Relations (novel criticized for being racist)— will we agree?

Take notes on this Major Themes / Ideas / Symbols cont’d • • Self-Interest vs. Altruism: Mc. Murphy’s character is worth considering in comparing the drives for altruism and self-interest. Does he act primarily for himself or others? Mind vs. Matter: Kesey’s novel illuminates some ways that people imprison themselves psychosomatically, using the mind to trap the body.

Take notes on this Major Themes / Ideas / Symbols cont’d * Fear vs. Experience: The inmates tend to be prisoners of their own fear. Kesey suggests that modern society, represented by Nurse Ratched’s institution, preys on fear, and that authoritarian, repressive regimes, whether in the government, the home, or the workplace, rely on fear to control individuals.

Take notes on this Major Themes / Ideas / Symbols cont’d Christian Symbolism Bird Symbolism (Cuckoos and others) Machines (central metaphor for society/ government/authority in the novel)

Take notes on this Title Significance: Cuckoos • solitary birds • they don’t build their own nests • • • the females lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and often kick out the host bird’s eggs or her chicks when they are born the “moms” leave their eggs in the other bird’s nest so the chicks must be fed by the host bird the babies are often larger than the selected host, thus essentially intimidating the host to feed them

The Nursery Rhyme Just read this Tingle, tangle, tremble toes, she’s a good fisherman, catches hens, puts ‘em inna pens…wire blier, limber lock, three geese inna flock…one flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo’s nest…O-U-T spells out…goose swoops down and plucks you out.

Just read this As you read Consider… • • • how each of themes is developed how the details about the life of Cuckoos relates to the novel who the characters in the rhyme relate to in the novel.

Guide to Pages in Different Novels Part I Change the page numbers on the study guide according to which book you selected Signet w/ Logo (smallest book) Signet w/ Yellow Background Big Blue Book 9 -28 3 -26 3 -22 29 -53 27 -55 22 -47 53 -77 55 -84 47 -72 78 -101 85 -113 72 -97 102 -128 114 -145 97 -122

Guide to Pages in Different Novels Parts II & III Signet w/ Logo (smallest book) Signet w/ Yellow Background Part II Big Blue Book 129 -151 149 -175 125 -147 152 -173 176 -201 147 -167 Part III 174 -195 205 -230 171 -193 195 -218 230 -258 193 -218

Guide to Pages in Different Novels Part IV Signet w/ Logo (smallest book) Signet w/ Yellow Background Big Blue Book 219 -241 261 -288 221 -245 242 -259 289 -309 245 -263 260 -End 310 -End 264 -End