Full title
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Author Ken Kesey
Type of work
Novel
Genre
Allegorical novel; counterculture novel; protest novel
Language
English
Time and place written
The late 1950s; at Stanford
University in California while Kesey was enrolled in the creative
writing program, working as an orderly in a psychiatric ward, and
participating in experimental LSD trials
Date of first publication
1962
Publisher
Viking Press
Narrator
Chief Bromden, also known as Chief Broom, who tells
the story after he has escaped from the hospital
Point of view
Chief Bromden narrates in the first person. He tells
the story as it appears to him, though his objectivity is somewhat
compromised by the fact that he suffers from paranoia and hallucinations.
His unusual state of mind provides metaphorical insight into the insidious
reality of the hospital as well as society in general. Because he
pretends to be deaf and dumb, he is privy to secret staff information
that is kept from other patients, which makes him a more reliable
narrator than any other patient would be.
Tone
The novel’s tone is critical and allegorical; the
hospital is presented as a metaphor for the oppressive society of
the late 1950s. The novel praises the expression
of sexuality as the ultimate goal and denounces repression as based
on fear and hate. Bromden’s psychedelic and slightly paranoid worldview may
be commensurate with Kesey’s, and McMurphy’s use of mischief and
humor to undermine authority also seems to echo the author’s attitudes.
Tense
Present
Setting (time)
1950s
Setting (place)
A mental hospital in Oregon
Protagonist
Randle P. McMurphy
Major conflict
The patients in the mental ward are cowed and repressed
by the emasculating Nurse Ratched, who represents the oppressive force
of modern society. McMurphy tries to lead them to rebel against
her authority by asserting their individuality and sexuality, while
Nurse Ratched attempts to discredit McMurphy and shame the patients
back into docility.
Rising action
The World Series rebellion; McMurphy’s encounter with
the lifeguard; McMurphy discovering what being committed means; Cheswick’s
death
Climax
McMurphy reasserts himself against Nurse Ratched at
the end of Part II by smashing the glass
window in the Nurses’ Station, signaling that his rebellion is no
longer lighthearted or selfish but committed and violent. McMurphy
takes on the responsibility for rehabilitating the other patients.
Falling action
McMurphy’s decision to return Bromden to his former
strength; the fishing trip and visit to McMurphy’s childhood house,
where Bromden sees his panic and fatigue; McMurphy and Bromden’s fight
with the aides; the electroshock therapy; the ward party and Billy’s
suicide; McMurphy’s violent attack on Nurse Ratched; the lobotomy
Themes
Women as castrators; society’s destruction of natural
impulses; the importance of expressing sexuality; false diagnoses of insanity
Motifs
Invisibility; the power of laughter; real versus imagined
size
Symbols
The fog machine; McMurphy’s boxer shorts; the electroshock therapy
table
Foreshadowing
The story of Maxwell Taber; the electroshock therapy
table shaped like a cross; the deaths of Rawler, Cheswick, and Billy; Bromden’s
dreams and hallucinations
