One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The title, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, which echoes a children's song (“One flew east, one flew west, one flew over the cuckoo's nest”), puns cleverly on a variety of themes covered in the book: the sadness of the “cuckoos” confined in insane asylum, the freedom enjoyed by the geese far above the nest, and the sterility of the nest itself (Leeds, 75). Kesey's novel can be read at many levels (Kesey, 15). It is a tall tale about a conflict of wills and a social tract attacking the medieval and inhumane treatment of mental patients and calling for reform (Carnes, 52). On a broader level, it is a microcosm, with the insane asylum a representative small world reflecting a macrocosmic conflict between the individual and society, freedom and restraint, nature and technology.

Former Marine McMurphy had experienced the horrors of brainwashing in a Red Chinese prison camp, only to be exposed to the same process on home grounds. His battle with Big Nurse and, by extension, the Combine, is against all systems that try to narrow and limit human nature. Big Nurse is precise, efficient, and machine-like (the values of pragmatic technology), while McMurphy is associated with wild geese and other elements of nature (Leeds, 76).

Form and Content

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is a tragic yet inspirational account of one man's self-sacrifice in a struggle against hypocrisy and oppression (Kesey, 16). Set on a ward of a mental hospital in Oregon, the novel depicts characters who could be found in many settings and a conflict between authoritarianism and individualism that is truly universal.

Ken Kesey tells the story through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a longtime patient who is uniquely knowledgeable about hospital routines and procedures and privy to staff secrets. As important as what Chief knows is what he does not know; he can only infer Randle McMurphy's motives, a process of discovery that gives the novel its focus (Carnes, 53). A paranoid schizophrenic, Bromden reports his hallucinations faithfully; while they cannot be taken literally, they do make sense. As Chief says, his story is “the truth, even if it didn't happen.”

The action begins when McMurphy is admitted to Nurse Ratched's ward for observation. Authorities at the prison farm where he had been a convict are not sure whether he is a psychopath or merely a malingerer (Leeds, 77). On the ward, McMurphy proves himself to be a master manipulator, hustling his fellow patients in card games and persistently challenging the authority of Nurse Ratched (Kesey, 17). The patients quickly accept him as a leader and begin to see him as their champion. Nurse Ratched is infuriated by this challenge to her authority, but she bides her time. McMurphy finds out that because he has been officially committed, Nurse Ratched and the hospital staff control his release, and he becomes more prudent and conformist. Nurse Ratched appears to have won, and McMurphy's fellow patients understand and regretfully accept the change in ...