Overview: Published in 1962, Ken Keseys tragicomic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,

describes the story of how a highly individualistic, rebellious and doomed protagonist, named
McMurphy becomes a patient and for a time overturns the senseless and dehumanizing routines
of the ward.
1. When do we see compliance? When do we see resistance?
When the compliance
McMurphy learns that being committed on the ward is not like the prison sentence he had;
there is no release date. Ratched is jailer, warden, and judge, all in one. In the first meeting
McMurphy and Cheswick work together against Nurse Ratcheds decision to confiscate the
patients cigarettes. In the second meeting, Cheswick is continuing the fight, but McMurphy
backs down. He knows that Nurse Ratched has the power to keep him locked up indefinitely,
so he doesnt stand up for [them] any longer, choosing to conform to the hospitals set of
norms and rules only hoping will be released soon (Kesey 173).
For awhile, McMurphy does conform in order to save himself. However, after Cheswick
commits suicide, he realizes that Nurse Ratcheds control is a life and death matter. At that
point he steps up his rebellion.
When the resistance
1) Throughout the book, McMurphy shows the others in the institution how to stand up for
themselves, to challenge conformity to society and to be who they want to be. McMurphy is
always being himself. He is not trying to please other people or conform to their ideas of how he
should behave. The Chief believes McMurphy is strong because [h]es what he is (Kesey 161).
2)McMurphy succeeds in disrupting the dull routine of Nurse Ratcheds ward. He forms a
basketball team, sleeps late, makes sexual comments to Nurse Ratched, organizes a fishing trip,
writes nonsense in the log, and plays soccer in the day room. His deliberate shattering of the
glass causes Bromden to comment that Ratcheds remote patience wasnt what it used to be
(Kesey 207). After the glass is shattered so many times, it seems as though Ratched is struggling
to maintain her composure.
3) McMurphy breaks the glass window and destroys any chance of winning his release from the
hospital by conforming to Nurse Ratcheds rules. McMurphy knows that to comply with Nurse
Ratched is to give up his own identity. Even if he manages to get released from the hospital,
Nurse Ratched wins. McMurphy does not want to be gutless like the other patients who have
checked themselves into the hospital because they do not have the courage to face Nurse Ratched
and others like her in the world. He decides to fight back. Rather than attack her directly, he ran
his fist through [the window] again breaks a symbol of her authority (Kesey 207). He intrudes
directly into her sacrosanct world, which previously had been separated from the patients by the
daily-polished glass shield.

2. What is the purpose of the compliance / resistance? Why are the compliance / resistance
happening?

Purpose of the compliance

For awhile, McMurphy does conform and [he]s finally getting cagey in order to save himself
(Kesey 174). He realizes that by ending his rebellion and conforming to Ratcheds ways he could
possibly save himself. However, after Cheswick commits suicide, McMurphy realizes that
Nurse Ratcheds control is a life and death matter. He realized By ending his rebellion he has
become complicit with the destructive Combine. At that point he steps up his rebellion.
Resistance purpose
1.) At the beginning this novel presents the reader with a clear line that is drawn between those
who are "sane" and those who are "insane." However, what happens as the novel
progresses, especially with the introduction of McMurphy into the asylum, is that
these supposedly secure and discrete categories become more and more blurred. A
classic example of this was when McMurphy led the patients in to watch the baseball
game, which resulted in Nurse Ratched brashly turning off the TV and forcing all the
patients to [sit] there lined up in front of that blanked-out TV set and she's ranting and
screaming behind [them] (Kesey 144). The inmates are treated like insane vegetables
that cant do anything. When McMurphy led them to assert their will to rebel her petty
attempts to control them, The Nurse strips away their strength, their freedom, and their
masculinity, using tactics such as group meetings to pit the patients against each other.
No one, except for McMurphy seems to be able to stand up to her after being
continually subjected to her dominating will. So strong is her hold on them that even
those that arent committed remain, for them dont have the guts to leave because the
asylum contributing to their illness by destroying their self-worth. (Kesey 195). Nurse
Ratched exacerbates Billy's condition by demeaning him and undermining his
confidence, rather than trying to build it. Keseys hero, McMurphy, is the only person
who dares to challenge The Nurse. By showing his fellow patients how to create their
own standards of sanity, McMurphy leads a bunch of institutionalized robots back
towards their humanity. In the process, he suffers greatly and eventually lays down his
life.
[The novel therefore exposes a messier, blurred version of reality where the various problems that people
have are shown to be, at least in part, created by society and the way they are treated.]

McMurphy is big and tough, a man destined to change the asylum forever. He sure is smart and
he sure is likeable and he sure does give the patients the ability to seize back the power that
Nurse Ratched has stolen from them with her petty little rules and her many small cruelties.
Though McMurphy has the opportunity to conform to the rules and save himself, he ultimately
chooses to fight for the men on the ward.
Punishment with electroshock therapy only serves to strengthen his will and preserve his spirit
from Nurse Ratcheds manipulation. His strength in the face of electroshock therapy makes him
an even more powerful symbol to the men on the ward.

2.)In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, laughter is present to be a very powerful tool helping
McMurphy to step up his rebellion. To counter Nurse Ratcheds techniques, McMurphy provides

a model of rebellion, he uses his full-throttled laugh, comic exaggeration, and absurdist acts to
help the inmates to build their sense of manhood and teach them self-reliance (Kesey 161).
For McMurphy, laughter represents freedom and an escape from Nurse Ratcheds restrictions.
McMurphy fully understands that he has to laugh at the things that hurt [him] just to
keep [him] self in balance (Kesey 250). Laughter also proves to be a vital role not only
in helping the patients deal with their problems but it also gave them the push toward
progress on getting out of the institution. McMurphy seems to have an affinity
for laughter, and most importantly, it radiates to his friends. He is the comic healer
who gives life to the otherwise hopeless patients of the asylum. McMurphy instructs
his disciples that life's miseries are redeemed through laughter, which is depicted as
the ultimate rebellion.
He defies Big Nurse openly, breaks her rules, and wins the admiration of the men, who slowly
begin to join in his acts of defiance.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest presents the compliance vs. resistance as the theme throughout the
novel. Is compliance conformance with society and its norms? Is it psychiatrists job to
reprogram a person to fit better into what may be an unsatisfactory life or is it their
responsibility to guide a person toward self-realization, no matter how that differs from the
norm of the patients environment? The novel itself explores the idea of what it means of the
compliance / resistance and, perhaps most importantly, what is the purpose of the compliance /
resistance (Theme purpose). That is the underlying issue in the novel and even in our society
today.
Quote#1
Kesey makes a deliberate point of challenging the reader to ask themselves what is the purpose of the

compliance / resistance?
Quote#2
Ken Kesey's portrayal of the characters within the psych ward further asks the reader why are the
compliance / resistance happening? The characters in the ward are undeniably damaged or hurting,
But what does it really mean to be insane? The exterior and interior definitions of this concept vary
depending on the society who constructed its meaning. There is neither a single universal idea of insanity
nor an accepted criterion of the evaluation of its condition. It is the majority and the powerful who sets
the rules of normalcy. However, these rules are not always right and are often based on the agreement
of the larger society, in this novel, the mental institution. The individuality of the patients and their nonconformist behaviors locked them up in a prison, only to be made an ideal cuckoo.
McMurphy revitalizes the hope of the patients, fights Nurse Ratched's stranglehold on the ward, and, in a
way, represents the feelings of the author on society at the time.

3. What does this reveal to us about Keseys purpose behind creating the character? In other
words, what is the allegorical nature of your character? Is One Flew Over the Cuckoos
Nest even allegorical?
Allegorical nature of McMurphy: He is a Christ-like figure

1.) McMurphys self-sacrifice on behalf of his ward-mates echoes Christs sacrifice of

himself on the cross to redeem humankind. McMurphys actions frequently parallel
Christs actions in the Gospels. McMurphy undergoes a kind of baptism upon entering
the ward, and he slowly gathers disciples around him as he increases his rebellion against
Ratched. When he takes the group of patients fishing, he is like Christ leading his twelve
disciples to the sea to test their faith. Finally, McMurphys ultimate sacrifice, his attack
on Ratched, combined with the symbolism of the cross-shaped electroshock table and
McMurphys request for a crown of thorns, cements the image of the Christ-like
martyrdom that McMurphy has achieved by sacrificing his freedom and sanity (Kesey
283). He gives up his own mind and life for Bromden, George, Billy, and the others so
that they could have hope, a daring light breaking the austere darkness.
2.) Almost immediately McMurphy becomes a focus of hope for the patients who have
been emasculated by Big Nurse and by their fears of the outside world. [They] were
coming to [him] like [he] was some kind of savior (Kesey 193). Passage after passage
suggests that Kesey envisions McMurphy as a Christ figure who must sacrifice himself to
bring life to the other patients. Punishment with electroshock therapy only serves to
strengthen his will and preserve his spirit from Nurse Ratcheds manipulation. His
strength in the face of electroshock therapy makes him an even more powerful symbol to
the men on the ward.
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is allegorical.
Explanation of the title:
1. The title of the book is clearly allegorical in its intents. The cuckoo's nest is the
hospital and the one who flew over it is McMurphy. The full nursery rhyme from
which the title is taken is quoted in part 4 by the Chief, as he remembers his childhood
while awaking from a shock treatment. The rhyme was part of a childhood game
played with him by his Indian grandmother:
2. McMurphy is symbolized as the typical individual, while Big Nurse Ratched is symbolized as
a member of the system, or the Combine. Bromden narrates that McMurphy doesnt
realized that he was onto a long time backthe nation-wide Combine that's the really big
force, and the nurse is just a high-ranking official for them" (Kesey 192). Chief pointed out
that the enemy McMurphy fights is society and the artificial complex, which is the
nation-wide Combine.

3.Fog (P7/42/88/113/128/130/131)

The fog that constantly surrounds Chief and the patients on the ward is, Chief claims, "made" by
Nurse Ratched. Because we know that Chief is schizophrenic and sees things that are not literally
there, we recognize that the fog may be medicinally induced and is a fog of the mind rather than
a literal fog. It keeps the patients from rising up in rebellion against Nurse Ratched, but it also
keeps them satisfied with their lives and prevents them from ever thinking about anything real. It
both helps them to live this way and prevents them from ever trying to improve their life
situation. As Chief says, the men hide behind the fog because it is comfortable.
Fog is a phenomenon that clouds our vision of the world. In this novel, fogs symbolize a lack of
insight and an escape from reality. When Bromden starts to slip away from reality, because of his
medication or out of fear, he hallucinates fog drifting into the ward. He imagines that there are
hidden fog machines in the vents and that they are controlled by the staff. Although it can be
frightening at times, Bromden considers the fog to be a safe place; he can hide in it and ignore
reality. Beyond what it means for Bromden, the fog represents the state of mind that Ratched
imposes on the patients with her strict, mind-numbing routines and humiliating treatment. When
McMurphy arrives, he drags all the patients out of the fog.
4.The Electroshock Therapy Table (p9/16/69/132/178/189/197)

The electroshock therapy table is explicitly associated with crucifixion. It is shaped like a cross,
with straps across the wrists and over the head. Moreover, the table performs a function similar
to the public crucifixions of Roman times. Ellis, Ruckly, and TaberAcutes whose lives were
destroyed by electroshock therapyserve as public examples of what happens to those who
rebel against the ruling powers. Ellis makes the reference explicit: he is actually nailed to the
wall. This foreshadows that McMurphy, who is associated with Christ images, will be sacrificed.
With this famous portrait of a mental institute, its rebellious patients and domineering caretakers,
Kesey is asking us to stop and consider how what we call "normal" is forced upon each and
every one of us.
On a broader level, the insane asylum is a microcosm, a representative small world reflecting a
macrocosmic conflict between the individual and society, freedom and restraint and nature
and technology.
Ken Kesey's One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is a multidimensional novel with many
important messages in which Kesey strives to relay to the readers. Kesey did not write this novel
for the sole purpose of entertainment, even though it was very entertaining, but did write it with
the intent to show the readers many realities of life. First of all Kesey shows in this book that
how people are perceived in society may not really be how that person is and that things are
sometimes different than what they seem....