ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

1. Create a Web site to introduce One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to other readers. Design pages to intrigue and inform your audience, and invite other readers to post their thoughts and responses to their reading of the novel. 2. Choose a scene from the novel and dramatize it […]

Read more Study Help Practice Projects

1. How does the depiction of lobotomies and electroshock therapy differ in other works of literature and film? 2. Read Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Relate how the characters of Randle Patrick McMurphy and Chief Bromden resemble the real-life Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady. 3. Compare and contrast […]

Read more Study Help Essay Questions

Brain Burning a reference to the effects of electroshock and a parody of the title of one of William Faulkner’s more famous short stories, “Barn Burning.” bull goose loony an oxymoron. A bull indicates masculine qualities while a goose indicates feminine. A loony, of course, is someone not entirely in […]

Read more Study Help Full Glossary for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Introduction The character of Randle Patrick McMurphy shares many similarities with other cinematic figures of the past 50 years. A trip to your local video store or library where many of these videos are readily available will serve to elucidate the themes of rebellion against repression found in One Flew […]

Read more Critical Essays McMurphy’s Cinematic Brothers in Rebellion

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest features many allusions and references to Christian religion. Most obvious is McMurphy’s martyrdom at the novel’s climax. But this incident is foreshadowed throughout the novel with a series of direct references to events recounted in the New Testament. While McMurphy’s actions and attitudes are […]

Read more Critical Essays McMurphy as Comic Book Christ

While retaining many of the novel’s themes and motifs, the filmed version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest differs in several significant ways. The film, released in 1975, won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Best Screenplay Adapted from Other Material (Lawrence […]

Read more Critical Essays One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: The Film and the Novel

The female characters in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest can be divided into two extreme categories: “ball-cutters” and whores. The former is represented by Nurse Ratched, Harding’s wife, Billy Bibbit’s mother, and Chief Bromden’s mother. Each of these women are intent on dominating men by emasculating them, whereas the […]

Read more Critical Essays The Role of Women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Personal Background Ken Kesey most often is characterized as the literary figure who bridged the Beat movement of the 1950s with the 1960s counterculture. This reputation springs from his literary themes of rebellion against societally imposed repression, which links him with the Beats, and his personal experiences as a volunteer […]

Read more Ken Kesey Biography

Because of the virginity he retains until he is more than 30 years old, Bibbit is perhaps the most repressed member of the group. His mother employs Oedipal tactics to keep Bibbit attached to her. This woman also maintains a close relationship with Nurse Ratched, a relationship crucial to the […]

Read more Character Analysis Billy Bibbit

An intelligent, educated, and effeminate man, Harding is initially set up as McMurphy’s foil. He exists totally within the realm of his mind whereas McMurphy represents a natural man. Harding chooses to lead his life as an individual repressing his homosexual urges while suffering the humiliation of never fully pleasing […]

Read more Character Analysis Dale Harding