1. The book One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey is told in first person by the main character, Chief. Chief is six foot and seven inches tall but is hardly noticed because he pretends to be both death and mute. He was been living in a mental hospital for as long as he can remember and suffers from hallucinations and visions. Chief depicts the hospital as cold and lifeless and in his head despises head Nurse Ratched, blaming her for the uncomfortable atmosphere. Life in the hospital is relatively uneventful until a new boisterous, loudmouth red headed patient named McMurphy is admitted. McMurphy causes chaos in the usually orderly ward by challenging rules and refusing to bend to Nurse Ratched’s will. McMurphy manages to keep his spirits high in the dank environment and rallies the patients to stand up for their rights. McMurphy encourages the patients to defy the nurse by urging them to speak their complaints at meetings and including them in his numerous schemes. The bulk of the story consists of the Nurse and McMurphy going back and forth in a battle of indomitable wills. The story reaches a climax when the Nurse finds McMurphy has smuggled in a prostitute for Billy, a patient,to have sex with. Billy goes out of control and kills himself and at that point McMurphy attacks Nurse Ratched. In response to this attack the Nurse sends McMurphy to surgery room to get lobotomized which means part of his brain gets taken out. McMurphy returns to the ward but he is flat and mindless and can’t perform many tasks on his own. Chief then suffocates him one night because he knows McMurphy would rather die than live the rest of his life as a vegetable. By disabling McMurphy the Nurse showed the hospital that she had lost the battle of wills and “cheated” in a way. Much of the ward becomes more confident and either check themselves out of the hospital or transfer.
2. I found the theme of the novel to not conform to society‘s will. McMurphy came into such a stable, immaculate, sterilized environment and managed to maintain his dignity and determination. He proved to other patients that they had the ability to stand up for themselves and not listen to everything the Nurse said. He gave many patients a voice and a will to fight back the Nurse’s tyrannical rule that had plagued the ward for so long. McMurphy especially inspired Chief to become the man he once was and not submit to authority.
3. The tone of this story is metaphorically critical. On a smaller scale, the ward is meant to symbolize society as a whole. The Nurse and her helpers can be seen as the government trying to mold society into submission. The author constantly uses negative language and descriptions to depict the attitude and personalities of the staff which obviously gives off a critical feeling. The author is calling to action people in society to stand up and realize they do have power if they all work together.
McMurphy: “Which one of you nuts has got any guts?”
“All I know is this: nobody's very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.”
― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
“If you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do, or into just being mule-stubborn and doing the opposite out of spite.”
―
Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
4. Narrator point of view: The first person point of view of the novel offers insight to what/how the patients are actually feeling. The author is able to easily express Chiefs opinions and thoughts through almost every sentence.
“Like a cartoon world, where the figures are flat and outlined in black, jerking through some kind of goofy story that might be real funny if it weren't for the cartoon figures being real guys... ”
Dark Humor: The author consistently is making off hand jokes whether it be through the Chief’s narration or McMurphy’s dialogue. This adds to Kesey’s satirical representation of society.
“Why, I’ve never seen anything to beat the change in Maxwell Taber since
he’s got back from that hospital; a little back and blue around the eyes, a little
weight loss, and you know what? He’s a new man. Gad, modern American
science . . .”
Metaphor: McMurphy used a variety of metaphors in his often bombastic language and in perhaps the most memorable example he compares the patients of the ward to chickens at a pecking party.
"Bunch of chickens at a peckin' party."
Symbolism: Symbolism is strewn throughout the novel through things even as common as laughter. Chief recognizes that nobody in the ward laughs the way McMurphy does and accredits it too his determination to be unbreakable. Laughter symbolized strength.
Foreshadow: The multiple encounters with McMurphy and the Nurse caused the tension between them to rise and rise. The reader could see that this battle would not be finished until something drastic eventually happened which it did during the eventful climax of the story.
Flashback: Many times throughout the novel, Chief flashes back to memories of his life before the hospital. He remembers when he used to live on the Indian reservation with his father as a child.
Descriptive Language: Descriptive language is used often in the novel especially during Cheifs hallicinations. The vivid descriptions help the reader feel like they can actually see what is going on.
Juxtaposition: The author juxtaposes McMurphy’s personality and Nurse Ratched’s personalities so they are so directly opposite of each other that it creates a plot within itself. He makes the characters so extreme in opposite directions that they play off each other perfectly.
Sectioned Parts: The author broke up the novel into sectioned parts to show major turning points during the story. This was a way to let the reader know that a major shift in the plot was about to occur.
Irony: It is ironic that many of the Nurse’s helpers look down and make fun of the patients at the ward because they are also under the Nurses’s complete control. They are just as afraid and frightened of Nurse Ratched.
Characterization
1. An example of direct characterization is Chief describing McMurphy when he first walks in. He tells the reader he is noisy, he is joyous, and he is outspoken. These traits were literally told to us in a sentence they didn’t have to be inferred or guessed in context of an event
Another example of direct characterization is of the vegetables as the Chief calls them. The vegetables are the ones in the ward who have been so altered by medication or surgery that they are virtually numb to almost everything. The Chief explains this to the reader through his thoughts
Indirect characterization is used in developing Nurse Ratched’s personality. In the climax she ultimately relies on surgery to silence McMurphy once and for all. This does wonders in showing her true character and lack of morals.
Indirect characterization is also used in shaping the reader’s understanding of Chief. We see through his actions in talking to McMurphy that he was actually looking for an inspiration all along and that he does posses strength within.
The author uses a mixture of both styles throughout the novel. In the beginning, Kesey primarily relies on direct characterization to develop his characters however as the story picks up indirect characterization becomes more prevalent.
2. I would say Kesey’s syntax and diction remain mostly constant throughout the story because it is told in first person so all of the events are releyed through one person. However, the word choice and dialect change with the use of dialogue between different characters due to their accents and where they grew up.
Billy: Um, um, well, y-y-y-you d-d-d-don't have to t-t-t-tell her, Miss Ratched.
3. Chief is definitely dynamic in the story. He is a round character because he makes so many breakthroughs and goes through so many characters. He goes from wanting to hind and blend into the crowd to shifting into a powerful, rightfully confident man. Chief’s perhaps greatest breakthrough was when he revealed to McMurphy that he could not only talk but hear to. This released him from the confined jail of silence he had been hiding in for so long. After this event, Chief continues to grow stronger and stronger and finally manages to stand up for himself and break out of the hospital.
4. I can honestly say I loved this book and it’s in the top 10 of the most interesting books I have ever read. I think most of my interest can be attributed to the fact that each of the characters had such a distinct, obscure personality which kept things new and innovative. I was rooting for the patients , especially McMurphy and Chief the entire story and I felt their anger and frustration with each set back Nurse Ratched threw at them. When the Nurse refused to take McMurphy’s suggestions seriously because he was one vote short of majority I could literally feel myself becoming angry of the unfairness of the whole institution. It was one of the books where you feel like you’ve lost a group of friends once its over.
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