Characters
Chief Bromden
McMurphy
Nurse Ratched
"Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn, Apple seed and apple thorn, Wire, briar, limber lock Three geese in a flock One flew East One flew West And one flew over the cuckoo's nest"
Themes
Insanity vs. Sanity
Powerful Women
Conforming to society/repressing human tendencies
Expressing Sexuality
Adaptations of the Novel
Play
Film
Cartoon References
McMurphy/Yosemite Sam
Fist growing larger in Pete's fight with attendants (Popeye)
Violence without damage
Repeated phrases
"I'm tired"
"I wash my hands of the whole deal"
"Ffff*** da wife"
Symbols & Motifs
Laughter
Fog Machine
Electroshock Therapy Table
Crucifixtion
Invisibility
Ken Kesey
Leader of Merry Pranksters
Participated in acid tests
Used to work in hospital
Setting
Psychiatric Ward of an unspecified Oregon hospital
Late 1950s
The hospital is presented as a metaphor for the oppressive society of the late 1950s
Important Quotations
“We are victims of a matriarchy here.”
“...comical little creatures who can’t even achieve masculinity in the rabbit world.”
"Because he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy."
"But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen."
"But, just like the rest of us, he's careful not to let himself come right out and laugh."