"But, just like the rest of us, he's careful not to let himself come right out and laugh."
"But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen."
"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."
“...comical little creatures who can’t even achieve masculinity in the rabbit world.”
“We are victims of a matriarchy here.”
Setting
The hospital is presented as a metaphor for the oppressive society of the late 1950s
Late 1950s
Psychiatric Ward of an unspecified Oregon hospital
Ken Kesey
Used to work in hospital
Participated in acid tests
Leader of Merry Pranksters
Symbols & Motifs
Invisibility
Electroshock Therapy Table
Crucifixtion
Fog Machine
Laughter
Cartoon References
Repeated phrases
"Ffff*** da wife"
"I wash my hands of the whole deal"
"I'm tired"
Violence without damage
Fist growing larger in Pete's fight with attendants (Popeye)
McMurphy/Yosemite Sam
Adaptations of the Novel
Film
Play
Themes
Expressing Sexuality
Conforming to society/repressing human tendencies
Powerful Women
Insanity vs. Sanity
"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"
