One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey pp. 49 - 75

Name _______________________________________ Pd _________ Date ___________________________
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
pp. 49 - 75
1. p. 49 What is the theory behind the use of Therapeutic Communities?
2. p. 49-50 How does a Therapeutic Community mirror a democratic society?
3. p. 55-57 What does McMurphy mean when he calls the Group Therapy Meetings (leetle meetings; “shindigs”)
chicken pecking parties?
4. p. 57 When Harding calls McMurphy’s usage of a “pecking party” quaint, down-home speech, the literary term for
such a conversational and slang tone is __________________________.
5. p. 58 What’s the significance of McMurphy’s accusation that it is Nurse Ratched who is the chicken who takes the first
peck?
6. p. 58 Look up the three psychotherapists alluded to by Harding. Briefly describe them. An allusion is a reference to a
famous, well-known person, historical event, or literary work. These are all famous persons in the history of psychology.
Tell me a little about each of them.
Sigmund Freud: Carl Jung (Young): Maxwell Jones:
Why would the allusion be used by Harding during this argument he and McMurphy are having about the value of the
daily Therapeutic Meetings?
7. p. 58-60 McMurphy sees Nurse Ratched as a castrating, matriarchal female while Harding sees her as an angel of
mercy? Who do you think is right?
How do these opposing archetypes – powerful female versus mothering female – set a tone for Kesey’s portrayal of
women during the 1960s? An archetype is a pattern that is used over and over throughout the ages. An archetype refers
to an original type, but one that shows up in every era of time. Since Kesey is using these archetypes to connect the
reader’s understanding of women, what do you think is his attitude toward the subject, his tone (The Oughtitude the
Narrator Expresses)? Or, rather, what is he saying about society’s attitude toward women at the time of his novel?
8. p. 62-63 What doesn’t Dr. Spivey do something about Nurse Ratched’s abusive control of her patients?
9. p. 63 Define the word insinuate:_____________________________________________________________________
What does it mean that Nurse Ratched doesn’t have to accuse anybody of anything, and that she just has to insinuate?

10. p. 64-65 How does Harding redeem himself as a chicken getting pecked at a pecking party by calling himself a rabbit
instead of a chicken?
11. p. 64-65 Do you think McMurphy is a wolf or a rabbit? Explain your opinion.
12. p. 65 Does McMurphy think the Acutes are crazy or sane?
13. p. 66 Why does McMurphy allude to the guys ganging up against each other, on the side of Nurse Ratched, as “a lot
like a Red Chinese prison camp.” What’s the allusion mean?
14. p. 68-69 Why is it dangerous to disobey Nurse Ratched in a Therapeutic meeting? What happens if you don’t
answer? What happens if you become hostile toward her?
15. p. 69 Describe electro-shock therapy.
16. p. 69 Harding is describing to McMurphy how one can turn out after receiving EST (electro-shock therapy). When
he says, “Or, look at Chief Broom clutching to his namesake there beside you,” what is he referring to when he uses the
word “namesake”? What is he clutching to?
17. p. 70 In the paragraph that begins with, “Hell, I don’t care. Vote on anything…,” how does this situation compare to
citizens in the United States and their interaction with a democratic form of government?
18. p. 70-71 Define matriarchy. Why do the men feel like they are living in a matriarchal system under Nurse Ratched?
19. p. 72 When McMurphy uses the colloquialism (conversational slang), “Because I’m getting just the shadiest notion
of how to pick up a good purse off you birds in here.” What is he saying?
20. p. 72-73 What is the strategy used by patients to avoid getting assigned to the Disturbed Ward or receiving EST for
your behavior?
21. p. 73 Harding says that the hospital regards Miss Ratched as its top nurse and grants her so much authority, because
she’s a master of forcing the trembling libido – people’s biological urges for sexual pleasure or self-preservation – out into
the open. What do you think is the danger in forcing one’s most basic instincts, such as the need to defend oneself for
survival, out into the open?
22. p. 73-74 What did McMurphy, in his perpetual search for new suckers, find out about the mental ward before he got
there?
23. p. 74-75 What bet does he make with the boys about Nurse Ratched? List at least two reasons why McMurphy is
motivated to make this bet?