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

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?