Novel Packet
Name: _______________________________
Analysis Page
Major Themes
Explanation/Evidence
Sanity/Insanity
Social Pressure and Shame
The Combine: Machine,
Nature, and Man
Institutional Control vs.
Human Dignity
Emasculation and Sexuality
Major Symbols
Fog
The control panel
Laughter
Gambling
Explanation/Evidence
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
When you begin reading “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, you may become a bit perplexed bit
the narrator’s perception of reality. Chief Broom is a mental patient at a state psychiatric hospital who
suffers from schizophrenia. Ken Kesey’s choice of storyteller is at once functional and ingenious. (Be a bit
wary of what this narrator tells you, as he is not the most reliable narrator you will come across.) Chief
Broom does, however, possess a profound insight into the workings of the hospital and the patients and
staff that work and live there. He doesn’t always speak in literal terms but it is his twisted and disturbing
acuity that allows the reader to see the truth behind the words.
What is Schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a complex brain. The illness is characterized by a breakdown of thinking, emotions and a loss
of contact with reality. It usually begins in late adolescence or early adulthood and occurs at equal rates across
all races, cultures, classes and sexes. About 20 to 30 per cent of people with schizophrenia experience only a
few brief episodes, for others it may become a chronic condition.
Symptoms of schizophrenia vary and may include:
Hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders, social withdrawal, lack of motivation, blunted
emotions, inappropriate responses, lack of insight.
Not all people affected by schizophrenia have all of these symptoms. And some symptoms appear only for short
periods or ‘episodes.’
Schizophrenia does not indicate a split personality; in fact, there are many myths about schizophrenia.
Sufferers are not intellectually disabled, and while aggression may occur among a minority of patients
during an untreated acute episode, it is usually self-directed.
Current treatments for schizophrenia: medication, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
There are other forms of mental illness that will be recognizable in the characters in the novel.
They include:
Anxiety disorders: describe a number of emotional states, each characterized by high arousal levels,
discomfort and the fear of sudden, uncontrollable panic attacks. Usually there is no real reason for the
anxiety and fear of panic. These conditions are common but can be eased with medication and therapy.
Bipolar disorder: A person with bipolar disorder experiences alternating episodes of mania and
depression. The exact cause is unknown, but a genetic predisposition has been clearly established.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of a group of psychiatric conditions known as 'personality
disorders'. People with BPD have difficulty relating to other people. With treatment, the symptoms of
BPD can be managed, reduced or even eliminated.
Obsessive Compulsive disorder: OCD can have a profound effect on a person's life. Obsessions and
compulsions are distressing, exhausting and take up a lot of time. They cause the affected person to
become anxious and depressed.
Obsessions: (recurring unwanted thoughts and images that intrude on the person's mind) Obsessions like
these can occupy the person's mind for many hours a day. Compulsions: (repetitive behavioural and
mental rituals).
The Patients in the hospital are divided into two categories: the Acutes (patients having the possibility of
being cured) and the chronics (patients who are in the hospital for life).
THE ACUTES
(The Acutes)
Randal P. McMurphy
Harding
Billy Bibbit
Cheswick
Sorenson
Selfet
Frederickson
Martini
Scanlon
Diagnosis
Role in the novel
THE CHRONICS
Diagnosis
Chief Broom
Bancini
Old Blastic
Ellis
Col Matterson
Ruckly
OTHERS CAST MEMBERS
Character
BIG NURSE
AIDES
MR. TURKLE
MARY LOUISE
BROMDEN
Candy Starr
PUBLIC RELATIONS
MAN
DR. SPIVEY
Significance
Role in the novel
Part One
Chapters 1-4 Questions
1. Who is the narrator? How does he get his name?
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2. What does the narrator believe the Black aides are talking about? Why does he believe they are filled with
hate? Explain this in the socio-cultural –context of the novel.
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3. What episode does the narrator suffer that suggests that he is genuinely psychologically disturbed? What does
this episode infer about Nurse Ratched? How does her name show her character?
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4. Describe Nurse Ratched’s physical appearance as chief Broom sees her.
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5. What do the aides do with Chief’s breakfast? What does this say about the type of care that facility offers?
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6. Sum up the Chief's history. How did he become deaf and dumb? What happened to him in the war?
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7. What does the Public Relations man say to visitors that the notices? How important is this to the story?
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8. What disturbing implication does the Chief make about what happens when the aides get a new patient?
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9. What is unusual about McMurphy? His voice and his laughter affects the ward, explain. Hands are an
important symbol in the novel. How are McMurphy and Harding’s hands different?
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10. Why is McMurphy in the hospital?
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11. Describe the ward prior to McMurphy’s arrival. How does McMurphy upset the ward? How is he able to
establish control among the patients?
12. What procedures are used by the hospital to transform Acutes to Chronics? How has Nurse Ratched set the
ward up as an anti-cure?
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13. What happens during the morning? (Generally) How does that make the inmates less than men? What does
the word docile mean? Why does Ratched want “docile” men?
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14. What is a “manipulator”? Why doe s Nurse Ratched smile to herself thinking about Mr. Taber?
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16. What connection does the Mill have with the Ward?
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Chapters 5-8
1. The fog is a manifestation that originates in the mind of Chief Broom. Explain the fog., Where does it have
its origins? Why does the Chief need it? Are there any patients totally lost in the fog?
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2. What are the (hypothetical) good intentions of the meeting? What is the ugly reality? How does Harding get
hurt?
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3. What does Nurse Ratched do to try and intimidate McMurphy? How is he supposed to feel when she says
that? How does he feel? How does McMurphy turn the tables on her?
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4. How does Ken Kesey explore issue of sexuality? How does McMurphy feel about his own sexuality?
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5. What is the theory behind the Therapeutic Community? What event in the Chief’s memory shows how the
Nurse has perverted this theory? Why does the Chief believe the men do this?
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6. Provide a dictionary definition for emasculation. Who does this term accurately describe?
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7. What is a pecking party? How are the meetings like "a bunch of chickens at a pecking' party"?
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8. What is Harding’s rabbit and wolf analogy?
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9. What bet does McMurphy make with the others? In reasoning his bet, what does McMurphy admit?
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10. What is the significant about Chief’s Santa Clause story at the very beginning of the chapter?
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11. What happens between McMurphy and Nurse Pilbow? Explain the irony in this situation.
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12. There is heavy symbolism at the end of this section. Consider the following:
The Nurse’s Birthmark
The Nurse’s Crucifix
McMurphy’s Tattoos
The Co-ed
13. What does McMurphy discover about the Chief? How does this comment on perception in the story?
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14. What does The Chief believe about the pills the aides give to him before bed time?
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15. Describe what the chief sees at night. Explain this in terms of an analogy.
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16. The events that occur at night , are they true, "even if it never happened?"
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17. According to his vision, what happens at the end of your time on the ward? What role does the Public
relations man have in all of this?
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Let Me Hear Our Song
Hear the laughter
of the universe
soar into the smile
of playful shooting stars
Hear the laughter
of crisp Spring leaves
tasting the warmth
of blossom time
Hear the first smile
of a baby’s first breath...
swim in the perfume
of a new mother's tears of joy
Let me hear the silence
of love’s piercing peace
as the sparkle of glittering rain
laughs in the smiling dark
In your eyes the colors of laughter
...the blushes of our rainbow
are brush strokes
in the mating of our minds
As the chatter of morning birds
is a smile for nature’s new day,
the harmony of our loving hearts
is a song that for all eternity will play
Chapters 8-11
1. What does Mack do early in the morning? How does he attract attention? How does he win his bet?
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2. What Does Ratched assume about how the men feel about their sexuality? How does this bet show this?
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3. How did Mack manipulate the doctor? Why does the Doctor fall for it? How is the Doctor manipulated by
Ratched?
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4. Does Kesey come out and tell you who is speaking through the Monopoly game? Explain. How is the
Monopoly game better therapy than the talks?
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5. What gets McMurphy really upset? Why didn’t the men do anything? Where else in society do we see activity
like this?
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6.What does Mack teach them in the Tub room? Does it work? What does he mean when he states “I tried,
though.” Goddammit, I sure as hell did that much didn’t I?”
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7. One critic has said that the men “hate” McMurphy. Why might this event show this? What does McMurphy
force them to do?
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8. Explain the symbolic significance of Old Rawler’s death.
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9. What will happen if the Chief lost himself in the fog? How does McMurphy bring the Chief back? What
unusual thing happens to the Chief when Mac brings him back?
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10. What important event does Ratched miss in the voting? What trick does she pull? What do nurses Ratched’s
actions here illustrate to the men?
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11. What insight does chapter fourteen provide with regards to Broom’s condition?
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12. What happens to Nurse Ratched when the men stage the World Series Rebellion? (Explain it in the
metaphorical terms that the chief uses)
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11. McMurphy has accomplished a tw0-fold victory. Explain?”
PART 2
Chapters 16-19
1. In Part two how have things changed?
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2. Chief Broom is beginning to undergo a metamorphosis, but he is still very fearful. What is he
afraid of? How does he trick the aide?
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3. How much validity do you put in the doctors’ diagnoses of McMurphy? How do they reflect upon
psychology as a science?
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4. Why does Nurse Ratched totally discredit the Doctor’s final diagnoses, what do her action here
reveal about her true nature?
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5. How does Nurse Ratched illustrate her influence and power great power in the staff meeting?
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6. How does McMurphy’s behaviour positively affect the Chief’s mental illness?
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7. Chief experiences a breakthrough when he wakes up one evening and looks out the window.
Explain. What is significant about the Canada geese? What happens to the dog, and how is this
significant?
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8. What symbolic meaning does the Chief attribute to the nurse with the birthmark on her chest?
How does this comment on the conflict between society and nature?
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9. What reason does Nurse Ratched offer for locking the dorm on the weekend? What is
McMurphy’s comment on this so called therapeutic rationale?
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10. What does Cheswick complain about during the group meeting? How is this comment on her
continued use of power? How does Ratched defend her practice? Do you think at this point the men
buy what she is selling?
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11. Explain the irony associated with the life guard at the hospital pool? How did the life guard end
up at the hospital? Why is he still there? What comment is Kesey making regarding the validity of
institutionalization?
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12. What sobering, even frightening, fact does McMurphy learn? How does he adjust his behaviour?
How do the men on the ward react to his sudden transformation?
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13. What happens to Cheswick? Who is responsible?
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14. Why causes Selfet to have an epileptic seizure? How does Nurse Ratched use this incident to her
advantage?
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15. Think about the comment Scanlon makes at the end of this section “Hell of a life, dammed if you
do, dammed in you don’t. How does this comment relate to McMurphy?
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PART 2
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST
Part Two
Chapters 20-23
1. Chapter 20 is only a paragraph long. What is the essence of this short chapter?
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1. How does the design of the library, mimic and mock the function of the hospital?
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2. How is Vera Harding like Nurse Ratched? How is she different?
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3. What does Vera confirm about her husband’s supposed “illness”? Why is Harding voluntarily in
this hospital to treat this perceived illness?
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4. When Vera leaves, why does McMurphy fail to emotionally support Harding?
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5. What was hydrotherapy? Does it seem to have had the ability to work, or did it appear to just be a
fancy method of appearing to address mental illness? In the Chief’s opinion, who benefited the most
from it?
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6. In the earlier Monopoly game, McMurphy most patiently endures Martini’s hallucinations and
keeps him in the game. In what way does McMurphy act differently toward Martini at the end of this
chapter, and why?
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7. What irony does Sefelt observe about the use of EST? What is the origin of EST, as Harding
explains it, and why is this also ironic? What does McMurphy compare it to?
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8. What is a “Frontal-lobe castration”? Why does he refer to the procedure in this way?
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9. What privilege does Nurse Ratched revoke? Why does she do it? Is this justified?
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10. What does the smashing of the Nurse’s station window symbolize?
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Quotes to Remember choose four important quotes from this section of the novel and explain why they are
significant to theme, plot progression or the literary value of the novel.
Quote
Significance
Journal Entry 5: Choose one of the following for your journal entry
1. Choose two separate passages that illustrate Kesey’s effective use of irony and discuss why they
add to the literary merit of the novel.
2. Symbolism figures prominently in this novel chose four separate symbols and illustrate your
understanding of Ken Kesey use of this literary device
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Part Three
Chapters 24-25
Additional Analysis
One section ends, another begins. Self-sacrifice and healing become the guiding force in McMurphy’s life.
McMurphy works hard at giving the men their “manhood’s” back. Make note of any passages where you
witness the men are becoming whole again.
Questions and quotes
1. How does McMurphy act, now that he has more power? What does the missing glass symbolize?
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2. How is Basketball good therapy for the inmates? What does it force them to do? How is it different
from the talks?
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3. How did the Chief become deaf and mute? What are the first words the Chief says? What greater
meaning do these words hold?
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4. How has McMurphy changed since the first chapters?
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5. How does Mack get the Chief to laugh? Why is this laughter powerful?
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6. The Chief is literally 7ft tall, how then is Mack bigger than the Chief? Who if Bromden’s life provides
a clear parallel to McMurphy? Why does this scare him?
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7. The Chief elaborately explains the Combine in this section. In his past experience, who are the “agents”
for the combine?
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8. How is Mack going to blow the Chief back up to full-size? Why does Broom want to touch Mack?
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9. How are McMurphy and Candy Starr similar? How do they both feel about their sexuality?
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10. How does Candy start short-circuiting the machinery in the hospital? How is this related to their
manhood?
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11. Who is more powerful: Candy or Ratched? Explain. Do you feel this is true of larger society?
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12. What do you make of Ken Kesey’s treatment of women in this novel?
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13. How does Mack use his hands to defend the men? What else empowers the men had this point? How
is this ironic?
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14. How many are going fishing? What is the significance of that number? (Think about religious
symbolism) How might this also serve as a kind of foreshadowing?
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15. Chief Broom proclaims that “all up the coast I could see the signs of what the combine had
accomplished since I was last through this country”. What are some of the things he sees? What are some
of the things we see everyday that the Chief would consider work done by the Combine?
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17. Candy gets upset when the men on the dock call her Blondie and none of the patients come to her
defence. What does that incident tell us about the patients?
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18. During the chaos of the fishing trip, what do the men finally do? Why is this so significant? How does
the fishing help the men therapeutically?
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19. The men are three life jackets short on the trip. Why do you think McMurphy does not insist he be
one of the men to go without?
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21. When one of the Acutes asks “how come McMurphy looked so beat and worn out where the rest of us
looked so red-cheeked and still full of excitement. Harding offers a full explanation but Chief thinks his
explanation is inaccurate. What explanation does Chief offer for McMurphy’s exhaustion?
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Quotes to Remember choose four important quotes from this section of the novel and
explain why they are significant to theme, plot progression or the literary value of the novel.
Quote
Significance
Journal Entry Six (Be Sure to Include the original scene in Your Journal)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is written from Chief Bromden’s point of view. Choose a scene from the
book, such as one of the group meetings or a confrontation between Nurse Ratched and McMurphy; Rewrite
the scene from either Nurse Ratched’s or McMurphy’s point of view.
Writing Assignment: In a well-developed essay that is fully supported by quotes from the text,
describe how McMurphy has given the men their manhood back
PART FOUR
The conflicts in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are described in three different ways:
as the struggle of the “sane individual vs. a crazy institution,” “man vs. machine,” and
“a primeval, wild, unsocial zed, anti-family form of masculinity vs. asexual women,
institutions, and society that wants to tame it.”
Discuss how these views differ from one another.
Choose the theme that you think most accurately describes the conflict in the book
and explain why.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Additional Analysis
McMurphy begins to get paired with Christ. The men are pulled from the Combine and dropped into the
ocean
Questions and quotes
1. How are McMurphy and the prostitute similar? How do they both feel about their sexuality?
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2. What does she do to get the men going? How does she start short-circuiting the machine?
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3. What is the goal of the Combine?
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4. Who is more powerful: Candy or Ratched? Explain.
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5. Why were the men so nervous on the outside? Who do they have to depend on?
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6. What is the difference between Mack's and Doc's approach to the serviceman? Which one shows more
pride?
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7. How does Mack use his hands? Who else, earlier, had been impressed by this?
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8. How many are going fishing? What is the significance of that number? (Think about religious symbology)
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9. Why does Candy so upset when they call her Blondie? How is her reception here different from her
reception at the ward? What other names could they call her that would insult her? Why wouldn’t a wolfwhistle insult her? What does that incident show about the men?
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10. Why does the Chief feel great calmness over the sea? What isn’t present out on the sea?
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11. How does the fishing help the men therapeutically?
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12. Complete the quote: "He won't let pain ______________ or _________________________" Explain it.
What other characters could that quote apply to?
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13. What does George do at the dock? What does this show about him?
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14. Why is Mack tired? What has the Chief said earlier that could give you a reason for Mack’s exhaustion?
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The conflicts in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest are described in three different ways:
as the struggle of the “sane individual vs. a crazy institution,” “man vs. machine,” and
“a primeval, wild, unsocial zed, anti-family form of masculinity vs. asexual women,
institutions, and society that wants to tame it.”
Discuss how these views differ from one another.
Choose the theme that you think most accurately describes the conflict in the book
and explain why.
Writing Assignment: In a well-developed essay that is fully supported by quotes from the text,
describe how McMurphy has given the men their manhood back