In the mad rush to jettison Western Culture and replace it with the undifferentiated goulash of multiculturalism, we run the risk of doing serious damage to our ability to communicate ideas to one another.  Our Judeo-Christian heritage provides a series of archetypes, symbols, myths and meanings that we all recognize and understand and which we can refer to in a sort of literary shorthand, without always having to start at ground zero and build up meanings for every concept and reference.  The existence and maintenance of this set of shared societal understandings is also what makes it possible for art that arises from the personal to achieve universality--a phenomenon that is clearly displayed in this, one of our most underrated great books (it is disgraceful that it did not make the Modern Library Top 100).

Ken Kesey's novel is based in part on individuals whom he met while working in a Veterans' Administration Hospital in Menlo Park, CA.  And when he was writing, he worked the graveyard shift in the psychiatric ward and actually underwent real-life shock treatment.  At a surface level then, the book can be read as an indictment of the mental health system and psychiatric practices of the 50's & 60's.  Just beneath this surface it is an attack on conformity and the organizational man and a celebration of individualism.  But we reap its greatest rewards when we peel back another layer of the onion and, intentionally or not, the symbols and themes that Kesey mines reach deep into the archaeology of our entire mythos and the tale returns to the central dilemma of human existence, first presented in the Garden of Eden, should mankind choose security or freedom?

Without being too pedantic, it's pretty easy to decipher the metaphorical elements of the novel:

    The Hospital:
    authoritarian Social Welfare state, which offers inmates a sense of security at the cost of their
    freedom

    Nurse Ratched:
    ruler of this secure world, significantly she is a maternal figure, since the security impulse is
    fundamentally female

    R.P. McMurphy:
    of course, the initials RPM are a dead giveaway for a character who represents revolution against
    authority--symbolizes the male yearning for freedom and is essentially a messianic figure

    The Inmates:
    the most telling factor is that they are there voluntarily, they are willing participants in their own
    degradation--sexless, spineless, but safe from the big bad world, they have surrendered to the Big
    Nurse and the Combine

    Electro shock therapy:
    the obligatory crucifix scene, as McMurphy says, it's his "crown of thorns"

    Billy Bibbitt:
    He is McMurphy's Judas.  McMurphy heals him (he stops stuttering after McMurphy procures a
    woman for him), but he denounces McMurphy to Nurse Ratched and then commits suicide.

    The Chief:
    McMurphy dies for his sins--after McMurphy is lobotomized, the Chief smothers him (rather than
    see him live on as a broken man) and then breaks out of the Hospital by heaving the enormous
    control panel through a window (i.e., rolls the boulder away from Christ's tomb).  The Chief is
    reborn through McMurphy's intercession.

Obviously Kesey may not have intended that each of these elements be read this way.  In fact, as an icon of the counterculture it as, at least, ironic that they can be read this way.  But the point is that all of these elements have fundamental cultural meanings, regardless of his intentions.  They resonate within our minds because they strike the touchstones of our shared understandings.  The result is that a seemingly simple fable about a con man in an asylum achieves mythic dimensions and partakes of universal truths that are central to our culture and our vision of mankind.

This is a great book and belongs on the shelf with Orwell, Brave New World, Farenheit 451, Clockwork Orange, Darkness at Noon and Cool Hand Luke--the Century's great dystopic fantasies that have best symbolized the human dilemma and come down on the side of Freedom.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (A+)

Book-related and General Links:
    -Key-Z (Official website)
    -OBIT : Ken Kesey, Author of 'Cuckoo's Nest,' Is Dead at 66 (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPT, November 11, 2001, NY Times)
    -OBIT : All times a great artist, Ken Kesey is dead at age 66 (JEFF BAKER, 11/11/01, The Oregonian)
    -OBIT : Ken Kesey : The hero of US counterculture and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has died at 66 (Christopher Reed, November 12, 2001, The Guardian)
    -OBIT : Ken Kesey: Merry Prankster, literary hero (Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY)
    -OBIT : Ken Kesey, novelist of `One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,' dies at 66 (JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press)
    -TRIBUTE : Ken Kesey (Edge.org)
    -Appreciation: Ken Kesey : Captain Flag of the good ship Furthur didn't just create great
literature, he was great literature -- and a quintessentially American character (Sean Elder, November 16, 2001, Salon)
    -ESSAY : Ken Kesey's true legacy is 'Sometimes a Great Notion' (John Marshall, 11/16/01, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
    -BIO: Ken Kesey
    -ESSAY: Remember This: Write What You Don't Know (Ken Kesey, NY Times Book Review)
    -INTERVIEW: "A 1992 New York Interview with Ken Kesey"   By Lawrence Gerald
    -INTERVIEW: Ken Kesey Interview by Mary Jane Fenex and Matthew Rick
    -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Selected Bibliography for Ken Kesey
    -LINKS: Sites about Ken Kesey   and the Merry Pranksters
    -STUDY GUIDE:   Novel Study Unit Key  by George Lamont
    -Kingwood College Library One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey
    -Discover Channel School: One Flew over the Cuckoo?s Nest
    -ESSAY: American Dominance in Works by Ken Kesey (Lillie Langlois, Brighton High School class of 1998)
    -ESSAY: Tarnished Galahad: The Prose and Pranks of Ken Kesey   by Matthew Rick
    -North American Fiction and Film   Chapter 6: Ken Kesey's  One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
    -Psychedelic 60's: Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
    -REVIEW: of Last Go Round Merry Go-Round (Scott Rogerson, Weekly Wire)

FILM:
    -One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest #20 on the AFI Top 100
    -ESSAY: The Messianic Figure in Film: Christology Beyond the Biblical Epic (Matthew McEver, October 1998, The Journal of Religion and Film)

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest": I heard great things about it, but having just finished the book I feel that it is first confusing, with the storyline slipping easily from past to present. The first-person point of view merely adds to the confusion of the setting. Not only is the book difficult to follow, but the style is bawdy and filthy, and there is a plethora of profanity. Finally, the book seems to cast women as either cruel antagonists or empty-headed fools, though I can see this makes sense for the sake of symbolism.

- Discordia

- Mar-12-2007, 13:06

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It doesnt necessarily degrade women. As was mentioned, there are alot of symbols and there are reasons for alot of the symbols used. Not everything is to be interpretted literally. And even if Kesey hadn't intended for any of these symbols, they definitely are symbols that our culture has ingrained into us, so why wouldnt it be possible to accidentally throw in some symbolism? I think it was a fantastic and very well written book. Its one of those books that has that call-to-action, it makes you want to change the world.

- andy

- Feb-11-2007, 15:20

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i recently had to write a paper about this book regarding the enourmous amount of symbols in the book connecting to freedom. The book itself has alot of themes inside of it, but it kind of degrades women e.g. Candy. Overall it was a good book.

- jay patel

- Feb-21-2006, 16:29

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i just finished reading the book for english and i have to say i have never read a more thought intriguing book in my life. By reading this book, i have learned of the extent of what a labotomy can do, and i find myself so completely against it, i've surprised myself. The book saddened me so greatly, that still now, hours later, im still thinking about poor Mcmurphy and his most dreadful and undeserved fate. it isn't fair that this happened, and to think that it can still happen in the world really really angers me. Mcmurphy was almost like a saint in this movie, and even though, i know it is not based on a true story, i was so moved by it, that it has compelled me to look deeper into the science of lobotomies and take a firm stance i what i believe is almost murder of the human mind.

Kesey should be congragulated on one of the most inspiring books ever written. and to be in year 11, and appreciate such an advanced book, really shows, how much of an amazing tale it really is.

Looking so much forward to seeing the movie.

Bianca.

- Bianca

- Feb-10-2006, 03:49

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An ok book. You can get lost in the stories of the Chief, but the overall plot and point of the book is obvious and, if understood, very humerous. Several different themes are discussed, making it a thought provoking novel. Have found many different opinions on the book from discussing it with classmates. My Grade for the book: "B+"

- Lynds

- Mar-12-2005, 15:43

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best book ever, read it!

- ms

- Jun-07-2004, 21:06

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This book was very confusing and wouldn't want to read it while under the influence of any drug because it would make me even more confused and even more lost of the complete understanding of the book without these "cliff notes".

- Elisa

- Jun-02-2004, 14:51

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