One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including conformity, mental illness and masculinity. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 48-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Ken Kesey
• Presentation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Summary of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
• Character study
  • Bromden
  • McMurphy
  • Nurse Ratched
  • Ward staff
  • Dr. John Spivey
  • Harding
  • Billy Bibbit
  • Cheswick
  • Candy
  • Other patients
• Analysis of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • The “Combine”
  • Racial prejudice
  • Gender
  • Psychiatric care
  • Selfhood

About One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is set in a psychiatric ward ruled over by the sadistic and controlling Nurse Ratchet, and follows the patients’ attempts to push back against this oppressive system. The novel is a compelling exploration of society’s unhealthy imposition of conformity and an indictment of the failings of the American mental health system, which crushes the inmates’ spirits and individuality. It made TIME magazine’s list of the 100 greatest English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005, and its 1975 film adaptation won five Academy Awards.

About Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey was an American novelist, essayist, poet and short story writer who was associated with both the Beat Generation and the hippies of the 1960s. After publishing his best-known novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey moved to La Honda, California, where he and his wife hosted bohemian social gatherings called “Acid Tests” that combined creativity with recreational drug use. He was arrested in 1965 for possession of marijuana, and served five months in prison after unsuccessfully faking his own death. Following this stint in prison, he taught at the University of Oregon and continued to write. He died in 2001, at the age of 66.