CliffsNotes on

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

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Book Summary

Ken Kesey Biography

Personal Background
Career Highlights

About One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Summary and Analysis

Part 1: They're Out There
Part 1: When the Fog Clears
Part 1: The New Man
Part 1: In the Glass Station
Part 1: Before Noontime
Part 1: One Christmas
Part 1: First Time for a Long, Long Time
Part 1: Come Morning
Part 1: All Through Breakfast
Part 1: There's a Monopoly Game
Part 1: There's Long Spells
Part 1: A Visiting Doctor
Part 1: It's Getting Hard
Part 1: There's a Shipment of Frozen Parts
Part 1: I Know How They Work It
Part 2: Just at the Edge of My Vision
Part 2: The Way the Big Nurse Acted
Part 2: In the Group Meetings
Part 2: Up Ahead of Me
Part 2: Whatever It Was
Part 2: They Take Me with the Acutes Sometimes
Part 2: I Remember It Was Friday Again
Part 2: Crossing the Grounds
Part 3: After That
Part 3: Two Whores
Part 4: The Big Nurse
Part 4: Up on Disturbed
Part 4: There Had Been Times
Part 4: I've Given What Happened Next

Character List

Character Map

Character Analysis

Randle Patrick McMurphy
Nurse Ratched
Chief Bromden
Dale Harding
Billy Bibbit

Critical Essays

The Role of Women in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: The Film and the Novel
McMurphy as Comic Book Christ
McMurphy's Cinematic Brothers in Rebellion

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Summary and Analysis

Part 1: All Through Breakfast

At breakfast, McMurphy teases Billy Bibbit, calling him Billy Club Bibbit with a legendary 14-inch penis. He invents a story about Bibbit picking up two prostitutes — "twitches" — and shocking one of them with the prodigious size of his member. The tale embarrasses Bibbit, but also gives him a sense of pride at being the hero of such an outlandish adventure. McMurphy further entertains the Acutes during breakfast by taking bets that he can shoot butter patties at the mess hall clock.

Later in the morning, McMurphy asks Nurse Ratched if she can turn down the music in the ward. Ratched tells him that he's being selfish, and that the music's volume is adjusted for the ward's hard of hearing. McMurphy suggests that he and the Acutes be allowed to play cards in another room where the music can't be heard. She rebuffs his idea, but McMurphy discusses it with Doctor Spivey, who believes the idea has merit. He also suggests that the ward host a carnival, something Chief remembers Max Taber suggested in the past. The additional room for card playing is approved against Ratched's wishes. Chief relates that McMurphy has won a battle, but is certain he'll lose the war.


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