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: I Know How They Work It

The conclusion of Part 1 begins with a stream of consciousness passage by Chief Bromden that details the extent of his paranoia and some of his mental condition's causes. He first experiences the fog while serving in the military during World War II. He believes the fog machine used on the ward is Army Surplus. He senses that the Combine is increasing the output of the fog machine until it can find a way to control McMurphy.

At a group meeting, McMurphy tells Nurse Ratched that he'd like another vote to change the television viewing schedule. Nurse Ratched realizes that McMurphy will never win a vote because she counts the votes of the Chronics as well as the Acutes, and the Chronics are not cognizant enough to understand what they're voting for. Ratched ends the meeting before a final vote is tallied; a tally that favors McMurphy and the Acutes. While the other patients are disillusioned, McMurphy denies Ratched her victory by placing himself in front of the television. When she shuts off the power, he and the other Acutes stay fixed to the television while Ratched yells at them to resume their duties. McMurphy has won another battle.


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