One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Chapter 1 Summary

Randle McMurphy, the protagonist, is introduced to break down the nurse’s oppressive ways. McMurphy, a con man who was sentenced to a work farm, was diagnosed as a psychopath and sent to the mental hospital, which he much preferred. Serving as a savior figure to the patients of the ward who have already been battered by the Big Nurse, McMurphy causes interference to the nurse’s control. He supports the men as they are ridiculed in meetings and supports their attempts to change policy. Although he does help other patients, he first looks out for himself. He cons the patients out of their money and then follows the nurse’s rules for awhile because of the threat of being kept on the

Bromden has been undergoing changes since McMurphy has arrived to the ward. For many years, Bromden has been hiding, posing as deaf and dumb person so he can ignore and be ignored. However, McMurphy’s arrival in the ward awaken Bromden’s senses, almost forcing Bromden to reconnect with reality.

Chapter 9 in the novel represents major development of rising action in the story. To begin with Lily asks May about her mother, and she finds out that she stayed at their house. This is very important to Lily because she finally has proof that her mother has stayed with the Boatwrights. On page 173 May says, "Oh, yes Deborah Fontanel. She stayed out there in the honey house. She was the sweetest thing." This suggests that May knew Lily's mother which left Lily breathless, but the topic also upset May for some reason. Also, on page 173 it states "May had started humming 'Oh! Susanna... Something about Deborah Fontanel had set her off." Since May only starts humming "Oh! Susanna" when something bad has happened, the quote indicates that something about the mentioning of Lily's mother had upset

When the other patients sense that McMurphy is weakening, they urge him to escape. He tells them he will leave early in the morning after Billy has his date. He arranges a going away party for himself. While Billy finally enjoys the pleasure of sex with Candy, McMurphy and the

In Ken Kesey classic 1960’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest McMurphy and Nurse Ratched both suffer from strong and aggressive personalities. Nurse Ratched and McMurphy have manipulative and powerful individualities.

His infectious personality helps him gain the status of leader almost immediately, but earns the role as “savior” with his determination to go against the dictatorship of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy tests her patients through his laughter, antics, and gambling. His laughter, which Chief Bromden describes as “ free and loud and comes out of his mouth and spreads in rings till its lapping against the walls over the ward”, plays a dominant role in his teachings (p.11). He uses it as a tool to reintroduce happiness to the patients. However there is a price to pay for being a Jesus figure.

It is narrated by an intimidating-looking but soft-spoken Indian named Chief Bromden, who joins the ward through self-admission because he does not feel he can properly fit in and interact with society. Bromden feels ignored and neglected despite his attempts to be heard, which is why he pretends to be deaf and dumb when he enters the hospital. In reality, however, the Chief is a cunning man who is actually quite intelligent. McMurphy sees this in him and does not fall for his façade for even a second; he is determined to help Bromden open up and find his voice throughout his time in the hospital. Meanwhile, they work together to bring down the authoritative Nurse Ratched, who is in command of the ward. The Nurse, however, does not make this an easy task; she is prepared to keep up her front no matter what is thrown at her. They battle it out, each trying to reveal that the other is not truly as strong as everyone believes. However, in his last charade, McMurphy takes his plans too far. When the Nurse finds out, she is furious. She goes so far as to order a full lobotomy for McMurphy, essentially killing him. Although Nurse Ratched succeeds in taking down McMurphy, it is not a complete success for her in the end, for in the time spent with McMurphy the other men discover a true sense of self –

“A success, they say, but I say he’s just another robot for the Combine and might be better off as a failure…”(17).

The way Nurse Ratched controls the inmates and punishes them using electric shock therapy symbolizes how McMurphy is trapped. This feeling of entrapment leaves McMurphy in a continuous battle to gain back his freedom from Nurse Ratched. According to McMurphy, “we must pursue freedom at any cost, even if that cost is death.” Along with gaining freedom, Chief Bromden shows characteristics of the second theme, heroism. Throughout the book Bromden pretends to be deaf and dumb. This symbolizes how he feels hidden and different compared to the world he is living in. As the novel continues he becomes greedy for freedom and eventually rises up to his biggest fears when he suffocates Nurse Ratched. Once Nurse Ratched is out of the picture, Bromden breaks the window and escapes from the hospital. The idea that Bromden was able to remove the control panel and use it to break the window, symbolizes his true strength and how he can accomplish anything after running “through” his freedom.

The plot of the story is Bromden’s worldview is subjugated by his fear of what he calls the Combine, a huge conglomeration that controls society and forces people into conformity. Bromden pretends to be deaf and dumb and tries to go unnoticed, even though he is six feet seven inches tall. The all-male mental patients are divided into Acutes, who can be cured, and Chronics, who couldn’t be cured. They are controlled by Nurse Ratched, a former army nurse who runs the ward with harsh, mechanical precision. Randle McMurphy arrives as a transfer from the work farm; Bromden senses that something is different about him. McMurphy swaggers into the ward and introduces himself as a gambling man. Bromden suffocates McMurphy in his bed, enabling him to die with some dignity rather than live as a symbol of Ratched’s power. Bromden, having improved his immense strength that he had thought was gone during his time in the mental ward, but escapes from the hospital by breaking through a window.

Bromden does not fully learn how to stand up for himself or others until it is too late. At the arrival of another patient, McMurphy, Bromden watches as he causes conflict with the staff. Multiple times McMurphy asked the residents to stand up

CHIEF BROMDEN: He is the narrator of the novel and has been in the mental hospital longer than anyone else. He feels as though he has lost himself ever since he was placed into the mental hospital for his illusions and his mental instability. He often just quietly observes everyone in the word and pretends as though he can’t hear or speak. He doesn’t get in anyone’s way, but somehow manages to find out a lot about people in the mental hospital. Due to how analytical he is, he quickly notices how different McMurphy is from everyone else.

Characters like Billy Bibbit, who is too timid, with a speech impediment and Harding who is a closet homosexual and was less avert in sexuality were seen as having mental problems, and were committed to the asylum. McMurphy demonstrated the treating of these patients like normal people, helped them to become more in line with society then Nurse Ratched’s rules and group therapy meetings, or pecking party as Chief Bromden would call it. Chief Bromden was a Native American and wasn’t insane until he was institutionalized and withdrew himself from everyone else pretending he was deaf and dumb to protect himself. Ken Kesey’s message here with Chief Bromdens silence, was to portray the natives of the time having no voice in the country and to show the controlling and manipulative manner of Nurse Ratched that emasculated and de-socialised these grown men.

There are plenty of antics that occur in the hospital, such as McMurphy tricking Nurse Ratched into thinking he was not issued any clothes when, in fact, he had shorts on under his towel (Kesey 99). These funny moments are balanced with the more serious side of the mental hospital, such as how many of the patients were ruined by the hospital’s treatments (Kesey 16-17). I also enjoyed how much characterization that the book included, especially in the development of Bromden. He goes from being a scared patient who hides in the closet from the Nurse (Kesey 6) into a self-actualized man who makes bold and difficult decisions like saving McMurphy from a lifetime of misery by killing him (Kesey 322). While his character is entirely ill, Bromden transforms almost fully in a very satisfying

She believes him to be an ordinary man and that he will eventually settle down. Nonetheless, McMurphy continues to do all he can to annoy her. Throughtout the story, the two battle against each other, seeing who will give in to who first. Everything is rather harmless until and inmates party rolls around. McMurphy smuggles in prostitutes to help out the inmate, Billy. When the nurse found out what had been going on she was furious. Billy ended up slitting his throat and bleeding to death. McMurphy was in real trouble with the nurse this time. To retaliate he tore open Nurse Ratched uniform. As a result, McMurphy is taken away and give a lobotomy. When he returns, he has been changed into a vegetable. His Indian friend known as Chief Bromdencannot bear to see his friend in such a state, and ends up smothering him to death to save him from such a miserable existence. However, he escapes to freedom after that. Ironically, dead Mcmurphy had given this man a new life.