One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Study Guide

Chief Bromden

Chronic, committed, pretends to be deaf and dumb. Schizophrenia, hallucinations, trauma from childhood and the “Combine.”
Escapes after killing McMurphy out of mercy

Randle P. McMurphy

Acute, committed (transferred from prison work farm).
Gambler, brawler, authority defier.
Lobotomized by Nurse Ratched, mercy-killed by Chief.

Billy Bibbit

Acute, voluntary.
Severe stutter, dominated by his mother, lack of confidence.
Commits suicide (cuts his throat) after Ratched threatens to tell his mother.

Dale Harding

Acute, voluntary.

Insecure about his effeminate manner and failing marriage

Signs himself out after McMurphy’s example inspires him.

Cheswick

Acute, committed.

Easily agitated, dependent on others (esp. McMurphy).

Commits suicide by drowning in the pool.

Rawler

Chronic.
Severe depression.
Commits suicide by cutting off his testicles and bleeding out

Ellis

Chronic (after electroshock).
Was Acute, but became a Chronic; nailed to the wall in a crucifix position.
Remains a Chronic on the ward.

Ruckly

Chronic.
Reduced to saying “Ffffuck da wife” after failed lobotomy. Remains in the ward, brain-damaged.

Colonel Matterson

Chronic, oldest patient.

Senility, talks in riddles about history.

Dies quietly in his bed.

Sefelt & Fredrickson

Acutes.

Epileptics; Sefelt refuses meds (rots teeth), Frederickson takes double dose.

Remain on the ward.

Nurse Ratched

“Big Nurse,” was an army nurse before the ward.

Mr. Turtle

night orderly who helps McMurphy with the party.

Orderlies (“black boys”)

Washington, Williams, and Warren.

Dr. Spivey

main doctor on the ward, timid, easily manipulated.

Public Relations man

leads tours, insists the hospital is a model facility.

Counter-culture & McMurphy

Counter-culture rejected authority and conformity. McMurphy embodies it by rebelling against Ratched and encouraging individuality, sexuality, and laughter.

Chief’s hallucinations

He sees mechanical wires and fog. Trauma comes from his father’s downfall and his mother’s dominance.

The Combine

Chief’s metaphor for society’s machine-like system of control and conformity.

Electrical wires hallucination

Chief imagines wires controlling people, symbolizing the Combine’s manipulation.

“Swelling up big”

People grow larger when they assert power or dominance (like Ratched or his mother).

Chief’s dream (no pills)

Dreams of being taken apart mechanically; when he wakes, he sees he drooled on the floor but feels more alive.

Nurse Ratched conceals

Her large breasts (sexuality), because they conflict with her image of control.

Orderlies’ trait

She chooses them for their hatred and cruelty toward the patients.

McMurphy’s shorts

Decorated with whales and women; he calls it a symbol of his individuality and freedom.

Harding’s animal metaphor

Rabbits (weak, fearful).

Harding’s hands

Long and feminine, symbolize his sexual insecurity.

Nurse Ratched’s Big Book

A log of patients’ confessions, used to shame and control them.

Financial statements

Show McMurphy profits from gambling, suggesting selfish motives.

Significance of Billy’s age

He is by far the youngest patient on the ward.

Mrs. Bibbit’s objection

She called Billy’s girlfriend a “painted Jezebel.”

Fishing trip significance

Patients regain courage, self-respect, and ability to laugh.

Christ-figure parallels

McMurphy’s crown of thorns remark, sacrifice, fishing trip.

Nurse Ratched’s oppression

• Nurse Ratched uses her authority to shame and control the men’s sexuality.

• She dresses in a stiff, white uniform to hide her own femininity and denies any suggestion of warmth or intimacy.

• She humiliates patients (especially Harding and Billy) by bringing up their sexual insecurities in group therapy.

• With Billy Bibbit, she cruelly invokes his mother’s disapproval after his sexual encounter, which directly leads to his suicide.

• She also punishes McMurphy for his open sexual confidence because it threatens her dominance.

Nurse Ratched’s ultimate punishment

Orders McMurphy lobotomized.

Chief kills McMurphy

Out of mercy; McMurphy is no longer whole after lobotomy.

What is the name of the Catholic nurse so afraid of her own sexuality?

Nurse Pilbow

Who commits suicide by cutting off his own testicles?

Rawler

Who is the oldest Chronic in the ward?

Colonel Matterson

Which of these characters does not die?

Chief Bromden

After electroshock treatment, what does Ellis become?

A chronic

Who takes the medication that Sefelt refuses?

Frederickson

Which of the following is not a domineering mother figure in the novel?

Mrs. Bromden

What is Nurse Ratched's only incongruous physical trait?

Her large breasts

Which of the following does McMurphy represent the least?

Insanity

Which character calls the patients rabbits who need a strong wolf?

Dale Harding

What is significant about Dr. Spivey's suggestion about the tub room?

It shows that McMurphy is as capable as Nurse Ratched of manipulating the system.

Which of the following games do the patients not play?

Monopoly

Which of the following patients is not considered a Chronic?

Scanlon

What is significant about Billy Bibbit's age?

Billy is by far the youngest man on the ward.

What was Mrs. Bibbit's objection concerning the woman Billy proposed to?

The woman was a vulgar, painted Jezebel.

What is significant about the financial statements that Nurse Ratched posts?

They suggest that McMurphy operates primarily out of self-interest.

Which of the following does not support the theme that McMurphy is a Christ-figure?

The overturning of the gambling table.

Which of the following comments does not support the theme of Nurse Ratched as a force for sexual oppression?

"You can go, Mr. Taber, if you don't wish to take your medication orally."

What does Nurse Ratched do to ultimately punish McMurphy?

Order him a lobotomy

What does McMurphy complain about as being too loud in the common room?

The music

Who does Nurse Ratched threaten to tell about Billy's exploits with the whore?

Billy's mother

Who helps McMurphy overwhelm the black boys in the shower?

Chief Bromden

What does Nurse Ratched do to dissuade the men from going on the fishing trip?

Posts scary articles about fishing disasters

The description of Harding’s hands is significant because

they give the reader a clue as to his sexual difficulties, their large, meaty appearance contrasts with Harding’s meek manners.

The fishing trip is good for the men because

they regain some of their lost courage and learn to laugh again

Which of the following statements about McMurphy is true?

McMurphy has lead a tough life with many fights, but his laugh is genuine.

The orderlies abuse the patients by

cramming food into the chronics’ mouths more quickly than they can swallow it, sexually abusing the men with thermometers.

Cheswick and Billy both commit suicide because

once they have tasted what it is like to be strong men, they cannot go back to being “rabbits.”

Nurse Ratched decides to keep McMurphy on the ward after McMurphy defies her authority when he pretends to watch the world series on TV because

she knows if she moves him to Disturbed, he will then become a martyr to the other patients.

McMurphy stops his battle with Nurse Ratched when

McMurphy realizes Ratched has enough power to keep him in the hospital indefinitely.

Sefelt refuses to take his seizure medication because

he does not want to look old, it will make his teeth rot.

Which of the following incidents from the novel illustrates the theme that sometimes rules need to be broken so a person can grow as an individual.

McMurphy takes the boat without the Captain’s permission, The men play monopoly without strictly adhering to the rules, McMurphy sneaks Candy into the ward so she can be with Billy.

McMurphy tries to fluster Nurse Ratched with little rebellions like

writing rude messages in mirror writing and pasting them under the rims of the toilet seats, making crude sexual comments to her about the size of her breasts.

The Chief first feels deaf and dumb

as a child on the reservation before it is sold to the government.

Which of the following does the Chief believe is an example of the Combine at work?

The Chief notices that all of the new houses look alike.

The Chief kills McMurphy because

he knows McMurphy will never be whole again after the lobotomy and is as good as

Which of the following quotations from this story is spoken by Nurse Ratched?

“I don’t agree that he should be sent up to Disturbed, which would simply be an easy way of passing our problem on to another ward, and I don’t agree that he is some kind of extraordinary being - some kind of ‘super’ psychopath.”

What does McMurphy promise the Chief if the Chief will agree to lift the control panel?

McMurphy promises to make the Chief big again.