One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

One Flew Over the • Cuckoo’s Nest

The Life and Times of Ken Kesey Themes & Symbols Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

Bibliographic Information • Kesey was born in 1935 in La Junta, Colorado • Lived on farms in Colorado and Oregon • Attended University of Oregon's School of Journalism • 1958 – Enrolled in creative writing program at Stanford University • Married his highschool sweetheart, Norma “Faye” Haxby, and had three children, Jed, Zane and Shannon. Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

Known as a cultural icon who some consider a link between the "beat generation" of the 1950s (jazz, poetry, drug experiences) and the "hippies" of the 1960s.

The Beat Generation Beat Generation: group of American novels and poets who came to prominence in the late 1950s and early 1960s. American author Jack Kerouac introduced the term Beat Generation sometime around 1948 to describe his “alternative” friends and as a general term describing the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering then in New York. They were also known as the “counter-culture.” Poetry readings were a common forum for Beatniks to articulate dissatisfaction with societal constraints. Allen Ginsberg’s poem HOWL illustrated what many “mainstreamers” viewed as the moral and social decay of the time. Groups such as the Beats were a part of a larger movement called the “counter-culture.” This movement led to the emergence of the “hippies” of the 60s. Hippies were dedicated to peace, love, and happiness and they endeavoured to ‘expand their minds’ through the use of mind-altering drugs such as LSD

Allen Ginsberg • I saw • the best minds • of my generation • destroyed by madness, • starving hysterical • naked. . .” • --Allen Ginsberg, Howl (1956)

Experimentation • Ken Kesey took part in scientific experiments at a hospital, Menlo Park Veterans Hospital, trialling LSD as a state-controlled mind-altering substance. At the time, LSD was thought that it could help those suffering mental disorders such as schizophrenia. It was not so effective as a medical tool as it induced hallucinations. • To the counter-culture of the 1960s LSD was a good thing; it helped hippies to explore their own mind and expand their horizons. Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

Well ... • Writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest • At the end of his participation in drug experiments, Kesey worked in a mental ward at the hospital and felt that the patients weren't crazy at all but did not “fit” in with society. • “[Kesey's] goal was to break through conformist thought and ultimately forge a reconfiguration of American society.” • http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/kesey.html Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

The Merry Pranksters • Kesey's group of friends: • Took psychedelic drugs • Wore outrageous clothing • Participated in peaceful confrontations with the law • Performed bizarre street acts • Were against all levels of conformity and conventionality Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

The Merry Pranksters were a circle of people with Ken Kesey at the center, living communally at his home in La Honda, California. Their “acid tests” were chronicled by Tom Wolfe in his “non-fiction novel”The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. They traveled across the United States in a psychedelically-painted school bus labeled “Further.” The trip’s original purpose was to visit the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City.

The Merry Pranksters • Tired partygoers enjoy the vestiges of the Acid Test Graduation, an elaborate Halloween party thrown by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters at the Warehouse, San Francisco, Oct. 31, 1966. Along with live music and psychedelic light shows, large quantities of hallucinogenic drugs were consumed at the Acid Tests, though LSD was outlawed in the state of California (Oct. 7, 1966). • Ted Streshinsky/CorbisBrittanica.com Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

The Merry Pranksters • To promote Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion, the Merry Pranksters took off on a tour from San Francisco to New York in their 'bus‘ nick named ‘Furthur.’ • This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey's own screenplay "The Further Inquiry") was the group's attempt at making art out of everyday life. • "What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world." Kesey Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

The Kool-Aid Acid Test • Name given to Kesey's wild parties • Kesey would have his guests ingest LSD, sometimes without acknowledgement • Blue Kool-Aid • Facing one's fears under LSD. Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

Author Hunter S. Thompson remembered La Honda as "the world capital of madness. • There were no rules, fear was unknown, and sleep was out of the question."

The Merry Pranksters • “Ken Kesey, who was at the center of the psychedelic counterculture on the West Coast, speaks with his band of Merry Pranksters, San Francisco, 1966. 'I believe man is changing," Kesey said. "Our concept of reality is changing. It's been happening here in San Francisco. I believe there's a whole new generation of kids. They're different. I can hear it in the music.'” • Brittanica.com Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

The Merry Pranksters and the Psychedelic Era • It has been said that they were responsible for the introduction of the San Francisco psychedelic era that is the 60's. • In 1966, Kesey has stated that these drugs were “temporary and delusional” but this could not stop the trend that he and the Merry Pranksters has started. Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest • Cuckoo’s Nest published in 1962, at the height of the Cold War, became incredibly popular and was viewed as a critical look on society. • Still claimed as Kesey's most popular work. Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest • Based on Kesey’s experiences as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, CA • Exposed the public to the inner workings of mental health institutions • Narrated by a schizophrenic patient Chief Bromden • Reveals Nurse Ratched’s abuse of power (i.e. shock therapy & lobotomies)

Some images that McMurphy would have seen in his ward…

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest • Relevant vocabulary:CombineLobotomyPsychoticsanity • Symbols:CombineFogcharacter namesfishing tripprostitutionmedicinedeathsex (both action and gender)Bromden (both as a character and a symbol)Nurse Rached’s body • Relevant Motifs:Role of the narrator (and issues of voice)ConflictNotion of sanityMan versus “the machine”Individual v. Society (same thing?)Masculinity vs. FemininityMemoryAmerican dominance

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest • “It was read as a compelling cautionary tale that viewed society, represented by Big Nurse, as a cold, formidable negation of all that is free, lusty and nonconformist. McMurphy, a malingerer from a penal work farm, tries to rekindle a spark of life among his fellow patients, and is thwarted at each step by the cold, calculating Nurse Ratched” • Lets see what you think! Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

Sources Usedhttp://www.britannica.com/psychedelic/scene/kesey.html#087p1http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/kesey.html 1998 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia / 22903 www.wikipedia.com Analysis: Themes, Symbols, & Characters

American Film Institute: Heroes & Villains • -top 50 villains and heroes in 100 years of film history • Atticus Finch (from To Kill A Mockingbird) the greatest hero of all time • Dr. Hannibal Lecter (from Silence of the Lambs) the top villain • The other within the top 5 villains: Norman Bates, Darth Vader, The Wicked Witch of the West, Nurse Ratched

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest