One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Author bioHistorical context

CharactersThemes

Ken Kesey, the author

• Farm boy from Oregon, born 1935• Attended University of Oregon, married high

school sweetheart, had 3 kids• 1959 – volunteers in an experiment about

hallucinogenic drugs – Volunteers to work night shift in a mental ward– Believed patients weren’t crazy, just individualized

beyond society’s expectations– Begins writing– Goes on a road trip with his friends, the Merry

Pranksters

The Merry Pranksters

• Early 1960s• Initiated the “hippie”

phenomena in S.F.• Openly used

psyochoactive drugs, wore outlandish attire, performed bizarre acts of street theater, engaged in peaceful confrontation

"What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world."

Kesey after Further

• Spent six months in Mexico as a fugitive from the law for possession of marijuana

• Turned himself in in 1966 and spent five months in jail

• Wrote largely autobiographical prose after imprisonment before returning to fiction

• Died in 2001

The Counterculture

• Unconventional appearance, music, drugs, communitarian experience and sexual liberation

• White, middle class, young Americans

• Espoused the ideals of free speech, equality, and happiness

• Centralized in Haight St, S.F.

Themes to Consider

• Physical and moral courage

• Self-reliance • Independence • What is insanity?  • Group effort - The

Combine • Morality  - good over evil • Biblical allegory • Challenging symbols of

conformity 

• Therapeutic role of nature 

• Importance of sexuality • Anti-feminism  -

superiority of males • Human freedom  vs

control • Humor and satire, the

power of laughter • Modern version of

Western • Cartoon imagery • Symbolism of names

Merry Pranksters