One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

A detailed Summary of One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

The book takes place in a mental institution some where in the Northwest. The entire story is told by a resident at the institution, Chief Bromben. Everyone at the asylum calls him Chief Broom and thinks that he is deaf and dumb, but they are soon to be proven wrong.

The main problem in the story is the evil nurse that runs the asylum who treats the patients very poorly. She is a very cold woman who has a precise way of doing everything. In the hospital it seems that things run her way, or no way at all.

Towards the beginning a man named Randal Patrick McMurphy (called McMurphy in the book) is admitted to the ward. He is a strong man with a strong purpose. He is also a die-hard gambler. He believes that the way the nurse treats the patients is uncalled for, and decides to take matters into his own hands to dedicate his time to rebelling against Nurse Ratchet. This isnot the smartest thing to do because he probably knew all along that his plan to rebel against the authority could (and did) backfire on him, leading him into great punishment.

In the ward they have lots of meetings where they all get together and share difficulties they are having within the ward and at home. The nurse addresses the problem that one o

The next portion of the book tells the rebellious acts that McMurphy shows against Nurse Ratched. These include complaining about not being able to brush his teeth when ever he feels like it...and standing before her in only a towel threatening to take it off (even though he had

shorts on)...and complaining to her that the music in the day room is too loud...he also complains that it is unfair that they can keep control of the patients cigarettes. The thing that pushes the nurse almost over the edge is when McMurphy sets his heart on watching the World Series and does everything in his power switch the hour of T.V. watching time with the hour of chores. The nurse disagrees with the thought, but allows him to take a vote. They take the vote and all exactly half the patients vote to watch. The nurse states that there must be a majority to change the "institution policy." McMurphy tries extremely hard to get just one more person to vote and finally succeeds when Chief Broom raises his hand. The nurse claims that the vote was already over, and that they were not going to be allowed to watch the baseball game. McMurphy hears the statement that they are not able to watch the game, but decides to deliberately disobey it, which was a big mistake. At the time of the game all the patients are getting their chores done and McMurphy sits in front of the TV watching the game. Everyone comes and joins him. The nurse does not like that they are watching the game and shuts off the power to the TV. McMurphy just sits there watching a blank screen as if the game were on and leads everyone to do the same. This was a big mistake on his part because it very much angered Nurse Ratched by showing her that she could not always have control over what they were doing in the ward.

When the ward patients take a trip to the pool, McMurphy is enlightened that he is "committed" to the hospital and will only leave when the nurse feels that he is ready to go. He starts to rethink the rebellious acts that he did against the nurse because he knows that he just dug himself a deeper hole which could make him stay there longer than he ever wanted or needed to.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Chief Broom, McMurphy Cheswick, Nurse Ratched, Nurse Ratchet, World Series, Patrick McMurphy, Ratched McMurphy, , TV McMurphy, chief broom, Chief Bromben, nurse ratched, disturbed ward, ward patients, patients harding, control panel, shock treatment, treats patients, mcmurphy angered, mcmurphy sits,

Approximate Word count = 1456
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English