(a) Part 1

The story starts off with Chief Bromden narrating his observation and views of most of the

characters. He kind of gives us introduction about everyone. He also lets the readers in on

his secret of faking to be deaf and dumb. The real action begins when a new inmate named

Randle P. McMurphy is admitted into the ward. He too fakes to be mentally ill to escape

serving in a work farm on various charges. He introduces himself as a gambler, con-man,

rebel and one with “highly lustful tendencies”. He immediately begins to take charge of the

ward as if it was his to begin with. He becomes the brave rebel for everyone in the ward and

threatens to tilt the delicate balance of the system in the ward that is run with utter

precision by ‘The Big Nurse’, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy makes a bet to mess up the Big

Nurse’s doll face and starched stiff attitude by the end of the week. He gets his point across

that he despises being ruled by a woman, and a horrible one at that! He makes lots of profit

from gambling and incepts an idea of possible escape from the ward through the reinforced

window screens. McMurphy persistently taunts the Nurse to watch a baseball game up to

the point where she loses control and McMurphy wins the bet.

(b) Part 2

Nurse Ratched tries to make McMurphy realise that his fate still lies in her hands no matter

what he did. She makes him clean the toilets but he does not budge. In fact, he just annoys

her and her staff even more. The rest of the patients begin to follow in McMurphy’s

footsteps by not doing their assigned chores up to her standards. Cheswick is moved to the

Disturbed ward for bringing up the issue of cigarette rationing. Nobody, including

McMurphy supports him because he has been warned about what the Nurse is capable of

doing in the Disturbed ward. So he is more cautious around her now. After McMurphy sees

Cheswick for the last time, Cheswick commits suicide in the hospital pool. Then, she plays

her final card by taking away their privilege of having the ‘tub room’ (a room that was once

used for hydrotherapy) as their second game room, which was initially reopened to keep

out the obnoxious music coming from the speakers in the original day room while

McMurphy and the lot played blackjack, poker etcetera. However, she did not think

McMurphy would be able to respond to this and convinced herself that she had won the

battle. But McMurphy still had one last trick up his sleeve when he smashed the window of

the Nurses’ Station to pick a pack of cigarettes and pretended to not know that there was

even a window there because it looked ‘too spotless’.

(c) Part 3

In the following days, McMurphy continues to harass the Nurse and her staff by organizing a

fishing trip. He also manages to convince Chief Bromden that he could be big and strong as

he used to be and lift the control panel in the ‘tub room’. Chief Bromden trusts McMurphy

with the secret of his speech and begins to talk to him. He invited two women he knew from

a brothel in Portland to accompany them and passed them as ‘aunts’ to gain permission to

leave the ward from the Nurse. When only one of them, Candy, shows up, he involves the

ward doctor, Doctor Spivey to drive the twelve of them to the docks. Then, McMurphy cons

the captain of the boat at the docks and sneaks the lot onto the boat and away. The entire

‘crew’ had lots of fun catching large fish and getting drunk. When they come back, the

captain is waiting for them with a couple of policemen. The doctor then threatens to inform

the authorities that the captain did not supply enough life jackets on the boat. He becomes

a life-saver for the ‘crew’. After a short fistfight, the captain and McMurphy have a drink and

laugh the night away. On the way back to the hospital, McMurphy takes a detour to visit his

childhood home where the memory of a girl haunts him. Everyone except him seemed to be

in high spirits when they return to the ward. He looked exhausted not just from the trip but

also from helping everyone for a better life including his own.

(d) Part 4

Nurse Ratched tries to turn the patients in the ward against McMurphy using the excuse of

how much money he has won from them since his arrival. Chief Bromden regains his old

strong physique with McMurphy’s ‘body-building course’. McMurphy bets that Chief

Bromden can lift the control panel and wins because he already saw him do it earlier. The

Chief tells McMurphy that he did not like what he did and McMurphy tries to console him

but to no avail. When the Nurse orders that the men be cleaned with a special liquid

because of vermin they may have encountered on their fishing trip, a fight breaks out. This

gives the Nurse more than enough reason to move McMurphy and Chief Bromden to the

Disturbed ward where they are given several electroshock therapy treatments. The Nurse

realises that this only makes McMurphy stronger in the eyes of the other patients so she

brings him back. Eventually, the day for Billy and Candy’s late-night date, set up by

McMurphy arrives. The ward bribes Turkle, the night aide, and Candy arrives with her friend

Sandy. They all have a party and get drunk. McMurphy plans to escape with the girls before

morning but everyone falls drunkenly asleep until they were discovered the next morning.

Billy and Candy are found together in the Seclusion Room, and Nurse Ratched threatens to

inform Billy’s mother of his activities. Later, Billy commits suicide while waiting in Doctor

Spivey’s office. The Nurse blames McMurphy for the loss of both Cheswick’s and Billy’s life.

In rage, McMurphy smashes the glass into the Nurses’ Station and attempts to strangle the

Nurse. She misses a week on the ward and orders McMurphy’s lobotomy. A lot of changes

in Ward Policy take place during her absence. She tries to put things back in place when she

returns but fails. That day, McMurphy is wheeled in the ward as a Vegetable for all to see.

Later that night, Chief Bromden suffocates McMurphy to put an end to his misery and

escapes by smashing the window in the tub room with the control panel.

Major characters:

Chief Bromden: A half-native American man who is the narrator of the entire story. He pretends to

be deaf and dumb. With this, he gets the privilege of being let in on many of the ward’s secrets from

staff meetings etcetera. He believes that society is controlled by a bulk of machines which he

collectively calls ‘The Combine’.

Randle P. McMurphy: A rebellious con-man who gambles a lot and has lustful tendencies. He fights

against the Nurse for the entire ward. He refuses being defeated by a woman; this one in particular.

But in the end everything he did cost him his life.

Nurse Ratched: The tyrannical head nurse of the ward who will do anything in her power to

suppress whatever and whoever who tries to tip over the balance of the intricately planned

system to “cure” the patients. She has twisted ways of getting things done and interrogating

people her way.

The three African-American aides: Their names are Washington, Williams and Geever

respectively. Geever is the smallest in size of the three. They were specially chosen by Nurse

Ratched to help keep order in her ward. They sometimes abuse the patients.

Doctor Spivey: He is the ward doctor and Nurse Ratched chose to keep him because he does

whatever she tells him to. She drove off all the other doctors who ever worked in that ward.

At one point, Harding indicates that the Nurse could threaten to expose him as a drug addict

if he stood up to her, regardless of if he actually is one. But McMurphy’s rebellious ways

inspires him to go against her as well.

Billy Bibbit: He has a stuttering problem since birth. He is constantly shy, boyish and afraid.

Nurse Ratched keeps him under her control by threatening to inform his mother on his

behaviour in the ward. He has tried to commit suicide several times before. In the end when

he is discovered by the Nurse with a prostitute, he cuts his own throat.

Dale Harding: He is the leader of the Patients Council before McMurphy arrived because he

seemed to be the most educated one among all the patients with a degree. He has a wife

who frequently visits and constantly mocks him about his repressed manhood, while he

mocks her about her lack of education.

Charles Cheswick: He always seems to put up an act of bravery by trying to change

something in the ward but always backs down as soon as he begins due to the oppressive

looks of the Nurse. When McMurphy is admitted into the ward, he finds a friend whom he

can rebel with. In the end when even McMurphy loses confidence to fight the Nurse,

Cheswick drowns himself in the hospital pool.

Mr. Turkle: The elderly African-American aide who works on the night shift. He has a good

heart and constantly helps the patients when they are in trouble and tries to have fun with

them himself.

Other characters:

George Sorensen

Martini

Scanlon

Sefelt

Fredrickson

Max Taber

Ruckly

Ellis

Pete Bancini

Rawler

Old Blastic

The Lifeguard

Colonel Matterson

Candy

Sandy

Vera Harding

Quotations:

“…you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the

world from running you plumb crazy.” (Page 214, paragraph 4, line 6)

This is a wonderful quotation because it tells us that laughter really is the best medicine; especially

one to keep us sane. It explains a deep philosophy of life in such simple words.

“I'm not saying they kill. They didn’t kill him. They did something else.” (Page 189, paragraph

11, line 7)

This quotation makes you think how much power we have given the government until they can

make a mess out of an independent and strong man without using force. Their twisted diplomacy

was enough to kill Chief Bromden’s father inside out. They could be called murderers but there is no

proof to show the way they suppressed him.

“I felt like I was flying. Free.” (Page 280, paragraph 3, line 4)

This quotation reminds us the value of freedom and how we take it for granted. The way Chief

Bromden explains his first stride of freedom from the hospital after decades makes the reader

visualise the expressions and emotions of the ‘free’ character.

“I been away a long time.” (Page 281, paragraph 2)

In the last line of this novel, Chief Bromden reminds us to always go back to our roots and that we

can never run away from who we are no matter what we try. It also has a morale telling us to always

keep your loved ones close. Chief Bromden really does love his family and tribe a lot because he still

keeps them in mind and wants to go back to them; to defend them after all these years.

“do I look like a sane man?” (Page 42, paragraph 5, line 2)

This particular quotation does get the reader thinking if McMurphy really is a sane man after

witnessing his actions and reading through his record. It is obvious that McMurphy admitted himself

in this ward on purpose so that he can escape prison and serving on a work farm. But in actual fact,

studies worldwide have proven that every human being has some kind of psychological disorder that

some of us know about and some do not. In some, the problem is less serious, so they seem to be

normal. However, in others the problem may be too much to handle and they are labelled as

psychopaths. So let us question ourselves after reading this quote; am I sane?