One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Classics of Modern Literature) (The Classics of Modern Literature)

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:41:38 -0700

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a famous Oscar-winning movie, but the book on which it was based is a very different work. The story is centered around the lasting power of one person’s actions on people around him, after his arrival at a psychiatric ward. This new patient is Radle McMurphy, a redheaded troublemaker who starts fights to get away from the work farm. He is markedly different from everyone else who has walked through the double doors. Chief Bromden is half-Indian and exceedingly large and strong. Rather than inspiring fear and respect, he is pretty much ignored by everyone around him because of the assumption that he is deaf and dumb—making him the perfect narrator. His narration (not dumb but articulate) is unique because the symbolism doesn’t stay confined to some incorporeal place that is hidden by the author; it makes its way into the real world as concrete hallucinations. This means his reasoning is sometimes twisted, also that the comparisons he makes are remarkably apt. This is the genius of the book, the main thing Kesey was angry at the filmmakers for changing. Bromden tells the story of how, over the course of several months, McMurphy tries to overturn the stifling order created by Nurse Ratched—a microcosm of the Combine, which in Bromden’s mind, is the oppressive force that has infected society and taken away individuality and even humanity. Both his actions and her reactions escalate as the book progresses. It is a battle of wills, but also between order and disorder. As for the actual reading experience, the development of themes and symbols is surprisingly straightforward once you get past the first part. The pacing is close to perfect after Part One. This book lacks traditional chapters; instead it is divided into parts, an approach that honestly makes a lot of sense. This is also not a straightforward hero story, as the costs of rebellion are clearly shown. I think knowing this information adds to the suspense of the book, so I won’t count this as a spoiler.