American Literature in 20th and 21st centuries
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KEN KESEY (1935–2001) p. 3
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A novelist, short story writer, and essayist, he is best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation the hippies: "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to
be a hippie."
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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It is set in a mental hospital, and serves as a study of the institutional process and the human mind. The story is narrated
by the gigantic half-Native American inmate "Chief" Bromden. It focuses on the rebellious Randle Patrick McMurphy,
who faked insanity to serve out his sentence in the hospital.
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The hospital ward is run by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched. McMurphy constantly upsets Nurse Ratched and her routines,
which leads to constant power struggles between the inmate and the nurse.
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One night McMurphy smuggles bottles of alcohol and two prostitute girlfriends onto the ward. Although McMurphy
plans to escape before the morning shift arrives, he and the other patients fall asleep instead and the staff finds the ward
in a complete mess.
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When the nurse Ratched sees what they have done, she threatens one inmate (Billy) she would tell his mum. Billy then
commits suicide. Enraged at what she has done to Billy, McMurphy attacks her and attempts to strangle her to death.
Nurse Ratched misses a week of work due to her injuries and when she returns she cannot speak.
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Later, McMurphy is brought back in. He has received a lobotomy and is now in a vegetative state, silent and motionless.
The Chief later smothers McMurphy with a pillow during the night and escapes the hospital.
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By losing her voice, Ratched has lost her tyrannical power over the ward. The patients transfer to other wards or check
themselves out of the hospital. By suffocating McMurphy, Bromden enables him to die with some dignity rather than live
as a symbol of Ratched’s power.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was made into an Oscar-winning film directed by Miloš Forman, a famous director of the
60s born in Czechoslovakia.
JOHN IRVING (*1942)A novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter (for his script of The Cider House Rules, 1999), achieved
international success with his novels:
The World According to Garp(1978)
The Cider House Rules (1985)
Describe the main characters + the plot