One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Part 1: Author, Synopsis, Review of an excerpt taken from a forward by Chuck Palahniuk, and History of the Asylum Part 2: Types of Narration, Points of View, and Figures of Speech

Ken Kesey, the author, was born in La Junta, Colorado, in 1935 Ken Kesey, the author, was born in La Junta, Colorado, in 1935. His father had a successful creamery business after founding the Eugene Farmers Cooperative. Ken had a lively childhood and a very successful university career at the University of Oregon. Upon graduating, he received a scholarship to Stanford University, but dropped shortly after. At this point in his life a rebellious nature was awakened and he joined the counterculture movement and began experimenting with drugs – LSD which was not illegal yet. During this period Ken married Faye Haxby – a sweetheart of his from school.

The counterculture developed in the United States in the late 1960s The counterculture developed in the United States in the late 1960s. This movement lasted from approximately 1964 to 1972, and it coincided with America's involvement in Vietnam. A counterculture is the rejection of conventional social norms—in this case, the norms of the 1950s. This date range indicates when the counterculture at the time reached a scale of influence. Any movement develops over a span of time.

Following World War II, the pharmaceutical industry exploded and many of the medications produced were not regulated and/or didn’t undergo a lengthy testing period as they would today. LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) was originally produced by Albert Hofmann in 1938 from a grain fungus that grew on wheat. It was meant for various psychiatric uses because it assisted in altering perceptions. In addition to use within asylums, the CIA - in the 1950’s - thought that the psychedelic properties of the drug could be used for mind control purposes and chemical warfare. For these reasons, dosages were highly regulated until 1962.

From 1962 onwards, LSD started to appear on the Black Market and was produced by armatures. This new LSD was often contaminated as it was not produced within controlled environments. This meant that when drug uses consumed a dose, they did not know if they were going to have a “good trip,” feel nothing, or die. LSD had many adverse effects some of which included anxiety, paranoia, and delusions, but most heinous would be flashbacks that could occur 10-20 years after using the drug once.

Ken was not introduced to LSD within the counterculture groupings that he was a part of. While he was still at Stanford he had taken on a job at a Veterans’ Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California. Here he was paid as a volunteer experimental subject to taking mind-altering drugs and to report their effects. It was during the LSD experiments that Ken had a vision of a Native American silently sweeping the hospital floor which formed the background for the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

The film adaption of the novel was a huge success and was filmed within the Oregon State Hospital where the actual hospital patients played the extras. Jack Nicolson played the lead character of McMurphy after Marlon Brondo and Gene Hackman (both huge movies stars at the time) turned down the role. This film was Nicilson’s career-making role and won five Oscars. Ken Kesey, however, was barely mentioned during the Academy Award ceremony’s and made it known that he was unhappy with the film. He did not like Nicolson, or the script, and had sued the producers.

Following the production of the film, Ken published a second book, Sometimes a Great Notion, which is now considered his best work. However, at the time, it was not received well by the critics and Ken took a break from writing. These years removed from writing proved to be a turbulent time for Ken and ended in his incarceration (five months) for possession of marijuana. Once released, he settled in Pleasant Hill, Oregon with his wife and kids, taught a graduate writing class at the University of Oregon and published four more books. Ken passed away in 2001 due to complications after surgery for liver cancer.

Synopsis Randle Patrick McMurphy opts to serve his time for “repeated outbreaks of passion that suggests the possible diagnosis of psychopath,” at the Oregon State Mental Institution instead of prison because he believes it will be an easier sentence. It only takes a couple of hours on Nurse Ratched’s ward for McMurphy to realize his mistake. During his stay, McMurphy riles up seven complacent patients who once were unable to cope with the overwhelming pressures of the modern world, but now are inspired to rebel against the strict rules of the hospital.