1. One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest
Introductory Lecture

2. The Life and Times of Ken Kesey
Themes & Symbols
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

3. Bibliographic Information
Kesey was born in 1935 in La Junta, Colorado
Lived on farms in Colorado and Oregon
Attended University of Oregon's School of Journalism
1958 – Enrolled in creative writing program at Stanford University
Married his highschool sweetheart, Norma “Faye” Haxby, and had three children, Jed, Zane and Shannon.
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

4. Known as a cultural icon who some consider a link between the "beat generation" of the 1950s (jazz, poetry, drug experiences) and the "hippies" of the 1960s.

5. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
Experimentation
in 1961, his path took a turn for the surreal. He enrolled in an Army- sponsored hallucinogenic-drug experiment—which paid him $75 a session—run by Stanford scientists at the Menlo Park VA Hospital.
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

6. Kesey soon became a night aide on the psychiatric ward at the hospital
Kesey soon became a night aide on the psychiatric ward at the hospital. His on-the-job observations, combined with regular drug use, inspired the shriek-at-the- establishment Cuckoo’s Nest. LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and amphetamine IT-290 What does this mean?

7. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
Well ...
Writing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
At the end of his participation in drug experiments, Kesey worked in a mental ward at the hospital and felt that the patients weren't crazy at all but did not “fit” in with society.
“[Kesey's] goal was to break through conformist thought and ultimately forge a reconfiguration of American society.”
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

8. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
The Merry Pranksters
Kesey's group of friends:
Took psychedelic drugs
Wore outrageous clothing
Participated in peaceful confrontations with the law
Performed bizarre street acts
Were against all levels of conformity and conventionality
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

9. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
The Merry Pranksters
Tired partygoers enjoy the vestiges of the Acid Test Graduation, an elaborate Halloween party thrown by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters at the Warehouse, San Francisco, Oct. 31, Along with live music and psychedelic light shows, large quantities of hallucinogenic drugs were consumed at the Acid Tests, though LSD was outlawed in the state of California (Oct. 7, 1966).
Ted Streshinsky/CorbisBrittanica.com
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

10. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
The Merry Pranksters
To promote Kesey's novel Sometimes a Great Notion, the Merry Pranksters took off on a tour from San Fransisco to New York in their 'bus‘ nick named ‘Furthur.’
This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey's own screenplay "The Further Inquiry") was the group's attempt at making art out of everyday life.
"What we hoped was that we could stop the coming end of the world." Kesey
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

11. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
The Kool-Aid Acid Test
Name given to Kesey's wild parties
Kesey would have his guests ingest LSD, sometimes without acknowledgeme nt
Blue Kool-Aid
Facing one's fears under LSD.
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

12. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
The Merry Pranksters
“Ken Kesey, who was at the center of the psychedelic counterculture on the West Coast, speaks with his band of Merry Pranksters, San Francisco, 'I believe man is changing," Kesey said. "Our concept of reality is changing. It's been happening here in San Francisco. I believe there's a whole new generation of kids. They're different. I can hear it in the music.'”
Brittanica.com
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

13. The Merry Pranksters and the Psychedelic Era
It has been said that they were responsible for the introduction of the San Francisco psychedelic era that is the 60's.
In 1966, Kesey has stated that these drugs were “temporary and delusional” but this could not stop the trend that he and the Merry Pranksters has started.
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

14. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Became incredibly popular and was viewed as a critical look on society.
Still claimed as Kesey's most popular work.
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Based on Kesey’s experiences as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, CA
Exposed the public to the inner workings of mental health institutions
Narrated by a schizophrenic patient Chief Bromden
Reveals Nurse Ratched’s abuse of power (i.e. shock theraphy & lobotomies)

16. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
“It was read as a compelling cautionary tale that viewed society, represented by Big Nurse, as a cold, formidable negation of all that is free, lusty and nonconformist. McMurphy, a malingerer from a penal work farm, tries to rekindle a spark of life among his fellow patients, and is thwarted at each step by the cold, calculating Nurse Ratched”
Lets see what you think!
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters

17. Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters
Sources Used by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia /
Analysis: Themes, Symblos, & Characters