one flew over the cuckoo’s nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s NestBy Ben Kesey

Ken Kesey (1935-2001)• Childhood split between

La Junta, Colorado and Springfield, Oregon

• Star wrestler in high school and college; nearly qualified for the Olympics

• Married high school sweet-heart Norma “Faye” Haxby, and had 3 children

• Fathered a fourth child, Sunshine, with fellow Prankster, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Adams

Ken Kesey (1935-2001)• Graduated from the University of Oregon's

School of Journalism with a degree in speech and communication

• Enrolled in the creative writing program at Stanford University, and developed friendships with other famous writers

• Program director at Stanford "saw Kesey...as a threat to civilization and intellectualism and sobriety"

• While at Stanford, Kesey began the manuscript that would become One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ken Kesey: A link between two countercultures

Counter to what culture?• The House Committee on Un-

American Activities (HUAC) continued the hunt for Communists

• A culture of suspicion and silence among those with something to hide and those who feared being misunderstood

• Institutional conformity and its effects on people became the subject of much fiction and popular sociology in the 1950s

Rise of CounterculturesPsychedelic drugs

Sexual revolution

Second Wave Feminism

Civil Rights Movement

Project MKULTRA• While working as a night aide at Menlo

Park Veterans Hospital, Kesey volunteered to take part in a secret CIA funded program

– Experimenting with behavioural engineering of human minds (mind control)

– Studying the effects of psychoactive drugs (LDS, psilocybin, mescaline, cocaine, etc.)

• Kesey also used LSD recreationally and promoted its use as a way to open one’s mind to new ways of thinking and to open doors to unknown aspects of reality

Merry Pranksters• A group that formed

around Kesey and often lived comm-unally at his homes

• Motto: “Never trusta prankster”

• 1964: travelled across the country in a psychedelic-coloured school bus called “Further”

• What started as a celebration of Kesey’s new book, became an experiment: what happens when hallucinogenic-fuelled spontaneity meets the banality and conformity of American society?

Acid Tests• Parties held by Kesey in the

1960s where he passed out and promoted the use of LSD

• Regularly featured performances by Kesey’s favourite band, The Warlocks, aka The Grateful Dead

• Chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s famous book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Psychiatric Institutions• Psychiatry is not univer-

sally respected

• Controversial treatments:

– ECT: electroconvulsive therapy

– Lobotomy– Over-prescription of drugs

• Deinstitutionalization: a shift from long-term inpatient to short-term outpatient care for mental health

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

• Written 1959; published 1962• Set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital

Themes• Individuality vs.

conformity• Individuality vs. insanity• Individuality vs.

deviance• Masculinity and virility• Corrupting nature of

power

• Manipulation• Sexism• Racism• Dehumanization• Moral courage• Moral responsibility• Sexuality

Controversy• One of America’s most highly challenged and banned books:

– 1974: Five residents of Strongsville, Ohio sued the local Board of Education to remove the novel from classrooms. They deemed the book "pornographic" and said that it "glorifies criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles, and contains descriptions of beastiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.“

– 1975: The book was removed from public schools in Randolph, New York and Alton, Oklahoma

Controversy• One of America’s most highly challenged and banned

books:

– 1977: Removed from the required reading list in Westport, Maine

– 1978: Banned from the St. Anthony, Idaho Freemont High School and the teacher who assigned the novel was fired

– 1982: Challenged at Merrimack, New Hampshire High School

Controversy• One of America’s most highly challenged and banned

books:

– 1986: Challenged at Aberdeen Washington High school in Honors English classes. The local Board of Education voted to keep it for the "promotion of secular humanism.“

– 2000: Challenged at Placentie Yorbu Linda, California Unified School District. Parents say that the teachers could "choose the best books, but they keep choosing this garbage over and over again”