1. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Pages 42-78)

2. Summary Patients have a meeting
The big nurse observes the meeting from the window, she hasnt moved from the same spot for hours which makes us think why she is doing so.
They discuss Mr. Harding’s wife from the meeting before (page 44)
We finally find out what McMurphy is admitted for (page 45)
McMurphy admits to being crazy (47) asks doc & big nurse if he looks like a sane man but gets no reply but laughter as if he is truly crazy for asking such thing.
McMurphy stays quiet for the rest of the meeting, seems confused but isn’t sure what about
Pete acts up for the very first time (53, 54)

3. Harding and Mcmurphy get into an argument about the nurses and their treatment. If they are really trying to help or not. (page 59)
McMurphy compares nurse Ratched to a ball cuter, going for the vitals (page 60)
Simile page 61 “unselfish as the wind”
Patients compare themselves to rabbits that just need help fitting into the rabbit world.
McMurphy is making a bet he can get the best of nurse Ratched before she can get the best of him.

4. Gender Roles:
a set of behaviors, whether deliberate or unconscious, that indicates whether somebody's gender identity is male or female
One of the main themes in this novel is gender role reversal. Stereotypically males are hardened authoritarians and women are non-aggressors but in this they are reversed by having nurse ratched being the hardened authorities and mcmurphy being the non-aggressor. This is shown in this part by nurse ratched getting angry and telling people to shut pete up and with mcmurphy him being somewhat calm and not angry/being the non-aggressor.
The nurse, Nurse Ratched, the main female role is seen as a powerful mother figure/mother like. Most often, Nurse Ratched is telling someone what to do, or reminding the patients of something much like a mother does. Usually she does this by yelling or being aggressive towards the patients. In this part of the text she is expressed this way a lot telling people what to do for example to calm Pete down and getting angry at pete.

5. Themes
Madness: although most of the characters in this story are considered mentally ill, the plot of the novel suggests that there’s a thin line between "normal" and "abnormal”. Which seems to be directed by fear.
- McMurphy being confused/afraid if he is a “sane man”
Laws and Order: Nurse Ratched uses many rules and regulations, as well as an ordered routine to keep the asylum patients under control. Many of the rules Nurse Ratched has in place is only to simply to display her control over the patients’ lives.
Freedom vs. Confinement:  Kesey protrays that the patients may find a sense of freedom while being confined. Though many of the men want to be in the mental institution, they still want to enjoy certain freedoms however they struggle with the way they’re treated. Being sent to the Disturbed ward or for electroshock therapy for asking simple things is what the patients hate the most, yet seem to be okay with it.

6. Symbolism
In the Novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (OFOCN) the symbol that is the most significant is the fog machine. The fog symbolizes an escape from reality or a lack of insight, Mr. Bromden hallucinates fog seeping into the ward coming from the vents when he is either scared or is feeling the effects of his medication. When Bromden starts to slip away from reality he imagines this fog that is very thick and white, when the fog appears he feels almost like he is safe for a moment and that nothing in the real life matters. The fog can also represent the terrible rut, or routine that Ratched has all the patients in and when McMurphy shows up it is almost like he eliminates and clears up all the fog from the ward.

7. Analytical Questions
What gender role do you think is most expressed in one flew over the cuckoo's nest?
What does freedom mean for the patients? What does it mean for Nurse Ratched?
Do you think McMurphy is actually mentally ill or just a schemer who rebels against authority?