1. Aim: How does McMurphy begin to articulate the effects of Nurse Ratched’s manipulative hold over the patients? Do Now: “So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.” – Kurt Vonnegut Consider: Is conformity part of a survival instinct?

2. “They’ve been maneuvered again into grilling one of their friends like he was a criminal and they were all prosecutors and judge and jury.” p. 50 To what is this quote referring? Are the patients aware of Nurse Ratched’s role in their actions? Insidious: causing harm in a way that is gradual or not easily noticed

3. “Oh, a peckin’ party can wipe out the whole flock in a matter of a few hours, buddy, I seen it.” p. 51 How is McMurphy’s assessment of the group’s behavior apt? On p. 51, what solution does McMurphy offer to the “pecking party”? How does Harding initially react to McMurphy’s concerns? How can we explain his reaction?

4. “She ain’t peckin’ at your eyes. That’s not what she’s peckin’ at.” What is Nurse Ratched pecking at? What idea is McMurphy setting up here? Emasculation What do you think about McMurphy’s assessment of Nurse Ratched’s motives? On p. 63, Harding states, “We are vicitims of a matriarchy here…” What does that mean?

5. “No one’s dared come out and say it before, but there’s not a man among us that doesn’t think it, that doesn’t feel just as you do about her and the whole business – feel it somewhere down deep in his scared little soul.” Why hasn’t anyone dared to say anything before McMurphy? What does Harding mean when he calls the patients, rabbits – ? According to Harding, how is the world divided?

6. Can McMurphy get Nurse Ratched’s goat? What bet does McMurphy make with the other patients? According to Harding, what is the only way a man can gain control over a woman? Why does he think McMurphy will fail? What will happen if McMurphy does fail?