One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Students study the institutional processes and popular beliefs surrounding mental health in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, as they discuss and debate the themes of power, order, and authority.
Unit Summary
Ken Kesey’s novel, popularized by the Oscar-winning movie adaptation of 1975, serves as a study of the institutional processes and the truth (or fictions) behind societal beliefs about mental health. The novel has been widely read and adapted into a Broadway play as well as the film.
Students will analyze the power struggle between the patients on the ward and the terrorizing character of the Big Nurse that serves as the major conflict of the novel. This analysis will draw students into debates and discussions about some of the central themes such as power, order, authority, and the consequences when these are abused. The novel’s instances of raw humanity also allow for students to relate to patients in a mental institution in the 1950s and consider their plight. The empathy Kesey builds in his readers helps to draw them into questioning the “truth” about “sanity” and “insanity,” thematic topics that students will consider in this unit and in other units in 11th and 12th grade English.
Texts and Materials
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Core Materials
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Book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (Penguin Random House LLC, Berkley Premium Edition, 2016)
Supporting Materials
Article: “Kitty Dukakis: Electroshock Therapy Has Given Me a New Lease on Life” (National Public Radio)
Article: “Mental Health Medications” (National Institute of National Health)
Article: “Helen” (GreekMythology.com)
Short Story: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Book: The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women, by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff (Bancroft Press, 2016)
Speech: “Andrew Jackson’s Speech to Congress on 'Indian Removal'” by President Andrew Jackson (CommonLit.org)
Assessment
This assessment accompanies Unit 3 and should be given on the suggested assessment day or after completing the unit.
Key Knowledge
Intellectual Prep
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- Read and annotate both the book and this unit plan.
- Watch the film adaptation of the novel.
- Take the unit exam, including writing the essay response.
- Read and annotate all paired texts.
Essential Questions
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- Sanity and Insanity: What does it mean to be “crazy” and who gets to decide?
- Truth: Is truth in the eye of the beholder or is it decided by society?
- Big and Small: What makes someone “big” or “small?”
- Rules/Order/Authority: Are rules necessary for society? At what point do rules become corrupt or oppressive?
Writing Focus Areas
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This unit focuses on a type of writing that is frequently assessed on the new SAT. Specifically, students will explain how an author uses specific literary devices to convey his/her message in a single text. In the future, students will need to do the same for a pair of texts, but for this unit they will focus on just one text.
Spiraling Literary Analysis Writing Focus Area
- Develop a clear thesis that answers the prompt.
- Create clear and cohesive arguments to support the thesis.
- Choose the most relevant evidence to support the claims.
Related Teacher Tools:
Vocabulary
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Literary Terms
metaphor, onomatopoeia, diction, analogy, allusion, juxtaposition, theme, motif, pathos
Roots and Affixes
-otomy (lobotomy, leucotomy), aud- (auditory), jur- (jurisdiction), circ- (circumvent)
Text-based
Part 1: hullabaloo (5), precise (5), calculated (5), enamel (5), seclusion (9), admission (10), acute (15), chronic (15), nuisance (16), ornery (19), persecutes (22), cagey (24), whirring (25), hefting (25), orient (25), hypodermic (27), manipulator (27), intolerable (28), efficiency (29), accumulate (29), appraises (30), hostility (34), frenzied (38), nimble (40), lolling (43), brawn (44), insubordination (45), democratic (49), grievance (49), fester (49), subconscious (50), acoustic (50), murky (55), cadaver (55), prosecutors (56), quaint (57), fracas (57), taut (58), braggart (59), vitals (60), grimace (61), veritable (61), incapable (63), devour (64), astute (65), bashful (65), sly (66), vogue (69), consolation (70), matriarchy (71), juggernaut (71), impregnable (73)
Part 2: scant (77), transmit (79), branded (80), stoicism (80), spiel (80), lacerations (82), flusters (83), hydroelectric (86), bloated (89), outlandish (90), shrewd (91), policy (93), convalescent (97), physique (100), gaudy (100), heathen (105), reminisce (108), maudlin (108), nostalgia (108), auditory (110), spell (117), turmoil (118), mope (119), scowling (120), assets (123), procedure (140), hex (142), jurisdiction (144), recrimination (145)
Part 3: bile (151), fiendish (151), defy (152), comparative (154), thwarted (154), authoritarian (155), smoldering (157), brashness (157), femininity (159), sufficient (159), manufacture (161), haywire (162), silage (165), commenced (165), lope (165), gripe (167), spite (177), confound (179), haggard (180), schematic (182), curtail (183), inadequacies (184), concise (189), perverse (190), rational (190), jargon (191), lucid (192), committed (194), rebellious (199), impose (199), circumvent (199), tactic (205), menace (207), treachery (209), hovel (211), fraternize (212), squalor (212), metropolis (214), sterilized (229), predicament (230), speculation (233), gawk (234), sullenly (238), waiver (242), idle (245), cormorants (247), gaff (248), grim (252), rigorous (255), vaguely (256), woebegone (257)
Part 4: maneuver (261), martyr (264), stingy (266), chicanery (266), cautionary (270), initiative (273), trudging (274), clatter (276), drawling (277), hunkered (277), cogs (282), anoint (283), corrosion (283), vulnerable (291), peaked (293), chastity (296), artificial (301), tranquilize (304), recuperations (306), mellow (308), discretion (315), forcibly (315), contemptuous (316), ordeal (317), shudder (317)
Idioms and Cultural References
Combine (3), Public Relations (9), Eisenhower (21), vial (27), Inside vs. Outside (28), wheelers (28), vegetables (28), latrine (35), spine tap (36), Seconal (37), Punch & Judy (37), Korea (45), shindig (57), takes the cake (60), synthetic opiate (63), Red Chinese (66), Marilyn Monroe (71), black jack (81), Catholic (83), dam (87), catwalk (87), scalpel (88), conman (92), Canada honkers (94), geriatrics (98), twitches (102), IOU (105), Monopoly (114), buck (138), Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun (154), hydrocephalus (172), epileptic (177), Dilantin (177), anti-convulsant (179), hoity-toity (185), herded (188), c’est la vie (189), lobotomy (189), raise Cain (190), frontal lobe castration (191), on the ropes (193), canteen (197), Chinook salmon (209), Hiawatha (212), Spearmint Gum (217), crazy like a fox (264), dry (267)
Content Knowledge and Connections
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- Mental health, specifically: Asylums, Anti-psychotic medication, Electroshock therapy, lobotomy, and other historical approaches to treatment of mental illness and the mentally ill in the United States.
- Because of the narrator’s identity, there will be some exploration of the history of Native Americans and the United States government, particularly the creation of reservations.
Previous Fishtank ELA Connections
- The stigma behind mental health was explored in Grade 11 English Language Arts Unit 1: The Glass Menagerie. Students will already have ideas coming into this unit about how we treat the disabled.
Future Fishtank ELA Connections
- The narrator’s “invisibility” to the doctors and nurses on the wards will be reflected in the narrator of Grade 12 English Language Arts Unit 1: Invisible Man
Lesson Map
Standards
Core Standards
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