Day 2

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Lesson Plan

Discussion of Thought Questions

  1. 1

    What does Bromden mean when he uses the word "big"?

    Bromden uses the word to refer not to physical size, but to courage and power. Bromden is more than six and a half feet tall, yet when he describes his experience as a high school football player, he says, "I was a whole lot bigger in those days." He describes both his father and McMurphy as "big," sometimes in ways that aren't literal (McMurphy, for instance, "sounds big"), and Miss Ratched, who holds tremendous power over all the men on the ward, receives the constant appellation "the Big Nurse."

  2. 2

    How does McMurphy know that Bromden is not deaf?

    McMurphy is an extremely perceptive person. This may in part be...

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