Cuckoo’s Nest Quiz 5

Part One: Previous Readings

1. How does Nurse Ratched retaliate against the activities of McMurphy?

2. How does Bromden learn what goes on in the staff meetings? Why is he allowed in there?

3. What does Bromden believe he must clean up after the staff meetings? What do you think this
symbolizes?

4. One of the diagnoses given to McMurphy is that he suffers from a Reverse Oedipus Complex.
What does that mean?

5. Over the course of the readings this quarter, Bromden’s attitude toward McMurphy has
changed. What has been Mcmurphy’s effect on Bromden?

6. What does McMurphy learn that forces him to beome more submissive to Nurse Ratched? What
effect does this have on other patients?

7. What happens to Cheswick in the story? How is that different than what happens in the film?
Why do you think that the movie changed this detail?

Part Two: Comparative Reading

This section is designed to heighten your skimming and fast researching skills with texts. For this
exercise, you will need to read Andrew Jackson’s Speech to Congress on Indian Removal and pages 177-
182 (209-215). Start the reading at the paragraph that starts with “The next day he started signing…”
and finish at”…if they ever even saw me.”
This section takes place as McMurphy is trying to get support in the ward for the fishing trip. Unlike
in the movie, he tries to get the trip the “correct” way before breaking the patents out. As he is putting
this plan, Bromden begins to think about his past.
Use these two texts to answer the following questions in the spaces provided.
 8. How does the experience Bromden goes through in the flashback contribute to his “deafness?”

9. What stereotypes are revealed in Bromden’s flashback?

10. How do the white men speak about Bromden’s people / house? What does that reveal about
them?

11. How do the white people react to Bromden? How does he react to them?

12. At the end of the flashback, the motivations of the 3 white people are revealed. What are they?

13. Compare the behavior of the white men in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest with Andrew
Jackson’s speech. What is the relationship between these two readings? What similarities do
you notice?

Part Three: Short Essay

Answer the following question in short essay form (2-3 paragraphs).

14. The readings today deal with sterotyping, racism, and concepts behind being “civilized.” One of
the concepts that we want to look at is the idea of the “white savior,” the idea that minorities
were living terrible, ignorant lives before the white man came, and the white man tries to “fix”
this by changing their culture and lifestyle to be more “civilized.” In this essay, show examples
of this attitude from both documents, then give your opinion about the possible motivations
behind Jackson and the white men for thinking like they do? Why might they think that their
way of life is better, and is there evidence that suggests they are right? Is the racist stereotyping
seen in both texts a result of racism, or is this an honest attempt to help people that is
ineffective but well-meaning? Explain your reasoning.