Study+Guide+1


 * Study Guide #1**
 * Pages 1-41**


 * Introduction**
 * //The first scene sets up the novel. It is an example of “in medias res” or beginning in the middle of things.//
 * //This first part of the novel takes us through the daily life of the ward and the exposition.//
 * //Be patient with your narrator, the Chief. He has had too much electroshock and drugs.//


 * Up Close**
 * **MacMurphy is the central and most interesting part of this entire novel. Find a brief passage that seems to describe him perfectly and type it up here.**


 * 1. How does the Chief feel about the black boys? He is scared of them because they are...abusive?. He keeps to himself and is quiet. **


 * Show an example. When someone new comes to the ward they have to take a shower and get their rectal "temperature" taken. **


 * How does Chief feel about Nurse Ratched? Pretty much keep on her good side and don't get in on the black boys group conversations. Do what your told, Dont look suspicious. **


 * 2. What does the Chief see Ratched transform into? She gets so ferious that she gets as big as a tractor...and then she sees other staff and turns back into a calm nurse. **


 * What does that say about her? She is easy to make mad however she can just as easily be calmed down. She doesn't want her superiors to see her the way she is and so she will do anything to hide it. **


 * How does her name show her character? She is nasty, she nows what the black boys do and she doesnt do anything about it. The thing she does to the critical patients is not even a moral action. **
 * What “Ratcheds” do you know in your life? **


 * 3. What is the last line of Chapter One?**


 * What does it mean?**


 * What does that imply about the rest of the story?**


 * 4. Sum up the Chief's history.**


 * How did he become deaf and dumb?**


 * 5. What is unusual about McMurphy?**


 * How does his voice and his laughter affect the ward?**


 * How are his hands different from Harding's?**


 * 6. Describe the ward.**


 * How does McMurphy upset it?**


 * How does he establish control?**


 * 7. How has Nurse Ratched set the ward up as an anti-cure?**


 * 8. What happens during the morning ?(generally)**


 * How does that make the inmates less than men?**


 * Why does Ratched want “docile” men?**


 * 9. What happens to patients if they don't take their medicine?**


 * Medicine is a metaphor for something else. What is it?**


 * 10. What connection does the mill have with the Ward?**