One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Essay | Critical Essay #3

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Critical Essay #3

In the following essay, McMahan argues that despite the sexist portrayal of Nurse Ratched's character, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest can be a valuable book for classroom study when issues of sexism are addressed.

Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a good novel—a really teachable novel. Students get caught up in it and are eager to talk about the characters and to explore the ramifications of the partial allegory. But despite these positive qualities, Cuckoo's Nest is a sexist novel. Certainly I don't want to discourage anyone from teaching it, but I do urge that colleagues should present the novel in a way that will disclose its concealed sexist bias. In order to get at the invidious aspect of Cuckoo's Nest, let me review the way Kesey structures his microcosm.

The novel offers a compelling presentation of the way society manipulates individuals in...
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