SOURCE: Nastu, Paul. “Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.” Explicator 56, no. 1 (fall 1997): 48-50.

In the following essay, Nastu explores the relationship between One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and the visual and thematic elements of American animated cartoons.

Critics such as Leslie Fiedler and Terry Sherwood have discussed Ken Kesey's use of “comic strip principles” and “pop culture” in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Sherwood 382), but no critic has yet noted the visual and thematic elements of American animated cartoons which the novel seems to borrow. Sherwood points out that “Kesey's references to comic strip materials are not just casual grace notes but clear indications of his artistic stance” (382-83); but he fails to address Kesey's obvious connection with the absurd world of Looney Toons and the animated comic. Cartoon imagery is a major aspect of Chief Bromden's pathologically skewed point of view, which Kesey employs...