ShmoopTube

00:05

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a la Shmoop. 'One flew east, one flew west, and one flew

00:11

over the cuckoo's nest.' I don't know which "one" that rhyme is talking about, but there

00:15

are plenty of cuckoos in this looney bin...

00:18

They call me Chief. No, not because I'm the boss, but because I'm a Native American. Get

00:24

it? Buncha jerks in this place. That's why I pretend I'm deaf and dumb, and avoid eye

00:29

contact.

00:31

It's the best way to avoid hassling from the orderlies... and getting needles in the bum.

00:36

And I don't need that stuff, on top of the fog, and weird visitors who wake me up in

00:40

the middle of the night...

00:42

...and the conspiracy to make me part of a giant machine.

00:47

Which reminds me...it's probably time for my medication.

00:49

You get used to the routine in here...therapy sessions, pills, shaving...man, I really hate

00:57

the shaving...

00:57

Things really livened up when McMurphy showed up. What a card...he immediately took over

01:04

the ward, and got the attention of the Big Nurse. That's Nurse Ratched who was pretty

01:08

much the embodiment of all evil.

01:12

McMurphy should've been scared of her, but instead he made a bet that he could get inside

01:16

her head...oh the irony...without getting punished.

01:20

And we're not talking timeout here...if you got on Nurse Ratched's bad side, you got

01:26

electroshock therapy or a date with a lobotomist. That didn't faze McMurphy, though. He got

01:32

a bunch of the patients to stand up to Ratched...even me! I think he saw through my whole "hear

01:36

no evil, speak no evil" facade.

01:36

McMurphy's shenanigans might have looked pretty small time to an outsider...getting a doctor

01:41

to turn the music down, and lobbying to watch a baseball game...but Nurse Ratched was not

01:46

your average easygoing health care professional.

01:49

When anybody messed with the procedures, her control freak side went supernova. And now,

01:55

she was really gunning for McMurphy. She didn't want to cure him, she wanted to break him

01:59

like a breadstick. Once McMurphy cottoned on to the fact that

02:04

Nurse Ratched held the keys to his freedom, he started to shape up a bit, even backed

02:08

off of the rabble rousing.

02:10

You could tell he was frustrated, though, especially when he put his fist through that

02:13

glass window. And that other time he... broke that other glass window.

02:15

I knew he had to watch it, but I kind of liked the guy for being the only one in this place

02:18

to show some gumption. He was the first person I'd spoken to in years.

02:21

And, he promised to take me on a fishing trip if I proved that I could lift a big heavy

02:26

panel, the kind that might come in handy to break a window. What is it with this guy and

02:29

windows, anyway? The panel-lifting trick turned out to be a

02:30

bet to make McMurphy some money, but it was worth it...that boat trip was awesome!

02:32

It was a memorable outing for several reasons...McMurphy hired a prostitute, we stole a boat, and the

02:38

crew almost got nabbed by the cops!

02:43

There was a bit of fallout after that, and to make a long story short, Mac and I got

02:47

electroshock therapy, and Billy Bibbit killed himself when Ratched threatened to tell his

02:51

mommy about the prostitutes.

02:53

McMurphy didn't take the news well. He smashed through some more glass, ripped open Ratched's

02:59

dress and tried to strangle her.

03:02

He didn't succeed...darn...and he ended up getting that lobotomy appointment he'd been

03:09

flirting with for so long. He was just a vegetable now, and I couldn't

03:13

let him go on like that. I smothered my poor buddy with a pillow, and escaped by lifting

03:19

that heavy panel and smashing a window, just like Mac showed me.

03:23

I'm flying away from this cuckoo's nest, once and for all.

Full Transcript