One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel set in the 1960s inside an Oregan metal asylum. It is narrated by a half-Native American mental patient named "Chief" and it focusses on the story of one of his fellow patients, Randle Patrick McMurphy, who faked his insanity to escape a prison sentence. McMurphy treats his time in the asylum as a joke and harasses the head nurse and the other staff. His antics inspire the other patients to stand up for themselves and not let the head nurse or other staff members control their lives entirely. This unfortunately results in the head nurse treating them worse and an eventual suicide of one of the patients. McMurphy is driven to rage by his friend's suicide and attacks the head nurse, resulting in him recieving a lobotomy. Chief, in an act of mercy, smothers McMurphy with a pillow at night to set him free from eternal captivity and then later escapes from the asylum himself.
* For a more detailed description - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo's_Nest_(novel)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has recieved bannings and challenges since the early 1970s. It has been challenged for its descriptions of sexual and violent acts as well as for profanity. One school went as far to say that the book was "pornographic," and they charged the novel "glorifies criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination."
* For more information on the bannings and challenges of this book - http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned
Do you think that a book that depicts acts of violence, crime, and mental corruption will influence the studnets allowed to read them? Do you think that these themes would inform or disturb a young reader? Would a young reader even be able to relate to such thoughts in an appropriate way?
* 5 points extra credit
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