one flew over the cuckoo's nes

Ken Kesey presents his masterpiece, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, with popular culture symbolism of the 1960s. This strategy helps paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind. Music and cartoons of the times are often referred to in the novel. These help to exaggerate the characters and the state of the mental institution. Popular culture supplies the music which is used as a recurring theme in the novel. McMurphy dislikes the tape playing …

…of the weak ends at the ward party when Harding equates him with the Lone Ranger riding off into the sunset: "I'd like to stand there at the window with a silver bullet in my hand and ask Who wawz that'er masked man?'" (Kesey 295). Popular culture symbolism provides a solid foundation for many of the characters and their actions in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. It also provides comic relief to the reader.