It’s obvious Bromden has some problems. Find two passages that show his hallucinations and mark them with Post-It Notes.
1. What is the Combine? What does Bromden think its purpose is? What does this tell us about him?
2. What is the last line of Chapter One?Explain. What does it mean? What does that imply about the rest of the story? Sum up Bromden's history. How did he become deaf and dumb?
3. What is unusual about McMurphy?
How does his voice and his laughter affect the ward? How are his hands different from Harding’s?
4. Usually,what happens in the morning at the ward? How is Maxwell Taber important here? What did he do that got him in trouble? How does Bromden imagine Taber’s life? Is that really a “successful Dismissal”?
5. What happens if a patient doesn’t take his medicine? Medicine could be a metaphor for something else. What might that be?