Explain the title of the movie ---- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest?

Question

saw the movie....didn't get the significance of the title.

Answer 1

The title comes from Chief Bromden's memory of a rhyme his grandmother taught him when he was a child; One flew east, One flew west, One flew over the cuckoo's nest. The three geese described by the rhyme can be seen, respectively, as Nurse Ratched, McMurphy, and Chief. McMurphy and Ratched directly oppose each other, literally and symbolically, represented by the geese flying east and west. Chief, on the other hand, is caught in the middle, and his struggle to regain sanity in the mental institution (and the larger society it represents) is symbolized by the third goose's flight.

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Answer 2

The title came from a poem.

Vintery, mintery, cutery corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn;
Wire, briar, limber lock,
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east,
and one flew west,
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest

The ones that fly east and west are diametrically opposed to each other and represent the two combatants in the film. The on that flies over the cuckoo's nest (the mental hospital filled withh "cuckoo" patients) is the giant, 'deaf-mute' Chief:

Answer 3

Good answer, Fire. It is an excellent book, by the way... way better than the movie. Wasn't Ken Kesey one of the Merry Pranksters in the 60's???

Answer 4

It is a metaphor, the one person (who was actually sane) escaped from the mental hospital.

Answer 5

cookoo's nest= mental hospital Escapes, ,,, get it??