While working as a night watchman in the psychiatric ward of the Menlo Park Veterans Affairs Hospital, Ken Kesey had an idea that would later become his first novel. This novel, titled One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, became his most famous work and a celebrated piece of modern American fiction (Lupack 566). One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest tells the story of a psychiatric hospital that functions quite well until a new patient enters the room and starts chaos. This new patient, McMurphy, doesn't agree with the rules of the department's authority figure, Nurse Ratched, and doesn't try to hide it. Thus begins an all-out war between authority and the individual, leading to the suicide of several patients and even the lobotomy and death of McMurphy himself when he crosses the final line (Kesey). In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, he uses the theme of sacrifice to reflect on the countercultural struggle of the 1960s. Kesey notably shows his theme of sacrifice through the book's narrator, the Chief Bromden. The Chief is a tall, 6'8" Native American who has been on the ward longer than anyone except Nurse Ratched. He has undergone repeated electroshock therapy treatments to the point of going deaf - at least that's what everyone thinks. In reality, he pretends to be deaf so that they'll leave him alone by saying: “It wasn't me who started acting deaf; say anything” (Kesey 210). his caregivers...... middle of article......ames Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast Vol 3. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. November 2, 2011. Madden, Fred. “Mental Health and Responsibility: Great Leader as Narrator and Executioner.” ModernFiction Studies 32.2 (1986): 203-17. Rep. in Modern Critical Interpretations of Bloom.Ed. Harold Bloom. New ed. New York: Infobase, 2008. 107-21. Print. “One flew over the cuckoo's nest. » Novels for students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Flight. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 218-39. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. November 1, 2011. Pendergast, Sara and Tom Pendergast, eds. Reference Library of the Sixties in America. Flight. 2.Detroit: UXL, 2005. Biographies. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Internet. November 1, 2011. Sherman, W.D. “The Novels of Ken Kesey.” Journal of American Studies 5.2 (1971): 185-96.JSTOR. Internet. October 29. 2011.