One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Chapters 26-29
Chapters 26-29
Nurse Ratched began to insinuate questions about the intentions McMurphy had in stirring up trouble. She brought up the subject when McMurphy was occupied with a long-distance call. She raised questions about his intentions outright and claimed that he was as clever as a fox and also pointed out how McMurphy had made nearly $300 in the recent past. Later on, Harding speaks on his belief that McMurphy is a true capitalist and American. Bromden also has a moment of realisation when McMurphy first makes him try to carry the panel in the Tub room all alone and then uses that knowledge to make the others bet. When McMurphy later tries to share with him his winnings, Bromden refuses them and also confronts him about how he keeps winning and how they had all thought that he didn't do it all for winning.
The nurse orders all the patients from the fishing trip to undergo special cleaning procedures to ensure that they don't make any of the other patients sick with some foreign disease. George refuses the salve and resists, but the orderlies keep pressing him. McMurphy tries to stop the orderlies, but they pay him no mind. A fight breaks out; McMurphy and Bromden beat the orderlies, so they are then sent off to the Disturbed Ward.
McMurphy tries the same tactics to connect with the patients in the Disturbed Ward, but it has no perceptible effect. A Japanese nurse runs the Disturbed Ward, and she unties them and cares for their wounds. She explains how not all wards are as terrible as the ward of Nurse Ratched. After a troubling sleep, Bromden and McMurphy are called to the nurse's station, and Nurse Ratched soon walks in. She gives McMurphy an ultimatum and asks him to either apologise and be obedient or face Electroshock Therapy. McMurphy refuses to apologise, and they are taken to the corridor with the unmarked door. They put the graphite salve on his crown, and he sits on the cross table voluntarily.
Bromden remembers that it used to take him ages to feel like himself after one of the shock treatments, but this time it only takes him a day or so. They give McMurphy three more shock treatments each time he recovers. Bromden is released back into the ward within a week, and he receives a hero's welcome from the other members of the ward. They've all heard stories about how McMurphy is seemingly unaffected by the shock therapy. The nurse finally begins to realise that her present tactic seems to be working in favour of McMurphy, and they are making him a martyr in the eyes of the patients, and so McMurphy returns. Bromden and the others are worried about McMurphy's fate, so they plan to help him get out along with the assistance of the other patients. However, McMurphy postpones the plan because, on that same night, the ward is supposed to be visited by Candy, who is going to be helping Billy Bibbit lose his virginity. Candy arrives a little later than expected, and Turkle helps her climb into the ward from the window. She is accompanied by another girl that was supposed to have accompanied them to their fishing trip weeks prior. The group of them go on to drink and celebrate like it is their last night on earth. Turkle and McMurphy are drunk; Billy Bibbit and Candy are locked together in Seclusion, but Harding seems to be in control. He concocts a wonderful story that would place all the blame on McMurphy and allow him to escape with the girls through the window the same night. They all go to bed, trusting Turkle to wake them up before the arrival of the other staff so that McMurphy can escape, but the orderlies discover the ruined ward and a passed-out McMurphy.
Every time the staff uncover another article of their misdeeds from the previous night, the patients burst out laughing. When they begin to take the roll call for the patients, the staff discover that Billy Bibbit is missing. The patients follow the staff as they search the ward and burst out laughing when Nurse Ratched discovers Billy and Candy in the Seclusion Room. They are in varying states of dress, and the nurse completely loses her composure. Billy transforms when Nurse Ratched mentions his mother. He folds in on himself and begs the nurse not to involve his mother. He blames all the other patients and breaks down crying. The nurse takes him in her arms and promises to protect Billy from the other patients. She puts him away in the doctor's office, but when the doctor arrives, he discovers that Billy has committed suicide. The nurse rushes to the office as the others stand in horror, waiting for the news they are all expecting. Nurse Ratched storms out and blames the death of Billy on McMurphy and then goes back to her station. Bromden watches as McMurphy breaks the glass and pulls Nurse Ratched out. He sees him tear off her dress and begin to strangle her with all his might. The ward is covered with aides as they hold McMurphy off and rescue the nurse.
It takes a week for the nurse to recover, but in the meanwhile, the ward shifts completely out of her control. Many of the patients make use of their voluntary status and clear out of the ward while several others decide to move to another. Weeks later, the orderlies bring in a gurney with a patient named McMurphy. The chart on the gurney tells them that the patient had undergone a lobotomy. Bromden sees only a blank face when he looks at the patient, and he cannot stand that he is to be made an example for the patients about what happens to those that cross Nurse Ratched.
In the dead of night, Bromden strangles the body of McMurphy with the pillow, for he knows that the body no longer has anything that once belonged to McMurphy. He then breaks out of the hospital upon Scanlon's insistence using the same method that McMurphy had tried to use to watch a game of the World Series. Bromden runs across the ground in a quick loping run and thinks about going to see the place on the Columbia River where his tribe may still live, free at last.
Analysis
The nurse tries to destroy the position McMurphy has with the men, while she can raise some suspicion. Harding notes that McMurphy has never lied about his intentions. All the concerns of the patients are dismissed when McMurphy selflessly fights for George. In the Disturbed Ward, the Japanese nurse is a refreshing voice that rightly calls out Nurse Ratched's vicious treatment. McMurphy recognises his role as a leader of the other patients and understands that conceding to Nurse Ratched would cause all the patients to lose heart. There are many biblical references in McMurphy's Electroshock Therapy, the table is shaped like a cross, the technicians smear graphite on his crown, and he bears the punishment as a sacrifice for others. McMurphy's outburst of violence at Nurse Ratched is the domination of a male over a woman, as he rips her dress to expose her naked female form. Afterwards, Nurse Ratched's perception of herself is altered, while McMurphy's spirit lives on in the now liberated Bromden. His escape from the institution is meant to demonstrate the growth of the patients from McMurphy's first day in the ward.
