Chapter 24

" Papa says if you don't watch it people will force you one way or the other, into doing what they think you should do , or into just being mule-stubborn and doing the opposite at of spite." (179)
The Chief remember this quote from his Papa, this is such a good passage to relate to the Big Nurse (BN) because she is all about control and having power of the men in the ward. Like she likes telling them when to brush their teeth, etc. The BN likes the control that she gets from the fellow men for example he control over billy's emotions, his reaction whenever she brings up how he is not holding up to his moms expectations. Its just that she gets them where she wants them to be or "force you one way or the other.. into doing what they think you should do". Big Nurse in her head has a way of doing things because she believes that thats the way it should be and no one can tell her anything!

" The other Acutes were beginning to follow his lead. Harding began flirting with all the student nurse, and Billy Bibbit completely quit writing what he used to call his 'observations' in the log book" (177)
After McMurphy started standing up to the Big N and changing things around in the ward, many of the acutes seem to follow and thats a very big step for them. The Acutes are starting to break out of the shell the nursed had them in for a while. Even though at frist it was a big game to McMurphy, I think he then realized how much of an impact it made on the boys. This quote is very important for this chapter because it’s the big stepping stone for them to get the lives back into their control and finally be themselves like the chief always was afraid to be.

Chapter 29

"First Charles Cheswick and now William Bibbit! I hope you're finally satisfied. Playing with human lives—gambling with human lives—as if you thought of yourself to be a God!" (266).

After the Big Nurse saw that Billy Bibbit had slit his own throat, she walked straight to McMurphy and started yelling at him. She believes he is the reason that they are now both dead and it is his fault that no one is behaving properly anymore. She is upset because she has lost to McMurphy, and says he thinks of himself as a "God". She is just humiliated and looking for someone to take it out on and uses McMurphy as her scapegoat.

"For the rest of the afternoon Scanlon and Martini and I ridiculed what Scanlon called the crummy sideshow fake lying there on the Gurney..." (268).

When McMurphy returned from being away for so long, he was different. But the guys in the ward did not believe for one second that that was the real McMurphy. It did not seem to be alive. It did not move or speak, but laid there for the rest of the day. Everyone thought that the Big Nurse just sent this thing out there to get them to believe that that was really McMurphy. They knew that McMurphy had won the battle with the Big Nurse, and he was just too good at getting to her that she could not do anything.

"The big hard body had a tough grip on life. It fought a ling time against having it taken away, flailing and thrashing around so much I finally had to lie full length on top of it and scissor the kicking legs with mine while I mashed the pillow into the face" (270).

That night after McMurphy had returned and everyone was asleep, Chief decided to do something about McMurphy. He knew it was really him and knew what the Big Nurse had done. He decided to kill McMurphy so that the other guys did not have to see him like this. As long as they did not see that the Big Nurse had won in the end, his spirit would live on inside the walls of the ward. The other guys would still think highly of him and appreciate everything he had done while he was there. In the end they will believe that it was McMurphy that won and not Big Nurse Ratched.

Chapter 29

"I've given what happened next a good lot of thought, and I've come around to thinking that it was bound to be and would have happened in one way or another, at this time or that, even if Mr. Turkle had got McMurphy and the two girls up and off the ward like was planned. The Big Nurse would have found out some way what had gone on, maybe just by the look on Billy's face, and she'd have done the same as she did whether McMurphy was still around or not" (Chief, p. 260) This quote is important in the way that it explains how the Chief really is aware of what is going on around him, perhaps more so than others. He accepts that things are the way they are, and there is no sense in attempting to change them; fate is fate. He is perhaps more attuned to the way things work around here than others, having spent a decade of his life solely observing. He knew this was going to happen, and he understood there was nothing more than to accept it.

"'It's all right, Billy. It's all right. No one else is going to harm you. It's all right. I'll explain to your mother.'" (Nurse Ratched, p. 265) It was shortly after this that Billy Bibbit committed suicide by cutting his neck. Yet another display of Ratched's manipulative power, this one sticks out because it caused a death. She knows that Billy's mother is his weak point, and that she can get him to switch sides at the snap of a finger.

"I been away a long time." (Chief, p. 272) As the closing line to this novel, it carries some weight. This is about how far he has come--from pretending to be a deaf, dumb mute to finally achieving escape. Throughout the story, we are given snapshots from his memory, about how he used to live a good strong life, and was a gifted fisherman in his hometown village. He has gone from insane and returned, all because of the power of the influence of McMurphy, who protected him from the manipulative tendencies of the Big Nurse.

Chapter 28 by Ben Hatfield

"There had been times when I'd wandered around in a daze for as long as two weeks after a shock treatment, living in the foggy... gray zone between light and dark." (242)

I chose this quote because the gray fog is a major reoccurring theme in the book. It seems as though the Big Nurse and the rest of the ward use shock "therapy" to daze the patients into submission, making it easier to take care of them. This quote shows a bit of a description of the foggy daze, talking about how it's gray and in the balance between dark and light. Like the difference between being awake and asleep, they're just kind of there.

"Billy got more and more nervous, afraid the girl might not show up, afraid she might." (248)

I liked this quote because I thought it was a special part of this chapter, where Billy gets to have some privacy with "his girl". It kind of shows the progression of the story through one character. Billy has been growing and changing just like the story has. At this major turning point in the book (McMurphy leaving), it is also a major turning point for Billy.

"McMurphy put his hand out, and Harding shook it... 'You can be bull goose looney again, buddy, what with Big Mack outa the way.'" (258)

I decided to use this quote because it shows what kind of a man McMurphy is, gives insight to who he is as a person. It's like he is renouncing his title, and giving it back to Harding. Saying that even though he is a better leader, now that he's leaving Harding can lead again. It's kind of nice but it still shows how McMurphy wields his power.

Chapter 28

"She saw that McMurphy was growing bigger than ever while he was upstairs where the guys couldn't see the dent she was making on him, growing almost into a legend" (244).

I chose this quote because it shows the ongoing struggle for power in the ward. Even though the Big Nurse has the clear power to end things immediately for McMurphy, McMurphy hangs around in the "battle" and makes the Nurse embarrassed too. McMurphy's latest move, however, is what really forces the Big Nurse to go through with his lobotomy. Ultimately I think that this quote is what symbolizes the Big Nurse's last straw in the fight for power and rule over the other patients at the ward.

"'I don't think, it was the feeling that the great, deadly, pointing forefinger of society was pointing at me- and the great voice of millions chanting Shame. Shame. Shame' It's society's way of dealing with someone different'" (257).

I think that this quotation is particularly one of the most important in the book. I believe this because when Harding describes how he feels about his fluttering hands to McMurphy it not only applies to Harding, or even just the patients in the book, but it applies to every individual in the world in their own different way. This quote shows how the social norm is easiest to follow, and in Harding's case his hands are what sets him apart from the normal image of everyone else. And every patient in the ward has a similar situation and doesn't fit in outside.

"I grinned back at them, realizing how McMurphy must've felt these months with these faces screaming up at him" (243).

This quote explains how Chief Bromden feels when he returns from Disturbed and everybody is asking him questions and congratulating him for taking down one of the black boys earlier. Chief is suddenly in the limelight of the ward since McMurphy is still in Disturbed, and he is enjoying every moment of this popularity. The quote also shows how much more comfortable Chief has become with himself over the past few months when McMurphy has been around. With his guidance and positive reinforcement, Big Chief Bromden is finally himself again and is able to talk (instead of being dumb and deaf) with all the other patients.

Chapter 27

"It's not at all like her ward," she said. "A lot of it is, but not at all. Army nurses, trying to run an Army hospital. They are a little sick themselves. I sometimes think that all single nurses should be fired after they reach thirty-five." "At least all single Army nurses..." "...Yes. I'd like to keep men here sometimes instead of sending them back, but she has seniority. No, you probably won't be very long-I mean-like you are now."(234) I found this quote interesting because it seems like this nurse doesn't quite agree with how the Big Nurse runs her ward. She makes it sound like when men get sent to Disturbed, it's better than being in the Big Nurse's ward because men are treated better. It also shows that McMurphy probably won't be in Disturbed much longer but the nurse didn't say anything about how long the Chief would have to be there....

"She talks to him about how they, the patients downstairs on our ward, at a special group meeting yesterday afternoon, agreed with the staff that it might be beneficial that he receive some shock therapy-unless he realizes this mistakes.All he has to do is admit that he was wrong." (235) The Big Nurse has her normal smile back and she thinks that by forcing McMurphy to admit he was sorry, that she has won their power struggle. If he admits he was wrong, he is accepting that she has proved more powerful than him, and McMurphy just can't let that happen. He needs to be on top.

"I stand, stood up slowly, feeling numb between the shoulders. The white pillows on the floor of the Seclusion Room were soaked from me peeing on them while I as out. I couldn't remember all of it yet, but I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and tried to clear my head. I worked at it. I'd never worked at coming out of it before." (241) The fact that McMurphy and the Chief are friends, I think it is positively influencing the Chief to really try and get better. The Chief is actually trying hard this time and it's only been since he became friends with McMurphy, which shows that although McMurphy can be a hassle to the Big Nurse and whenever he feels like it, he is a positive influence to some of the patients. Such as, voicing their opinions and he's rubbed off on the Chief to try harder for what he wants.

Chapters 20, 21, 22, & 23

“You know what I’m talking about, Harding. Why didn’t you tell me she could keep me committed in here till she’s good and ready to turn me loose?” (166). From the moment McMurphy walked into the ward and declared himself ‘bull goose loony’, he has been trying to get Nurse Ratched’s goat. Since then, the nurse and McMurphy have been ‘battling,’ each trying to assume power. Up to this point, it looks as though McMurphy is on top, due to the TV incident. A shift in power is made when McMurphy learns he is committed. Being committed means that he can’t leave the ward until Nurse Ratched says so. If he continues to fight with her, he will never leave. Because he now knows that the nurse holds his fate, McMurphy decides to back off from rattling her.

“You have more to lose than I do,” Harding says again. “I’m voluntary. I’m not committed” (167). McMurphy learns for the first time that he is one of the only patients who actually is required to stay. Not many of the other patients need to be in the ward. They are all just too scared to face reality and they can’t cope with society’s rules. Each one has a particular reason for being in the ward, but none are actually because they are ‘nuts.’ McMurphy tells them to take advantage of life and leave, but no one listens.

”I’m sure sorry ma’am,” he said. “Gawd but I am. That window glass was so spick and span I com-pletely forgot it was there” (172). Moments before McMurphy broke the window, the patients were at their group meeting. Nurse Ratched expected this to be her final victory over him and establish her rule. Instead, McMurphy stood up for the others in the ward by punching the window “by accident” and taking cigarettes. He finally learned the consequence of not standing up for something (when Cheswick died, he realized it). Also, the window was a symbol of the nurse’s barrier from the ward. McMurphy just broke the barrier between her and the patients.