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.