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From the beginning of the novel, the author portrays McMurphy as prioritizing himself above all else. After McMurphy realizes that he is committed, he no longer sticks up for his fellow inmates. At first, he believed himself to be leaving the mental institution shortly, and as a result he feels no danger in acting as a sort of leader for those in the ward. However, as soon as any real threat against him is introduced, he ceases rebelling against the combine. After McMurphy gets into a fight and is sent to disturbed, he reprises his role as leader. When he is faced with electroshock therapy, which  could potentially kill him or turn him into a vegetable, he bears his "crown of thorns" (283), effectively becoming a martyr and Christ like figure for those in the ward. This completely selfless act is something that the McMurphy shown in the beginning of the novel would ever dream of doing. Similarly to how Jesus accepted his crucifixion, McMurphy willingly accepts the electroshock therapy, even though he could avoid it by saying that he was wrong. This allusion to Jesus shows that now he refuses to sell out to the combine like he did after realizing he was committed.

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Following the men’s nautical adventure, Bromden reminisces on their thrilling day and begins to, “see some good in the life around [him]” (198). McMurphy’s fishing trip, apart from exposing Bromden to an overdue and refreshing change of scenery, signifies a mental departure from the ward where the Big Nurse’s oppressive rule previously left the towering man feeling minuscule and unnoticed. His clear and optimistic state of mind sharply contrasts his previously foggy and dejected mentality.

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After much anticipation, Billy loses his virginity to Candy on the night of the party. With lots of effort and support from McMurphy and the men, he has finally done something significant to claim his manhood from the women like his mother and Miss Ratched who repeatedly emasculate him. His stutter reflects the infantile stage to which he has regressed as a result of this emasculation.

When Miss Ratched finds Billy after his affair, he greets her without a stutter, calmly introducing Candy and taking her hand. Acknowledging the nurse with a calm "Good morning, Miss Ratched," we watch as Billy speaks for the first time with measured confidence and no stutter (242). This change in Billy's language capabilities reflects the larger change that has finally come over him through his experience with Candy, a woman who doesn't patronize him or keep him small. Thanks to McMurphy, Billy finally comes into an experience of maturity and content, which the Nurse eventually destroys as she lashes out in a desperate move to regain control of him, once the weakest link in the group.

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After Bromden is finished with his Electroshock he wakes up from the daze, and sees the fog. Instead of hiding in it, he proclaims to himself that he "won't slip off and hide in it...never again" (287). This moment of defiance is monumental, because he finally stands up for himself and resists resting in the delusion of the fog. For the entire book, Bromden would be the one who would sink into the fog, but now he isn't going to be a passive figure the system can use.

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Bromden escaping the ward using the control panel after killing McMurphy

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Bromden escaping the ward using the control panel after killing McMurphy

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After seeing McMurphy lobotomized, Bromden kills him by suffocating McMurphy with a pillow. He does this because he cannot stand to see the "expression [that] hadn't changed from the blank, dead-end look... even under suffocation" (323). The whole time up until this point of the book McMurphy was the hero figure to all of the patients in the ward. However, even though McMurphy is still alive, he still appears "dead" to him because of the lobotomy. More importantly Bromden cannot accept the fact that with McMurphy becoming a martyr by being lobotimized, Nurse Ratched has taken control once again. So, his only solution to end Big Nurse's power once and for all is to be merciful on McMurphy to end his suffering from lobotomy. Bromden all this time was hiding in the fog, and now he is able to save his hero by committing an act of selflessness. After suffocating him, Bromden then fully lifts the control panel and breaks out of the ward. Him lifting this panel signifies that with McMurphy's guidance and encouragement, Bromden is able to do what was seen as impossible. He has transformed from a "small big man" to a real man who is not afraid to go against Big Nurse's system. He is finally free from control , and he achieved this freedom by eliminating his dragon was: the control panel.

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Bromden breaking out of the fog after the electroshock

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Bromden breaking out of the fog after the electroshock

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After McMurphy stands up for George in the showers and he and Bromden fight the black boys, Nurse Ratched sends them both to disturbed and they undergo electroshock "therapy". Bromden, even though he feels scared,  "won't cry or yell" because McMurphy is there (243). He  is disoriented for a few days after, having hallucinations and flashbacks to his past, but "came fighting out of it in less than a day, less time than ever" (249). This is a concrete example of Bromden's transformation from the passive, scared man lost in his own mind, to someone confident and more clear-headed.

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After the men have finally figured out their driving situations and they have gotten the permission and right amount of people and money to go to the fishing trip they are all excited for, they stop to get gas first. This scene is important because these men have finally learned that they do no have to conform to others in society and they can use their differences to bring them close to one another and become powerful even when they are weak individuals. They are talked down upon and the gas station workers make them feel worse about themselves because they are from that "asylum" and are lunatics with their matching green suits. Mccurphy stands up for these men and takes the gas for a cheaper price without the excessive taxes because they are in a governmental institution and starts explaining the men's strengths like chief bromden being massive and strong and how the freckled face kid killed three men, So the gas workers can fear the two cars filled with loonies. McMurphy's reaction to the workers' discrimination had shown the men "bravado and courage they could accomplish" (238). McMurphy also made the men "feel as cocky as fighting roosters and calling orders to the service station guys" to clean the cars and telling them they have "missed a spot" (238). In reality, these men would have never done this or acted like this in the hospital or went outside of  safety.  This adds the significance of the saying power in numbers and how these men came together and didn't act like the weak and helpless members of society. Kesey adds this dynamism to exemplify how they were stronger and felt more cocky when they had a stronger leader like McMurphy, who is in the same position as them of being in the mental hospital but is able to speak up for himself and isnt really crazy. They aren't all really crazy, society made them crazy.

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Billy Bibbett had just killed himself and triggered McMurphy to strangle Nurse Ratched. Although McMurphy appeared invincible from shock therapy, he was unable to withstand the lobotomy that the nurse decided would suffice his punishment for the violent behavior. After McMurphy had been lobotomized he was wheeled out to the middle of the ward, the nurse intended to force the other ward mates to see their once hero, now defeated. Bromden describes that "it fought", "the face" lay on the pillow,  and "the body" appeared lifeless (p. 309). Kesey purposefully leaves out McMurphy's name or even the word "he".  Bromden cannot bare the sight of McMurphy to be anything but the "savior of the ward", and there he was lying empty and helpless.  Bromden eventually kills McMurphy, not to put him out of his physical suffering, but as a favor to create McMurphy's legacy. -madelyn

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Billy Bibbett had just killed himself and triggered McMurphy to strangle Nurse Ratched. Although McMurphy appeared invincible from shock therapy, he was unable to withstand the lobotomy that the nurse decided would suffice his punishment for the violent behavior. After McMurphy had been lobotomized he was wheeled out to the middle of the ward, the nurse intended to force the other ward mates to see their once hero, now defeated. Bromden describes that "it fought", "the face" lay on the pillow,  and "the body" appeared lifeless (p. 309). Kesey purposefully leaves out McMurphy's name or even the word "he".  Bromden cannot bare the sight of McMurphy to be anything but the "savior of the ward", and there he was lying empty and helpless.  Bromden eventually kills McMurphy, not to put him out of his physical suffering, but as a favor to create McMurphy's legacy. -madelyn

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After the fishing trip, McMurphy finally realizes his destiny in the ward and it causes him to gain an expression Chief could see "only because he figured it'd be too dark for anybody in the car to see, dreadfully tired and strained and frantic, like there wasn't enough time left for something he had to do.." (287-288). McMurphy realizes that he needs to continue fighting the Nurse until he cannot physically fight anymore--he is a dead man. His tattoos (dead man's hand) foreshadowed his Christ-like sacrifice. The men benefited greatly from the new freedom that the fishing trip gave them and the little rebellion, so McMurphy's sacrifice might save them. McMurphy resigns himself to his fate and has to come to terms with mortality and his enormous burden/task. However, he hides his face because he wants to remain seen as a hero to the men with no vulnerabilities.

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On their way home from the successful fishing trip, Bromden notices McMurphy's reflection in the windshield of the car, seeing McMurphy looking "dreadfully tired, and strained and frantic, like there wasn't enough time left for him to do what he needed to do..." (p. 257). This portrays McMurphy, in a much different light than he has been seen before, which contrasts with his usual tough, strong, and energetic self and shows a new side to him. This part also shows that he feels he needs to be strong for the other men in order to help them out of their current situation in the hospital, further emphasizing the fact that he is a strong leader and someone the other men look up to . It can also be considered foreshadowing for what is to come for McMurphy, as the end of his life is coming closer at this point in the book although he is unaware of his fate.

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McMurphy standing up for George in the shower room

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McMurphy standing up for George in the shower room

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Following the men's fishing excursion, Nurse Ratched has the men who participated to be sprayed with an odorous salve for the ostensible reason of being decontaminated. As the spray gets to George,  whose germophobic nature makes the treatment torture, McMurphy speaks out to stop the black boys spraying. They turn on him "looking at his nakedness-no hat or boots or pockets to hook his thumbs onto" (273). Kesey's description of a barren McMurphy reveals the vulnerability of our hero in this moment; he does not have his usual comforts and tricks to defend himself. In subjecting himself to this spot of weakness and the pain that the ward, and by extension the Combine, will put him through for putting his neck on the line, McMurphy demonstrates true heroism. McMurphy has no potential gain from protecting George, but he sacrifices himself for the greater cause of defying the system and protecting his men.

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After euthanizing a lobotomized McMurphy, Bromden decides to finally break free from the machinations of the Combine by symbolically hurling the control panel out the window. Earlier in the novel, McMurphy attempts to lift the control panel himself, and despite failing at the endeavor he wistfully remarks that he still tried. Now, inspired by the sacrifice of McMurphy, Bromden carries "the panel through the screen... The glass splashed out in the moon, like a bright cold water baptizing the sleeping earth (324)." Kesey uses this simile to highlight Bromden's newfound awareness--he is no longer tangled in the wires and circuits of the Combine. By using imagery relating to nature instead of machinery, Kesey demonstrates the notion that Bromden, pulled out of the fog by McMurphy, has been able to escape conformity, and like a true hero, is able to follow his own bliss: going home to his tribe.

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After gaining permission for their trip and enthusiastically driving to the destination being the fishing boat, the men take a quick pit stop at the gas station where servicemen instantly judge them by proclaiming the " guys are from the asylum" (235) with instant condescending connotation. After viewing the men as inferior, the servicemen look to take advantage by convincing them to buy expensive gas and sunglasses, but before anything happens McMurphy puts his foot down and portrays each patient to be bad to the bone. By characterizing the men, they soon gain confidence and realize there's nothing wrong with being slightly different, all of them soon begin to "feel cocky as fighting roosters" (239). With McMurphy making them feel powerful over the servicemen, the men have experienced trust and belief in themselves that they never had being locked inside the institution. They break free of the Nurse's own teaching that they are sick men, the patients finally feel independent.

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After being woken up and caught with a woman by Big Nurse, Billy proudly greets her, "good morning, miss ratched...this is candy" (313). He proves his progress by refraining from stuttering. Controlling his stutter is a way of him fighting the combine by becoming better despite the nurse. For Billy, this is a huge step because he always struggles to speak and has finally broken through after the fishing trip." He looked pleased with his success" (314) and felt beyond proud for taking his life in his own hands. The progress has been spread throughout the whole ward which allows strength in numbers, but he is quickly shut down by the nurse threatening to call his mom. He loses all control and his stutter comes back worse than before in fear of disappointing his mother. The nurse had finally broken Billy using fear tactics that lead to his suicide. 

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After being woken up and caught with a woman by Big Nurse, Billy proudly greets her, "good morning, miss ratched...this is candy" (313). He proves his progress by refraining from stuttering. Controlling his stutter is a way of him fighting the combine by becoming better despite the nurse. For Billy, this is a huge step because he always struggles to speak and has finally broken through after the fishing trip." He looked pleased with his success" (314) and felt beyond proud for taking his life in his own hands. The progress has been spread throughout the whole ward which allows strength in numbers, but he is quickly shut down by the nurse threatening to call his mom. He loses all control and his stutter comes back worse than before in fear of disappointing his mother. The nurse had finally broken Billy using fear tactics that lead to his suicide. 

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Bromden Coming out of Shock Therapy (the other post was made by me before I signed in)

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Bromden Coming out of Shock Therapy (the other post was made by me before I signed in)

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Returning from a session of shock therapy, Bromden recovers more quickly than he had ever before, noticing how it felt like he had "come up after a long, deep dive, breaking the surface after being under water a hundred years" (289). Not only is this symbolic of his ability to beat the system, but it is also symbolic of a rebirth as he relates the experience to coming up from water. After this event, the fog never reappears in the ward and Bromden no longer fears speaking. This event proves to be Bromden's turning point as he didn't let himself succumb to the comfort of the fog, especially after being under the ward's control for so long and what felt like "a hundred years". This also foreshadows another event as "breaking the surface" of the water is compared to breaking the surface of the glass, which leads Bromden to freedom towards the end.

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As Bromden contemplates signing up on the list for the fishing trip, he begins to recall more and more memories from his past. Since he has continually hid in the safety of the fog, it's "the first time in what seemed to [him] centuries" that he's fully awake and aware (215). Before McMurphy's arrival, Bromden stays in the fog where although it's safe, it's also a prison. He feels powerless in his battle against the Combine. However, since meeting McMurphy, Bromden becomes more aware of his own strength by witnessing McMurphy's refusal to bend to the will of Nurse Ratched.

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Succumbing to another power play by Nurse Ratched, the men who went on the fishing trip must receive a "cautionary cleansing" of "bugs", much to the dismay of George, the obsessive cleaner. As the black boys go to wash him down, knowing he hates being dirty, McMurphy intervenes only to be faced three to one by the black boys, so Chief assists him "without thinking about being cagey or safe or what would happen to [him]" (270). Seeing McMurphy in distress, Chief quickly jumps to his aid without caring about repercussions, since he feels grateful that McMurphy made him big again. His newfound strength, fostered by McMurphy, frees him of the former perception he had that left him fearful, immobile, and quiet, resulting in him now caring more for his friend than his own safety.

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When Bromden and McMurphy receive shock therapy together, Bromden relives a childhood memory where his family's culture is systematically stripped away and he must tell himself that his family "ain't Indians. We're [they're] civilized and you remember it" (284). Kesey employs a quick passive tone and erratic imagery transitions to illustrate the chaos and helplessness Bromden endured as a child, furthering the depth of his dynamic character and how he has always been at the will of a "purifying", dominant society.

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Harding says the men are no longer rabbits

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Harding says the men are no longer rabbits

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At the party, the men are discussing McMurphy's plan to escape the ward, and McMurphy asks why the men still won't check themselves out. Harding says that "They're still sick men in lots of ways. But at least there's that: they're sick men now. No more rabbits"(307). Kesey reintroduces the rabbit metaphor from Part 1 to highlight the change in the men's perspective of their situation and themselves. It is apparent throughout the ward that after McMurphy came and disrupted the system, they were no longer the meek, dehumanized prey the Nurse could control. They still may not be entirely "cured" or able to mold to society's standards, but they no longer let the Nurse convince them they're broken parts of a machine that she can intimidate into recovery.

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After returning from the fishing trip, the men are required to be cleansed in the shower room by the black boys. However,  George, the germaphobe,  painfully refuses to receive the the treatment. McMurphy faces the black boys and stands up for George. However, McMurphy is clearly outmatched and starts to lose the fight. As all hope seems to be lost, Bromden suddenly "picked the [black boy] off and threw him in the shower" (275). For once, Bromden uses his strength to help others rather than hide in the fog and shadows. This sudden, yet abrupt change in Bromden conveys how this was a natural thing to occur. He did this out of his own free will; no one forced him to do it. The syntax reflects the casualness that Bromden feels when he makes the decision to join the fight; he begins to realize that he can do something about the injustice the inmates are facing. Chief begins to transform from pretending to be  "mute and deaf." He gradually begins to use his on self-power by standing with McMurphy and using his actual voice.

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In the days following the ward party, Harding takes up the mantle that McMurphy's absence has left empty. He takes his place in the tub room, "dealing blackjack himself, trying to make that airy, thin voice of his sound like McMurphy's auctioneer bellow" (319). In the same way that McMurphy made Chief Bromden "big" again, he grew Harding's confidence and shaped him into the intelligent and stern leader that will now take over the ward in his absence. He has grown to fit the title of "bull goose loony" that he was thought to be when McMurphy first arrived at the ward.

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After leaving the Shock Shop, Bromden usually would have been weighed down by the fog for weeks, but this time he "came fighting out of it in less than a day"(289). Previously, the only times in which Bromden experiences the fog lifting were due to McMurphy's actions against Ratched; however, on this occasion he fights on his own and wins. Kesey creates this turning point for Bromden in which he no longer needs McMurphy's guidance to ease him out of the fog--which is symbolic of Bromden's submissiveness to the Ward's control--to emphasize that Bromden has become enough of "a man" to free himself from Ratched's control.

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Despite knowledge of what shock therapy will do to his brain, McMurphy "don't look a bit scared" as he accepts his "crown of thorns" in the EST room (283). Though Nurse Ratched had previously convinced the patients that McMurphy was merely trying to swindle them out of cash and cigarettes, he sacrifices himself and takes his punishment in the disturbed ward without complaint. By agreeing to undergo shock therapy, McMurphy fulfills his role as a messianic, tragic hero, giving up any chance at escaping the institution in order to teach his disciples independence. His reluctance at being a hero in the beginning of the novel gives way under the knowledge of what his sacrifice can do for the other men on the ward.

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McMurphy manages to sneak in two girls into the ward for , one of which who has caught Billy Bibbett's eye. Initially, Billy feels nervous and shaken about meeting Candy again, but McMurphy ushers the two into the Seclusion Room during the secret late night party. By the time the Big Nurse finds Billy and Candy sleeping together in the same room, Billy "looked pleased with his success, as if he wasn't aware of [the crowd]" (314). Influenced by McMurphy's boldness and party plan, Billy takes the chance to challenge the Big Nurse and the Combine. He even seems to confidently defy the Nurse when she first discovers him in the Seclusion Room. Sleeping with Candy transformed the insecure stuttering Billy, literally overnight, into a stronger, more certain version of himself, suggesting that the system under Miss Ratched hinders the ward's patients form reaching their true potential.

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The patients had decided to throw a party in the ward, and McMurphy set up a date for Billy and Candy, unbeknownst to the staff. The pair splits off from the rest of the group to the seclusion room where things escalate. However, Nurse Ratchet catches them in the morning, finding them "on the floors like two owls from a nest," and Billy slyly responds with "good morning, Miss Ratched" (313). He had admitted himself into the hospital because he believed he was not fit for the outside world, but has now broken free from those restraints placed on himself. Kesey describes Billy and Candy with a nature simile, contrasting with the machinery of the combine and augmenting the retaliation of the men against Ratchet and her system.

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After the men enjoy a night of freedom and partying, Harding presses McMurphy to escape the institution even though Harding is not ready to leave himself which causes McMurphy to ponder, "then what makes you think I am?" (307). Kesey highlights McMurphy’s drastic change from a selfish man searching for his own freedom, to a giving character unwilling to leave his men until they are saved and stand up against the combine. McMurphy, now willing to die for his cause, becomes a true hero and allows the men to grow and challenge the combine that previously held an immense amount of power over them for many years.

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Bromden begins as a man who hides in the shadows, in fear of the authority of the Combine; hopeless until the arrival of McMurphy who teaches the men to stand up for themselves. After being inspired by McMurphy's ruthlessness against the system, Bromden sees "the control panel, glinted off the chrome fixtures and glass gauges ... I  put my back toward the screen, then spun and let the momentum carry the panel through the Screen and window with a ripping crash" (324). Carefully, Kesey uses vivid imagery to emphasize the significance of the loss of control. This pivotal scene not only physically frees Bromden, but also represents a complete disobedience and break from combine and control. It signifies the finality of his evolution from a hopeless, cowardly man to a courageous, man of action. Bromden, along with many of the other man, faces his fear and it's these shifts of character in the men that remind Kesey's audience of the corruption of authority and the humanity of the ill.