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After the party, Harding shares with McMurphy his hopes for himself and the remaining patients at the ward. Harding states that the patients are "sick MEN now" and... no [longer] rabbits" (307). Harding's emphasis on men, and Kesey's italicization of the word "men", show how Harding now sees himself and the other patients of the ward. Harding realizes that, after guidance and rebellion from McMurphy, that these insane people are not crazy boys or rabbits, but rather, men who are capable of standing up and leading themselves. Kesey shows the evolution and newfound courage that Harding now sees within the men of the asylum. And that, when McMurphy leaves (according to Harding's plan) they will be fine on their own.

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While taking a mandatory "group" shower, George refuses to comply to the disturbed wishes of one of the black boys. McMurphy takes it upon himself to stand up for George and the rest of them, which leads to a fight breaking out. This fight is crucial for Chief because for the first time he openly (and literally) fought out against the hospital and put his life and secret out on the line to stand up for himself. Throughout the book, Chief has described feeling small but this key event marks the beginning of his transformation into the man at the end of the book.  After the fight, he feels that "with people staring at him he felt he had to stand up too"(277). This incident and the consequences that loomed after it were met with now met with Chief's determination to "break the surface after being under water a hundred years" and fight for the life he once had (289).

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Bromden decides to go on the fishing trip

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Bromden decides to go on the fishing trip

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Bromden speaks his first words in years after one of the Black Boys finds his stash of old gum under his bed. McMurphy asks Bromden to go on the fishing trip he is organizing, and the change in Bromden can immediately be seen the next morning. Bromden is excited, and he even refuses to do the Black Boys' sweeping for them. Bromden thinks "to 🤬 with that" and that he "don't have to take that 🤬"(213). Kesey's diction shows that Bromden is confident enough to think aggressively about the Black Boys, a huge change from his formerly meek demeanor.

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As McMurphy tells few of the others a story about a woman from his past, then mid-sentence Bromden notices something. A set of taillights shine on McMurphy's face, "dreadfully tired and strained and frantic, like there wasn't enough time left for something he had to do...." (258). Bromden catches a glimpse of McMurphy that no one else does, a man in pain, the mask is off. McMurphy parallels the dog that Bromden sees running into the street from earlier in the novel, he has an appointment, then the dog is caught in the headlights as Bromden looks away. This scene signifies that McMurphy feels he may be too late to help the others in the ward, but he maintains his big, brute persona to be a leader to give the others hope.

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On their way to the fishing docks the patients stop by the gas station where they are bullied and looked down upon by the gas station workers for being asylum wards. The shame that Nurse Ratched has deeply embedded into them begins to show because of the the similar treatment as lesser people. McMurphy won’t stand for this and spins stories of the inmates murderous grandeur which scares the workers into not taking advantage of them. Faced with a new perspective and given a power from something they were deeply ashamed of brings a confidence and bravado from the men. They use this advantage of being crazy people to unsettle passerbyers by “sitting up straight and strong and tough looking and put a big grin on and stare straight back”. This is the first show of dominance from the twelve towards the normal people of the Combine. By seeing fear used to their advantage, the same fear that’s previously kept them submissive is now an empowering aspect of them that gives them confidence to proudly assert a place in the outside world. From meekly accepting abuse to taking joy in their newfound courage they see that power is a matter of perspective and this mind set shift is only the beginning of a larger change in how these men will see themselves.

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From being a complete invisible man in the ward to murdering McMurphy and running away, Bromden exemplifies dynamism to its full extent. Looking at the pathetic vegetable state McMurphy was in, Bromden smothered him with a pillow and took away his last breath. Scanlon advises Bromden to run away from the hospital using the method that McMurphy had taught him beforehand. Bromden was finally able to experience a taste of freedom that was long awaited for as he "felt like [he] was flying. Free" (324). Bromden's ultimate metamorphosis was sparked by McMurphy, and at the end sacrificed by McMurphy again. Ken Kesey describes Bromden's flee like "flying", symbolizing a bird finally free from its cage, just like Bromden being finally free from the hospital. The title "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" may reflect this very scene of action Bromden partakes as he follows down the highway towards his liberated future out of the ward.

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Lifting the Control Panel to Test Strength

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Lifting the Control Panel to Test Strength

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In a group meeting, McMurphy eggs on Chief to lift the control panel to test his strength, and naturally, McMurphy places bets on this. After lifting the panel, Chief runs into to latrine to evaluate his thoughts. He felt like he "helped [McMurphy] cheat them [the other men] out of their money" (269). After lifting the panel and rejecting the "chewin'-gum money," Chief comes to realize that McMurphy has been, on the surface level, motivated by winning bets and money. Chief feels like he has been used by McMurphy to implement his so-called winning streak just because he looked up to McMurphy. This event caused Chief to question his loyalty to McMurphy as he tries to seek out McMurphy's true intentions. His concrete view of McMurphy as a father-like savior comes under fire as Chief feels done wrong by McMurphy's bets and deception.

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Nurse Ratched and her retinue inspect the damage as the patients watch on following Murphy's boisterous party, which trashed the ward and introduced alcohol and women into the sterile, mechanical environment. As the Nurse uncovers more and more evidence of the party, the patients' fear of Ratched's wrath gives way to laughter; Bromden notes that their "solemn worry was giving way, in spite of us, to joy and humor" (311). It begins in small chuckles when Ratched finds the pills, and grows into loud, unfettered laughter when they discover Mr. Turkle drunk and tangled in a sheet. Their outright flaunting of the tacit agreement of silence imposed on the ward reflect the patients' complete transformation from timid rabbit-people, scared to even laugh, to assertive, confident men, who defy Nurse Ratched even in her own ward. They derive their newfound strength from their laughter, an action that represents self-assertion and rebellion.

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After fighting the black boys, both Bromden and McMurphy are sent to the disturbed ward by Nurse Ratched in order to receive electroshock therapy for their disobedience. Bromden notices he fought the fog "in less time than ever", describing the feeling as if "breaking the surface after being under water a hundred years" (242). Using a metaphor, Kesey shows the challenge Bromden unexpectedly has taken quicker control of and how he no longer continues to hide in it. This signifies McMurphy has been a positive influence that has encouraged Bromden and many others to fend of unfair actions against them and not to conform to societies definition of normal.

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Throughout the majority of the book, Billy could be characterized as submissive and lacking in confidence because of both his stutter and the connections between his mother and Nurse Ratched. His relationship with Nurse Ratched portrays Billy as a sort of a social sheep, giving in the conformity of the ward, not wanting to break rules, and writing "observations" in the log book to get on her good side and avoid any incidence of trouble. However, when McMurphy arrives a subtle spark grew in Billy, as it did in many other patients, bringing about the thought that they didn't need to be unconscious participants, but rather stand up against unjust treatment and abuse throughout the ward. This is evident when Nurse Ratched caught Billy in bed with Candy after a drunken night with McMurphy and the guys. When bursting through the door and finding the two nestled under the sheets, Billy gives Ratched a nonchalant "good morning" without a single stutter, fearing not the probable consequences. In fact, the biggest act of defiance was that of the smallest grin after "not even making any move to get up and button his pajamas"(313). Billy's sly grin to Nurse Ratched shows a momentary breakthrough in his compliant nature, "pleased with his success" his confidence is regained, and the spark of hope slowly burning into a flame(314).

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After coming back from the fishing trip, Nurse Ratched calls for a mandatory cleansing shower for all of the men who attended. Each of the men were required to be washed and sprayed with an unknown slave to protect against “bugs”. In this scene Mcmurphy and Chief end up in a fist fight with Washington after defending George for not wanting to get sprayed. This is a pivotal scene in which Bromden shows another example of dynamism throughout the book, he acts “without thinking about being cagey or safe...not worrying about anything else [except] the thing that needed to be done” (pg 270). With the example of Mcmurphy in the ward, Bromden is lifted out of the fog and feels a new sense of leadership and reason to act for himself.

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Throughout the novel, Chief Bromden has dealt with being trapped in "fog" after he receives electroshock therapy. The fog symbolizes his blindness to freedom and hope, and has trapped him for weeks at a time on some occasions. At the beginning of Chapter 3, we see the Chief begin to change. Rather than the fog staying for weeks, "this time [he] came fighting out of it in less than a day, less time than ever"(289). This development portrays the Chief's growth and his discovery of hope for a better life.

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After the party with Candy and Sandy, Harding realizes that the men have transformed from being the weak rabbits of society to the "sick men now"(307). Under McMurphy's guidance, Harding was able to break free from the control of the Combine and Nurse Ratched as an a man by his own freewill instead of a submissive and powerless animal. McMurphy instilled asense of confidence and acceptance of one's flaws to Harding and the rest of the men, which allowed them them to gain lucidity and break free from the control of the Nurse Ratched and the conformity society forces . McMurphy may have promised to make Bromden grow stronger, but his influence can be seen  throughout the entire hospital as they voluntarily check themselves out of the hospital to reintegrate into the world that deemed them as damaged.

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After Bromden received electroshock therapy for fighting the black boys, he experiences some fog, but decides he "won't slip off and hide in it" (287). McMurpy gave Bromden a feeling that he could fight the Combine and the  first step towards freedom was to clear the fog. The fog symbolizes society's invisible control on people, forcing them to conform to what is perceived as normal. Therefore, his active attempt to gain lucidity demonstrates his newly discovered confidence to liberate himself from the dominance of Nurse Ratched and thereby society as a whole.

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Bromden begins as a very indifferent person to his surroundings. At the hospital Bromden try's to just get healed and keep encounters with other patients to a minimum, hence him acting as if he was deaf. When Kesey introduces McMurphy, Bromden's attitude instantly changes. Which leads to Bromden's bold plan to escape at the end of the book. "I put my back toward the screen, then spun and let the momentum carry the panel through the screen and window with ripping crash"( 324).
Without McMurphy, Bromden would never have the audacity to ever commit such action and let himself free from the hospital. Bromden changed from a man waiting around for some miracle to happen to a man who grabbed freedom with his own hands and paved himself a path to a better life.

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At the very end of the book, Bromden escapes the hospital. He "ran across the grounds in the direction [he] remembered seeing the dog go" (324); Bromden was not only escaping the hospital but escaping the combine. Bromden was always hiding even though his physical appearance is that of a strong and confident man. Bromden becomes a huge dynamic character because he allows himself to be free. Kesey displays this as well when he compares Bromden to the dog scene earlier. Kesey describes the dog as being free and Bromden finally experiences that freedom. Bromden grows, as a character, because in the beginning of the novel he was pretending to be deaf and mute, and in the end he no longer oppresses himself or allows Nurse Ratched and the combine to do so.

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At the end of the novel, Bromden and all the other patients witness the ward make McMurphy into a vegetable. Bromden then quietly took a pillow and suffocated him to put him out of his misery. He then realized he needed to get out of the hospital as soon as possible so he lifted the control panel and "put [his] hand on the sill and vaulted after the panel, into the moonlight... flying. Free"(pg.324). Bromden finally lets himself free after being physically and mentally  locked up for years. He was able to get out of the ward bubble and finally see and be in the outside world. He no longer has to pretend to be the person that could not hear or speak, he can truly be himself.

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After the groups fishing trip they all drive by McMurphy's childhood home, old and decrepit. As the day grows darker he recounts tales from his youth until Bromden sees a reflection of the man's face in the car windshield. As Bromden describes it, it was "dreadfully tired and strained and frantic, like there wasn't enough time left for something he had to do. . ."(257) What's unique about McMurphy's reflection, cast by set of passing taillights, is that it shows a change over time. While he's always portrayed as a larger than life character, especially in the events leading up to this scene, but in the dark of the night his life, his actions, are shown to have a price. Every joke, every laugh, every game of cards is revealed to have been chipping away at him. Maybe at the start he was that storm of a man, loud and wild, but at some point that freedom started getting heavier and heavier with every person he tried to share it with. By now he wasn't just walking tall for himself. . . he was walking tall for others.

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Throughout most of the novel, Bromden's goal was to go unnoticed and avoid any interaction with the staff to make his time in the ward easier. The introduction of McMurphy brought out his inward desire to escape.  McMurphy symbolized a rebellion against the system, and following his lobotomy Bromben knew he couldn't take the corrupt system any longer. Bromden remarks he wouldn't let McMurphy be a symbol of what happens when "you buck the system" (322) causing him to put McMurphy out of his helpless state.  Upon throwing the control panel out of the window, Kesey uses vivid imagery to describe the glass as "cold water baptizing the sleeping earth" (324). By describing the breaking of the glass as baptizing the earth it symbolizes the rebirth and purification of Bromden's character as he runs into the night a free and new man. Following the next paragraph the reference drawing Bromden to the free dog depicts how he has returned to the natural world, no longer confined to the control of the combine.

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Billy Bibbett, who's notorious for his submissive personality and stutter, transforms completely after the drunken night with Candy and his fellow patients. Bibbett claims to have had a stutter since birth, saying even his first word was "m-m-m-m-mamma"(134). But after McMurphy manages to sneak  Candy and Sandy into the hospital, Bibbett truly transforms. He's always been afraid of Nurse Ratched, and rarely defies her. But when she catches him in bed with Candy, and "both moved like fat cats full of warm milk, lazy in the sun" (314), Billy isn't fazed. He doesn't even bother to button his pajamas. He even goes on to grin at her. Grin.
His grin, demeanor, and lack of stutter truly show how McMurphy is affecting his fellow patients. McMurphy's one-man war is spreading hope and making the other patients believe they have a chance at leaving, a chance at life. Even this small drunken night has given Billy the confidence to grin at the nurse in defiance, be intimate with a girl, and finally speak confidently. The old, broken Billy Bibbett never had hope.

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Following McMurphy's attack on Nurse Ratchet for claiming that he had, to an effect, killed Billy Bibbett and Charles Cheswick, McMurphy is sent to be lobotomized and Nurse Ratchet went on medical leave. When the Big Nurse returns to the ward she "jumped back two steps as [they] approached" and the men "grinned at the front of her new uniform"(320) The men no longer fear her and now have the courage to ask her questions and speak to her while "grinning" (320). Nurse Ratchet has also changed and is now aware of the damage and power that the men can do when she "flinches away to protect her bruised side and face" (320). This marks the power shift in the ward where the patients now hold control and Nurse Ratchet now lives with uncertainty and fear now that she knows what they are capable of. To a certain extent, because Nurse Ratchet is a symbol of the Combine,  this also signifies the breakdown of the hold that the Combine has on the patients.

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When the patients who attended the fishing trip receive their special cleaning, George refuses and this leads to McMurphy fighting Washington. During the fight, Bromden defends McMurphy by throwing one of the black boys "full of tubes," as if he did not "weigh more'n ten or fifteen pounds" (275). This significant moment of defiance against the combine illustrates how Bromden has regained his strength and size. Ever since he entered the ward, Bromden submitted to the combine and hid in the fog, and even as a young boy on the reserve he was too afraid to defend his tribe against the slander of the government officials. However, by confronting a black boy, something that embodies the constraint implemented by the combine, Bromden resist the combine both physically and mentally. Although McMurphy helped Bromden reclaim his size and strength, the decision to defend McMurphy and toss the black boy could only be made by Bromden himself, and this choice exemplifies the momentous change that Bromden has undergone.

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After Bromden and McMurphy are sent to disturbed for fighting the black boys, they both receive shock therapy as a solution to make them less antagonizing. Bromden narrates that typically after being treated that he would be in a "daze for as long as two weeks" after therapy, however this time he "came fighting out of it in less time than ever" (289). He even describes at as breaking the surface of water after diving in, a metaphor used to reveal just how monumental this is in his development. The fog was a shield throughout his time at the ward for Bromden to hide behind/coward in and preventing him from having to be authoritative for himself. This marks not only a symbolic realization of consciousness with the disappearance of the fog, but Bromden's own self responsibility to overpower it. The moment reveals how his confidence as evolved and it is very evident when he returns to talk to the rest of the acutes just how much he has changed.

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Before the climactic fight scene, Washington had been trying to forcibly make George take his daily prescription 🤬. Over and over again he would intimidate him and threaten to "lay" his "hand" on George as he repeatedly emasculated him by telling him to "bend down" and "take this stuff"(272). Washington then indiscriminately applied the medicine and had no regard or remorse for George's screams or pleas for mercy. Bromden, as McMurphy tries to stand up for George, "picked and threw" another psychiatric aid into the shower(275). Bromden had always been a passive member of the ward and would resort to hiding in his fog and focus on self-preservation. This dynamic moment signaled the shift in Bromden's inaction and fear to a man who can't bear to witness his companions being reduced to nothingness by the suffocating restraints of the Combine.

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One of the nights, when nobody was awake in the hospital except McMurphy and Bromden, the Chief allowed himself to speak for the first time in years. When McMurphy offered Bromden a piece of gum, his automatic response was to reply thanking McMurphy "before [he] realized what [he] was doing" (217). This marks a major shift in both Bromden's confidence and his relationship with McMurphy. Bromden had not spoken in years because of his social anxiety and his disinterest in any sort of human interaction, but being able to speak to McMurphy exemplifies him changing and "growing." The Chief  feels like he will be listened to with McMurphy and he finally gains the confidence to speak up for himself. Additionally, this line marks a change in their relationship because having Bromden open up about his family and telling his story proves that he sees McMurphy as a trustworthy friend instead of simply an acquaintance in the hospital.

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After the series of events that led up to McMurphy's lobotomy, Bromden undergoes a shift in perspective and decides to use the control panel, as McMurphy originally desired, to escape the confines of the hospital. Living at the institution, Bromden always felt like a cog in a machine and avoided expressing his thoughts. Once the glass breaks and he escapes, he feels like he "[is] flying. Free" (324). Kesey shifts his diction to more uplifting language in order to convey the cathartic feeling of Bromden's escape. Kesey continues to explore the effects of dynamism as he writes with the future in mind, as opposed to the present and past, in the final pages. Bromden expresses that he would "like to look over the country... just to bring some of it clear in my mind again" (325). His hopeful attitude emerges at the end of the novel as he believes he has removed himself from the 'combine' that previously shackled him.

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After McMurphy's last attempt to break the rigid structure of the ward through a rebellious night party, Harding thanks McMurphy for transforming the ward to contain "no more rabbits" (307). In the beginning of the novel, as McMurphy first arrives, Harding explains to him that the men on the ward are weak and helpless "rabbits" who need guidance from "wolves," or Nurse Ratched. Harding voluntarily entered the ward, as he sensed that he was different from social norms; however, as McMurphy challenged the ward's system and promoted natural instincts, Harding and the other men grew confident in themselves. The night party served as the final act of defiance in which the patients, including Harding, directly participated in. And, thus, Harding concludes that he and the other men have gained confidence and become real men, capable of taking action for themselves. Eventually, Harding signs himself out of the ward--something he could not do in the beginning of the novel.

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When Washington, one of the black boys, starts harassing "Rub-a-dub George" with the plastic cleaning tube, McMurphy steps in to protect George from an unnecessary traumatic experience. Washington and McMurphy almost instantly get into a fistfight, when Washington soon pleads for backup from the other two black boys. One of the black boys goes after Bromden, who fights back by throwing him into the tile walls of the room. Once Bromden and McMurphy are finally restrained, both are given a newfound respect from the patients, who were "shaking my hand and McMurphy's hand... what a tremendous big victory" (275). The shower fight marks a shift in Bromden's role at the ward from an simple observer to an active participant in the rebellion against Nurse Ratched. Inspired by McMurphy, Bromden becomes a symbol of physical strength needed to resist the Combine that ultimately enables him to escape the ward.

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Throughout the novel, Billy is shy and secluded into himself. He has a unique relationship with Nurse Ratched because of his mother's relationship with her, so he always obeyed her. But when McMurphy arrives, Billy feels empowered to be his own man, so he begins the relationship with Candy. Eventually Nurse Ratched discovers them and his repsonse to her is, "Good morning... This is Candy." For the first time in the novel, he speaks without a stutter and proudly introduces Candy to the all-powerful Nurse. His dynamic change is him being emboldened and speaking proudly to Nurse Ratched.

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During the scene in the shower room when McMurphy was fighting with Washington in order to protect George, Bromden joined in and protected McMurphy without a second thought when another aide started attacking and threw him who "was full of tubes" (275). This is a drastic shift for Bromden from pretending to be deaf, mute, and passive to standing up for a fellow patient and not in a mellow way. Throwing a grown man into a shower both shows of his strength and commitment to McMurphy since he knows of the consequences of doing such an animalistic action, which was done against a man he described as full of tubes. In a way, it was animal against machine and Bromden originally thought that it would be the machine that always won. It also had no hesitation or thought like when he voted for watching the World Series. He's always had the strength to commit these powerful acts, but it was McMurphy who gave him the hope and support to carry them out. He's changed from the man who would silently watch as he and the people in the ward were abused. He's now someone who will take action for those he respects even if it means facing punishments of machines that were controlling him before.

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Bromden trusts McMurphy enough to reveal that he never was deaf or dumb, just "cagey." He feels safe with McMurphy, and treats him like his own father, back when he was still worthy of respect and had not sold the reservation. Thus, when Bromden dares to engage in conversation for the first time in ten years, with McMurphy, it signals a deep comradery. Bromden remains static for the first two parts of the book, always watching everyone else, but never participating in the outside world. but their conversation sparks something that resembles hope. Playing along with Bromden's delusion of his small stature, McMurphy challeneges him to a new kind of bet, without money. "'If you got that big again, could you still lift it?'"  (223). Despite McMurphy's portrayal as a dirty con man in part four, he seems to truly care about Bromden's growth as a person, being able to stand up for himself when McMurphy cannot be there for him. Obvious to the reader, Bromden's towering, muscular body could easily lift the control panel McMurphy calls "it."  However, Bromden does not believe in himself anymore, and he has been electroshocked too many times, so he takes the bet in exchange for a free fishing trip. Although Bromden can never physically change his size, as an adult man normally cannot, he can change his perception of his size. Kesey uses Bromden's body dismorphia as a metaphor his low self-esteem, and his mind broken by "the combine" or society. Later, when he fights back, against the black boys, alongside McMurphy, he changes. His escape ensures that, when the panel is destroyed.

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After a rowdy and successful afternoon of fishing, the men return the boat to the dock, and Bromden remarks that the very same men who ridiculed the guys earlier in the day "could sense the change...these weren't the same weak-knees from a nuthouse" (254). Under McMurphy's relaxed leadership--and distanced from the hospital's austerity--the men experience success, laughter and autonomy in a way they haven't to this point in the novel.  This fishing trip marks growth for the men and bolsters their confidence in ways that Nurse Ratched's strict system has been unable to.