Randle McMurphy makes a bet that he can lift the control panel, an object that is so large and heavy that no one believes he can actually do it—but they are all committed to seeing him try. Though he fails, and walks away with bloodied hands, there is a sense of victory in his fighting against the insurmountable.
Why do you think McMurphy wants the chief to lift the control panel?
Why do you think McMurphy wants the Chief to lift the control panel?
He thinks that he has a big body size
, so therefore, he's big and strong enough to lift the control panel. … -That is how Nurse Ratched tries to discredit McMurphy in front of the other patients.
What does McMurphy do with the control panel?
McMurphy bets them that
he can lift the cement control panel in the tub room and use it to break through the reinforced windows
.
What does McMurphy offer Bromden if he can lift the control panel?
Bromden says he never felt suspicious about McMurphy until an event with the control panel. McMurphy wants to see if his training regimen has worked for Bromden, and asks if he can lift the control panel to see if any progress has been made. Bromden can
move it nearly half a foot
.
How does McMurphy establish control in the ward?
How does McMurphy establish control of the ward? McMurphy establishes
control by introducing himself and throwing himself into the crowd
. He teaches the patients to gamble and play other card games. He doesn't believe in the big nurse's complete power,so he attempts to disrupt her control.
How did McMurphy help chief?
When McMurphy finally returns to the ward as a lobotomized vegetable,
Chief frees him from the physical prison of his body
by smothering him with a pillow. Because of McMurphy, Chief finally has the courage to break free from the hospital and escapes through a window after breaking it the way McMurphy trained him to.
How does McMurphy get Turkle to cooperate?
The other patients know that Ratched will continue to harass McMurphy, so they urge him to escape. McMurphy reminds them that Billy's date with Candy is later that night. That night,
McMurphy persuades Turkle to open the window for Candy
.
How does McMurphy plan to escape?
When only two patients vote on his side, McMurphy is shocked. Later, he boasts to the men that he plans to go downtown to watch the World Series in a bar, betting that
he can escape by lifting a marble water fixture and throwing it through the window
. When he fails, he says that at least he tried.
What does McMurphy have on his boxer shorts?
McMurphy's boxer shorts are
black satin with a pattern of white whales with red eyes
. … One common interpretation of Moby-Dick is that the whale is a phallic symbol, which obviously suggests McMurphy's blatant sexuality—the little white whales cover McMurphy's underwear, which he gleefully reveals to Nurse Ratched.
Why does Nurse Ratched keep McMurphy in the ward?
She chooses to keep McMurphy on the ward
to prevent him from attaining the status of a martyr
. … Ratched would rather confront McMurphy directly. She is comforted to know that she has complete control over his future, and that once he realizes it too, he will not dare to disobey her.
What did McMurphy do in the latrines?
Ratched assigns McMurphy
the chore of cleaning the latrines
, but he continues to nettle her in every way possible. Bromden marvels that the Combine has not broken him. One night, he wakes up and looks out the window and gazes in wonder at the countryside.
Why does Bromden touch McMurphy?
Why does Bromden want to touch McMurphy?
Chief stares at McMurphy
and wants to touch him. At first Chief's worried that he's gay for wanting to touch another man, but then he thinks, “If I was one of these queers I'd want to do other things with him. I just want to touch him because he's who he is.”
What happens when McMurphy tries to lift the control box?
Randle McMurphy makes a bet that he can lift the control panel, an object
that is so large and heavy that no
one believes he can actually do it—but they are all committed to seeing him try. Though he fails, and walks away with bloodied hands, there is a sense of victory in his fighting against the insurmountable.
How did McMurphy change the ward?
“McMurphy helps the people in the
ward find their way back from the fog and return back to the real world
” (Lupack). McMurphy's laughter and jokes, along with his personality, cause a great change in the patients of the ward and he helps them cure their “mental illness”.
How does McMurphy manipulate the patients?
McMurphy's manipulation calls attention to not only the patients,
but the staff as well
. For example, McMurphy convinces the men to conform against Nurse Ratched right before Part 2. He humiliates Nurse Ratched and at that point when “she realizes that she's being stared at to- by all of the staff” (144).
Why is McMurphy the protagonist?
Randle McMurphy is the hero of this novel
because he stood firmly against oppressive powers, showing courage and ultimately paying with his life
. There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward before McMurphy's arrival. Nurse Ratched wielded supreme power.
How does McMurphy prove that Chief isn't deaf?
McMurphy discovers Chief isn't deaf
when he tells him an orderly is coming to tie him into bed and Chief responds immediately
. The story of Santa Claus indicates that the Combine is able to change even the most innocuous and innocent individual from a happy, full-bodied and bearded individual into a conformist.
Why does McMurphy get into a fight in the shower?
Why does McMurphy start the fight in the shower room? Why does the Chief join him?
Because he now knows that George is afraid of dirt and people touching him
. Chief joins McMurphy because that is his way of saying sorry to McMurphy for what he did earlier.
How does McMurphy prove that chief is not deaf?
Expert Answers
In Chapter 6, McMurphy tells Chief Bromden that a black orderly is coming, and Chief immediately gets into bed. Later,
McMurphy tells Chief that he saw him jump when he told Chief this information
, so McMurphy knows that Chief is not deaf.
How does McMurphy figure out the Bromden can hear *?
Expert Answers
McMurphy recognizes that
the Chief can hear and understand when he gets his support for watching the World Series
. Desperate for a majority vote, McMurphy campaigns to the Chronics. He goes to the Chief, who shows and voices his support by raising his hand.
What is the significance of Nurse Ratched addressing McMurphy as McMurphy during the group meeting?
Nurse Ratched deliberately calls McMurphy by
a name that she has chosen as a symbol of her power and her dominance
. She, as the clear leader of the ward, is able to shape the identity of the patients as part of keeping them controlled and under her thumb.
What does bromden realize about what drives McMurphy?
What is Bromden's realization regarding McMurphy rebelling in the ward?
He realizes that nobody will be able to stop McMurphy from rebelling, because it is the need of the patients that has been encouraging him all along
. What does McMurphy do to Ratched?
Why does McMurphy reject Harding's plan for his escape from the institution how does this begin to establish him as a tragic character?
When McMurphy returns, he rejects the escape plan
because he wants to be present when Starr visits for the express purpose of relieving Bibbit of his virginity
. … McMurphy and Harding discuss Harding's voluntary incarceration at the hospital, and Harding indicates that he's “different,” presumably homosexual.
Why does McMurphy put his hand through the pane of glass?
Ratched thinks that she has regained control, but, after the meeting, McMurphy calmly walks to the glass-enclosed Nurses' Station where she is sitting. He says that
he wants some of his cigarettes and punches his hand
through the glass. He claims that the glass was so spotless that he forgot it was even there.
Did Mac get a lobotomy?
McMurphy is given a lobotomy for his attack on Nurse Ratched
. When he is returned to the ward after the operation, he is a vegetable. That same night, Bromden suffocates McMurphy with a pillow. He throws the control panel through a window screen and escapes from the hospital, hitching a ride with a trucker.
Is Ellis actually nailed to the wall?
Ellis. A patient who was once an Acute. Ellis's excessive electroshock therapy transformed him into a Chronic. In the daytime,
he is nailed to the wall
.
What crime did McMurphy commit?
Randle Patrick McMurphy is an Irish American brawler found guilty of
battery, gambling and statutory rape
. He is a Korean War veteran who was a POW during the war and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for leading a breakout from a Chinese camp, but was dishonorably discharged for insubordination.
Why do you think that McMurphy changes his mind and begins to defy Nurse Ratched again?
He told McMurphy this while we were all being taken over to the swimming pool. … McMurphy realises through this experience the responsibility he has towards all of the patients, and this gives him the courage to begin opposing
Nurse Ratched
again, symbolised through his breaking of the glass to her office.
Did McMurphy win or lose?
Even though McMurphy never makes it out of the hospital alive, his resistance to Nurse Ratched has shown that she is ultimately powerless over the men, and
he is the winner by decision
.
What does water symbolize in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
At an early point in the movie, McMurphy boasts that he is going to break out of the mental hospital by lifting a water fountain and chucking it through a window. … At this point, the water fountain becomes a symbol for
McMurphy's undying sense of freedom
. He never believes that anything is impossible.
What does the dog symbolize in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
Throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey repeatedly uses animals, specifically the dog, in Chief's hallucinations to symbolize
Chief's mental transformation in the mechanized state of the ward under the
inspiration from McMurphy.
What is McMurphy trying to change when they vote for the first time?
The narrator, Chief Bromden, describes how, at McMurphy's instigation, the men in the ward vote to
change the TV schedule
so they can watch the World Series, and in this seemingly simple act, rebel for the first time against Nurse Ratched's irrational rules and question her absolute power.
Why does McMurphy lose the first vote?
One time
he does lose control
. Surprisingly, it's not because of the orderlies or Big Nurse; the problem is his fellow patients. … McMurphy had been getting the guys to bet on the World Series and he asks Nurse Ratched if she can switch the cleaning schedule so the patients can watch the television in the afternoon.
What bet does McMurphy make with the other inmates?
McMurphy makes a bet that
he can make Ratched lose her temper within a week
. At first, the confrontations between Ratched and McMurphy provide entertainment for the other patients.
Why can't McMurphy get any toothpaste?
Summary and Analysis Part 1: Come Morning
The next morning, McMurphy shocks the ward by singing. He asks an aide for toothpaste, but is told that ward policy won't allow the toothpaste to
be unlocked because patients might use it at their own discretion
. … McMurphy is confronted by Big Nurse as he exits the latrine.
How does Chapter 23 clarify the conflict of the novel?
How does this chapter clarify the conflict of the novel? In this Chapter,
McMurphy returns to the rebellious self and tries to steal away the power from Nurse Ratched even harder than he used to
. … After that, McMurphy turns back to his chair with “[Nurse Ratched's] face shifting and jerking(201)”.
What happens to Cheswick What does he say to McMurphy after he comes down from disturbed?
When Cheswick returns from Disturbed, he tells
McMurphy while they are walking to the swimming pool that he understands, though he added that he wished it were different
. Cheswick then dives into the water and his fingers get stuck in the grate over the drain. No one can pull him free and he drowns.
Who sleeps with McMurphy during the fishing trip?
Candy
: The prostitute McMurphy brings on the fishing trip. Billy Bibbit has a crush on her and McMurphy arranges a night for Candy to have sex with him. Sandra: Another prostitute and friend of Candy and McMurphy. She and Sefelt sleep together on the night she and Candy are sneaked into the ward late one night.
Why is McMurphy tired and frantic?
McMurphy appears tired
because this trip wasn't really about him
, though he enjoyed parts of it. He did it for the men on the ward: those who came, and those who didn't—giving them an opportunity to see that they can be independent and happy.
How does McMurphy get Turkle to cooperate?
The other patients know that Ratched will continue to harass McMurphy, so they urge him to escape. McMurphy reminds them that Billy's date with Candy is later that night. That night,
McMurphy persuades Turkle to open the window for Candy
.
Is Chief mentally ill?
Chief Bromden is a Columbia Indian who
suffers from schizophrenia
. Although he plays a central role in the story, he is largely an observer. Chief is an interesting narrator because he is certainly not unbiased, and his mental illness can also shed doubt on his reliability.
What happens to McMurphy after Cheswick dies?
However, after Cheswick commits suicide, McMurphy
realizes that Nurse Ratched's control is a life-and-death matter
. At that point he steps up his rebellion. … When McMurphy is sent to the hospital after attempting to strangle Nurse Ratched, he returns a different man—part of his brain and all of his spirit are gone.
What does McMurphy's death symbolize?
The meaning in McMurphy's death. The events leading to McMurphy's death
accentuate his Christ-likeness
. Because McMurphy fights the aides to protect George, Nurse Ratched sends him to be electroshocked.
