What does Nurse Ratched post on the bulletin board to turn the patients against McMurphy?
Everyone's financial statements.
Whose bank account balances are declining, and whose are increasing? Why is this important?
McMurphy's is the only account that is increasing. Nurse Ratched uses this to try to turn other patients against him, as it appears as if he is making money off of them.
Who defends McMurphy about his bank account?
Harding--he says that McMurphy never tried to hide his conman ways from the patients, and that McMurphy has more than repaid the patients' financial losses by providing them with the means to resist Ratched's influence.
What rigged bet does McMurphy make with the patients? What is Bromden's response?
He bets that someone could lift the control panel, knowing that Bromden has already lifted it. Bromden lifts it, and McMurphy wins the bet.
Bromden is uncomforable and refuses to accept the five dollars that McMurphy offers him later. McMurphy asks why all of a sudden everyone acts like he is a traitor, and Bromden tells him it is because he is always winning things.
Why do McMurphy and Bromden get sent to Disturbed?
Ratched orders all the men who went on the fishing trip to be cleansed. George has a phobia regarding cleanliness and begs them to not put the smelly salve on him, and McMurphy and Bromden fight with the aides to defend him.
What does the Japanese nurse explain about army nurses?
She explains that army nurses have a habit of trying to run the place as if it were an army hospital and are "a little sick themselves."
Who says, "those Chinese Commies could have learned a few things from you, lady"?
McMurphy
How can McMurphy avoid electroshock therapy? Does he?
He can avoid it if he admits to Ratched that he was wrong.
He refuses.
What is the shape of the EST table? Why is it important?
It is cross-shaped, evoking the image of the Crucifixion--this suggests that extreme, undeserved suffering takes place on it.
How do McMurphy and Bromden act when getting on the EST table?
McMurphy is unafraid and climbs on voluntarily. Bromden is afraid and struggles.
What does Bromden do for the first time after receiving EST?
He clears his head of the "fog."
What does Bromden experience while going through EST?
He experiences a rush of images and memories from his childhood.
How many total shock treatments does McMurphy undergo? Do they affect him?
He undergoes 4 treatments. He acts like they don't affect him, but Bromden sees that they do.
Why does Ratched eventually allow McMurphy to leave Disturbed?
She realizes that McMurphy is growing bigger in the eyes of the other men because he is out of sight.
Why doesn't McMurphy escape when he returns from Disturbed?
He promised Billy a date with Candy that night.
How does Candy enter the ward the night of the party?
The patients bribe one of the aides, Mr. Turkle, to let her in.
What happens the night of the party?
Candy and Sandy show up with alcohol. Everyone mixes vodka with cough syrup, while Turkle and McMurphy smoke joints.
Sometime after four in the morning, Billy and Candy go to the Seclusion Room to have sex.
Who says, "we are witnessing the end, the absolute, irrevocable, fantastic end"?
Harding
How do the patients plan to help Turkle keep his job and keep the other patients out of trouble the morning after the party?
Harding plans to tie up Turkle, so it looks like the mess created by their party was all part of McMurphy's escape attempt.
Who says, "[the patients are] still sick men in lots of ways. But at least there's that: they are sick men now. No more rabbits, Mack"? Why is this important?
Harding says this as a way to explain that the men are no longer dehumanized and cowed by those in power; they are more independent and confident.
How do the patients get caught after the party?
McMurphy and Sandy climb into bed after asking Turkle to wake them up right before the morning staff arrives.
However, Turkle falls asleep, and the aides discover them in the morning.
Why does Bromden think the after-effects of the party were inevitable, even if McMurphy escaped?
He figures that even if McMurphy had escaped, he would have had to come back and not let the nurse get "the last play."
What do Billy and Candy look like when Ratched finds them?
They look like "cats full of warm milk."
What happens when Ratched threatens to tell Billy's mother about him sleeping with Candy?
Billy regains his stutter and begins to cry, begging her to keep it a secret and blaming Candy, McMurphy, and Harding for the whole thing. She sends him to Spivey's office to wait while she clears things up with the other patients.
Billy commits suicide by cutting his throat.
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?
McMurphy smashes through the glass door, rips open the front of Ratched's uniform, and tries to strangle her.
What is Ratched's condition when she returns after the ward after she is attacked?
She has a bandage wrapped around her throat, and cannot speak. She never regains power over the ward.
After the attack, who are the only patients left on the ward?
Bromden, Martini, and Scanlon.
What is McMurphy's punishment for attacking Ratched?
He is given a lobotomy and becomes a vegetable.
What does Bromden do during his last night in the ward?
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.
Why does Ratched set up a group meeting without McMurphy?
She wants to turn the patients against McMurphy.
She implies that he is trying to fleece them of their money and that this is his only motivation in befriending them. She tells them that McMurphy is no martyr or saint but an old-fashioned con artist. Finally, she questions the profit that McMurphy made on the fishing trip.
When does Bromden know that he has beaten Ratched?
After EST, he manages to regain lucidity afterward, and for the first time knows that he has beaten Nurse Ratched.
What is the "religious ceremony" that Harding performs the night of the party?
Harding gets pills for Sefelt and imitates a religious ceremony, sprinkling them over Sefelt and Sandy.
Harding claims that they are "doomed henceforth," for Ratched will tranquilize them out of existence. Harding's speech makes the men realize the seriousness of what they are doing.
