One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Despite the setback in controlling McMurphy, Ratched remains confident that she can break him down in the long run. McMurphy resumes his acts of insubordination, such as leaving vulgar notes in the bathroom, and some of the other patients follow his lead in flirting with the female staff members. When Ratched reprimands him, he asks about her bra size. After Ratched turns down McMurphy’s request for an unaccompanied leave, McMurphy calls a hearing during a group meeting to request a pass for accompanied leave, which is also denied. At the end of the meeting, McMurphy puts his hand through the newly replaced glass window, again pretending that he didn’t see it.

With Spivey’s support, McMurphy organizes a basketball team on the ward. During a game against a team composed of staff, one of the ward’s aides is injured and almost attacks McMurphy. After the window glass is replaced a second time, one of the patients bounces the basketball through the window, leading Ratched to dispose of the basketball.

McMurphy next sets his sites on fishing. With Spivey’s approval, he requests and receives a pass to take several of the patients with him on a fishing trip in the open ocean, accompanied by “two sweet old aunts” (178). As McMurphy tries to recruit patients for the trip, Ratched responds by posting a series of newspaper clippings indicating how dangerous the ocean can be. A day before the trip, McMurphy is still short on participants and, therefore, funding for the trip. Bromden wants to sign up, but he fears that doing so will raise Ratched’s suspicions that he is not deaf.

Bromden reflects that he started acting deaf and mute when the people around him acted as though they couldn’t see him. He recalls a time from his childhood when government-appointed appraisers visited his village while the adults were away at the nearby falls. The appraisers made disparaging remarks, and Bromden responded angrily, but they didn’t seem to hear or notice him. He overheard them plan to send an offer to purchase the village to Bromden’s mother, a white woman, rather than his father, the tribe’s chief. Bromden’s father took on his wife’s last name, Bromden, when they were married.

One night, Bromden awakens to hear an aide under his bed, removing the wads of chewing gum that Bromden collected and stored there over the years. When McMurphy asks the aide what he’s doing, the aide explains that he always wondered how Bromden got his chewing gum without any money. McMurphy is amused, and after the aide leaves, he pokes fun at Bromden. At first offended, Bromden starts to see humor in the situation and barely suppresses a laugh. When McMurphy provides him with a new pack of gum, Bromden says, “Thank you” out loud.

McMurphy shares his childhood experience being ignored as the only child working on a farm. At the end of the summer, he revealed the mean things the adult employees said about each other, sparking an outrage. He asks whether Bromden intends to speak up in similar fashion. Bromden says that he is too weak to do so. He tells McMurphy about his parents, explaining that his mother worked on his father until he was “too little to fight” (188). “It beats everybody,” he concludes, referring to the Combine (189). After a moment, McMurphy invites Bromden to come on the fishing trip. Bromden explains that he doesn’t have any money, and McMurphy devises a plan to make up the difference with a bet, promising to return Bromden to full strength along the way.

The next morning, for the first time, Bromden refuses to sweep at the aides’ request. The expedition is still short one person when George Sorenson, a shy man with germaphobia, approaches McMurphy to offer advice about fishing. Learning that George was a fisherman, McMurphy invites him to lead their expedition. George accepts only when McMurphy implies that staying behind would mark a victory for Ratched’s scare tactics.

Instead of the two elderly aunts McMurphy listed in his application, just one young woman, a sex worker named Candy Starr, joins the outing. Learning that the other woman is unable to attend, Ratched threatens to cancel the trip due to an insufficient number of drivers. She also points out that McMurphy collected more money from the patients than he needed for the trip. McMurphy nudges Candy to use her sex appeal to convince Dr. Spivey to accompany them as a second driver, which she does.

They set out. A mile from the hospital, they stop for gas. Spivey lies to the gas station attendants, telling them that the men are a work crew. Overhearing him, the patients feel ashamed. The attendants are about to overcharge Spivey when McMurphy appears and frightens them with made-up tales of the patients’ violence, showing his worn hands as proof. He takes back Spivey’s money, tells them to bill the hospital for the gas, and uses the money to buy beer. Inspired by McMurphy, the patients act brave and confident during the rest of the drive but are unable to laugh freely. As they pass through town, Bromden sees evidence of progress in the Combine’s goal to establish ordered, identical lives.

They arrive at the docks. The captain of the ship refuses to let them board without signed waivers, which they don’t have. McMurphy takes him inside, supposedly to make a phone call. While the patients wait outside, a group of men leers at Candy, but, without McMurphy, no one has the confidence to stand up to them. Moments later, McMurphy returns alone and urges everyone aboard. They cast off just before the captain reappears after realizing that McMurphy gave him the wrong number.

After assigning a role to each crew member, McMurphy goes below deck with Candy to have sex. As the boat makes for the open sea, George instructs the men to prepare their fishing poles. They take turns casting them. After about an hour, the fish begin to bite. They pay out prizes for the first capture and largest fish.

As Bromden takes his turn with a pole, George guides the boat to a silver salmon feeding ground near a drifting log. Chaos ensues as multiple lines catch fish. Bromden reels his in, revealing a salmon larger than those he caught growing up. McMurphy and Candy emerge, and she takes a turn with Bromden’s pole. She momentarily loses control as the reel crank spins, throwing open her jacket, under which she is not wearing anything. Billy hurries to her aid, helping her slow the reel’s motion by squeezing it between her breasts. Meanwhile, Spivey’s glasses drag behind the boat, caught on one of the lines. George, looking back at the commotion, crashes the boat into the log.

McMurphy begins to laugh in a way that Bromden interprets as a response not just to the immediate situation but also to the hospital and Ratched and the whole of society. One by one, the rest of the boat’s passengers join in. They spend a lazy afternoon on the boat, cleaning fish, feeding birds, and drinking. Spivey struggles to bring an enormous flounder to the surface. Even with the others’ help, it takes an hour to bring the fish into the boat.

As they head back to shore, a storm threatens. McMurphy is pleased to see the other patients bravely offering to go without life jackets, which are in short supply. George guides the ship back to the dock, where they find the captain waiting with two police officers. Spivey convinces the officers to leave, but McMurphy, who is drunk, gets into a fight with the captain, who then joins him for a beer. The men on the dock who previously leered at Candy now compliment them on their catch.

On the drive back, at McMurphy’s request, they pass through the small town where he grew up. He points out the small, dilapidated home where he lived. He sees something flapping in a tree, which reminds him of a dress worn by the first girl he slept with. He attributes his lifestyle as a “dedicated lover” to her influence. Though McMurphy continues to tell entertaining stories, Bromden catches sight of his face, looking “dreadfully tired and strained and frantic, like there wasn’t enough time left for something he had to do” (221).

Candy falls asleep with her head on Billy’s shoulder. She wakes as they arrive at the hospital. When Billy says that he would like to ask her for a date, McMurphy arranges for her to return at two o’ clock on Saturday morning.