One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest : Part 2

During Part II of “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, you find out a lot about the characters in the book. McMurphy’s presence in the ward stirs up some tension with Ms. Ratched, who refuses to fall to defeat even when they offer to send him to the chronic level of the ward. She sees this as letting him win because then that will show that she couldn’t beat him. But shortly after McMurphy’s uproar, he finds out that the only way he can get out of the ward is by Ms. Ratched signing papers saying he is ready to, which totally changes his attitude. When this happens, you learn about and see a totally different side of McMurphy. He went from being this brave man who doesn’t take crap from anyone, to a scared little boy who is afraid to disobey. The total power shifts back to Ms. Ratched in Part two.
McMurphy isn’t the only character you learn more about in this part. You learn a lot about all of the characters throughout part II. One big thing you learn about all of them is that almost every acute patient is at the ward by self admission, meaning they could leave any time they wanted to. When I read this I found that it shined a lot of light on what all the acutes have in common and why they all stay in the ward: fear is their common enemy. Fear is what brought them their, what is bonding them to each other, and what is keeping them from leaving the ward. To me the book made me look at the ward from being a crazy person’s home, to just a shield for people who are afraid to face their fears. Now I don’t believe any of the characters of this book are crazy at all. They are all just afraid to face life in itself and they need someone like McMurphy to help and guide them back to their lives. I think McMurphy also realizes this when he sees Billy Bibbit break down about not being able to leave, because right after that the power shifts again. McMurphy slams his fist through the glass window and takes his cigarettes from Ms. Ratched while also taking his power back from her. Someone needs to be the leader and McMurphy sees this and takes the job.


And last I would just like to add that at first I was very confused as to why Harding wife had come to visit. I didn’t really understand the whole point of that scene. But then after rereading in it I realized it brings some insight on why Harding has put himself into the ward in the first place. When his wife talks about his friends with “limp-wrists” this is implying that his friends are gay, which I think also implies that Harding himself might be gay, opening another political issue into the book.