The majority of these pages is McMurphy and the previously supposed "leader" of the group Harding, debating life in and outside of the institution. It pretty much blows my mind. It all started after a group meeting with the Big Nurse where Harding was the topic of conversation. The group meeting consist of a problem, and the Nurse encourages everyone to ask questions and try to "help" the person with the problem. Only McMurphy realises that all they are doing is completely tearing the person in question apart. He describes it as "Bunch of chickens at a pecking party" (pg 51. Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) Not everyone is from a farm, so they ask him to explain what hes talking about. He says how when the flock of chickens sees one of the chickens is hurt or bleeding, they peck and peck at the chicken till it dies. Than one of the chickens gets hurt in the scuffle and the other chickens notice and rip at that chicken till it dies, and so on. He says Harding is that chicken in the flock and the Big Nurse takes the first peck. McMurphy is astounded that Harding would sit there and let everyone do that to him, and that everyone would do that to him in the first place. At first Harding doesn't understand saying it is all for therapeutic reasons, and of COURSE everyone was just trying to help him out, its all part of the cure. He says Miss Ratched/Big Nurse was a nice lady who would never try to peck out his eyes. McMurphy says its not his eyes hes trying to peck out, its his balls. He goes into great detail on how shes trying to weaken him to make herself stronger. Harding starts to get anxious, going on and on about how sweet and kind she is, telling a made up story of what she probably does on the weekends, drawing up a great deed she did. He tells how she goes out to peoples houses and donates and gets more and more anxious. Suddenly he stops and says "Oh the bitch, the bitch the bitch" (pg 55, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) He realises McMurphy is absolutely right, talks about how they all knew, but no one ever dared say it before. He talks about how she never accuses, how she has so much power she can simply "insinuate" something, and everyone will scramble to defend themselves. Some quotes of Harding to do with this matter on the next few pages would take too long to explain, and will have more effect in the whole of them, instead of summarized.
"No. She doesn't have to accuse. She has a genius for insinuation. Did you ever hear her, in the course of our discussion today, ever once hear her accuse me of anything? Yet it seems I have been accused of a multitude of things, of jealousy and paranoia, of not being man enough to satisfy my wife, of having relations with male friends of mine, of holding my cigarette in an affected manner, even-it seems to me-accused of having nothing between my legs but a patch of hair-and soft and downy and blond hair at that! Ball cutter? Oh you underestimate her!" "The world ... belongs to the strong, my friend! The ritual of our existence is based on the strong getting stronger by devouring the weak. We must face up to this. No more than right that it should be this way. We must learn to accept it as a law of the natural world. The rabbits accept their role in the ritual and recognise the wolf as the strong. In defence, the rabbit becomes sly and frightened and elusive and he digs holes and hides when the wolf is about. And he endures, he goes on. He knows his place. He most certainly doesn't challenge the wolf to combat. Now would that be wise? Would it?" "Mr. McMurphy ...my friend .. I'm not a chicken, I'm a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit. Cheswick here is a rabbit. Billy Bibbit is a rabbit. All of us here are rabbits of varying ages and degrees, hippity hopping through our Walt Disney World. Oh don't misunderstand me, we're not in here because we are rabbits-we'd be rabbits wherever we were-we're all in here because we cant adjust to our rabbithood. We need a good strong wolf like the nurse to teach us our place. (pg. 57. Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
McMurphy than starts to get angry asking how they can let it happen and how he is NOT a rabbit. What exactly makes him a rabbit? Is it his violence and too much sex? Harding argues he's just a more capable sexually active rabbit. They all argue some more and McMurphy starts to learn how things work, you cant just tell the Big Nurse to go to hell, or she will operate and electrocute you till you can't even talk at all.
All McMurphy want is for the guys to have some guts, he says "You know the first thing that got me about this place, that there wasn't anybody laughing. I haven't heard a real laugh since i came through that door do you know that? Man when you lose your laugh you lose your footing. A man go around lettin' a woman whup him down till he cant laugh anymore, and he loses one of the biggest edges he's got on his side. First thing you know he'll begin to think she's tougher than he is and-" Harding interrupts "Ah. I believe my friend is catching on, fellow rabbits. Tell me Mr. McMurphy, how does one go about showing a woman who's boss, I mean other than laughing at her? How does he show her who's king of the mountain? A man like you should be able to tell us that. You don't slap her around, do you? No, than she call the law. You don't lose your temper and shout at her; she'll win by trying to placate her big ol' angry boy. 'Is us wittle man getting fussy? Ahhh?' Have you ever tried to keep up a noble and angry front in the face of such consolation? So you see, my friend, it is somewhat as you stated; man has but one truly effective weapon against the juggernut of modern matriarchy, but it certainly is not laughter. One weapon, and with every passing year on his hip, motivationally researched society, ....." (pg 63&4, Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) Harding's main point in his paragraph is that even McMurphy could not "get it up" over Miss Rached and he wins the argument. Just like that.
It amazes the arguing raw power and perceptive of Harding. He is supposed to be crazy, and here he is arguing like nothing I have ever seen before, he backs McMurphy right up into a hole and he knows it. McMurphy was trying to tell him they should be more manly, they shouldn't let Miss Ratched boss them around, and Harding agrees, goes into detail, but than makes McMurphy realise there isn't even much he can do to up her in any sort of battle. Harding's whole perspective of things blows my mind, the way he can be so in denial about the whole situation and than argue it with only the slightest provocation. How he can just switch the situation around so that now McMurphy doesn't have enough 'balls". Maybe that is what makes him crazy. I have officially started liking the book. McMurphy is now absolutely determined to get the better of the Big Nurse now and everyone makes bets to whether he will or not.
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