Commentary- The meeting

In this scene of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey the power struggle between nurse Rachet and McMurphy gets taken to a new level of rivalry. The passage marks the end of Part II in the novel. The scenes that have been leading up to this passages were McMurphy and the Nurse playing out cards in order to determine who has power in the ward. The nurse plays her last ace with the certainty to break McMurphy; however she does not succeed, since McMurphy shows who really has power by putting his fist through the glass window. Consequently the passage is driven by the themes of Power and Manipulation and Gambling in regards to the most important themes. However Be a Man, Perspective vs. Perspective and self interest vs. Self sacrifice also mark crucial themes in the passages. In addition to the themes the text is driven by the characters of the Nurse and McMurphy and through the rivalry that exists between them. This is supported by the use of imagery by the chief and the diction of McMurphy and the nurse.

Of the three most important major themes in the novel two are present in this passage, power and manipulation as well as gambling. Before this passage the nurse was in power on account of the fact that McMurphy learned that he was a committed case. In this passage the nurse intends to make a final demonstration of her power in order to break McMurphy resistance. She seems to succeed as McMurphy does not protest against the fact that she want to take the tub room privilege away that he had fought for. The fact that McMurphy first does not react and then after she finished smashes the glass in a casual way “I’m sorry, ma’am, he said. Gwad but I am. That window glass was so spick and span I com-pletely forgot it was there.” (p.172). This way he shows the inmates of the ward that the nurse holds no power over him. “This was supposed to be her final victory over him, supposed to establish her rule once and for all. But here he comes and he’s big as a house”. This mentions the motif of Big vs. Little and whenever somebody is big it is a sign of self-confidence and power. The passage shifts from the nurse holding the power to complete power of McMurphy.

Gambling is almost equally important to Power and Manipulation, as the struggle for power is often referred to as a game of poker between the nurse and McMurphy. While the nurse plays her last ace in this round McMurphy can top it and still has the chief as an ace. The imagery used by the chief to describe McMurphy's behaviour is filled with references to “card games during the day” McMurphy is a gambler with every piece of his body and he knows when to lean back and when to play the good cards and therefore does not instantly respond to the nurses announcement but waits for better effect. His bluffing leads the nurse into an impression of victory which makes his countering an absolute statement of success.

The other themes, to be a Man, Perspective vs. Perspective and Self interest vs. self sacrifice all feed into the two bigger themes or are effects of them. To be a Man is connected to the motif of big vs. little as McMurphy stands up to smash the window and to stand his ground. “The Big nurse was sitting” and for the fact that he is standing that puts him over the big nurse. Also he reaches down to brush off the scattered glass of her, which is parallel structure to the smashed victory. His action, considering the fact that he is committed might seem rather insane to a person speaking from a perspective outside the ward, for him as a gambler however it is the best move he could make, something unexpected that put him into power again which features his long term plan of escape. Keeping that desire of escape in mind it is obvious that he does not do this as an action of self sacrifice but out of self interest, since his plan works only as long as he is in control of the ward.
Besides the theme the character of the nurse and McMurphy are utterly important. On one hand side there is McMurphy, the true American that is suppressed by the nurse. His will to fight is the reason of existence for this passage which is filled by typical McMurphy behaviour and language. On one hand side there is the gambler in him which inspires the calm waiting until the nurse has finished as well as his language that is colloquial but polite, witness to his uneducated character but still intelligent. On the other hand there is the nurse whose character is the need to stay in power. Her goal is to keep this her ward which results in the power struggle between her and McMurphy. The passage is also mainly made up of her speaking, not directly accusing the acutes but passively putting them down through language. She talks down to them by naming them “boys” and the use of numerous rhetoric questions, as if she had to make sure they understood correctly. She stresses that it is only the best for the patience “entirely for your own good” and how much she regrets this step. This way she marks the Acutes and indirectly McMurphy as the bad person and puts all fault of the taking away of privileges off herself.