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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Discussion Director: Jamie (McMurphy…

- - - - There's character conflict between the Big Nurse and the blackboys at the beginning of part 1, where she catches them loitering and threatens them.
    - - Jamie: There is conflict between the black boys and the patients because they try and keep patients in the shower room.
        
        There is some conflict between McMurphy and the Big Nurse during one of the meetings near the beginning of the book. She begins to notice his controlling personality, and tries to quiet him down by reading out his record, which he only brushes off.
        
        McMurphy is usually the centre of any conflict insinuated in the book.
        
        McMurphy targets each patients weakness, and uses it to his power. For example, he talks to Harding about how Big Nurse is a 'ball-cutter', a 'bitch' and a 'buzzard'. Words that conflict Harding outlook on Big Nurse (how Harding think that the Big Nurse is a motherly figure). This gets Harding excited/riled up.
        
        McMurphy starts conflict with the Big Nurse through Harding, by riling Harding up about the Big Nurse. Harding defends Big Nurse's honour by saying how selfless she is, and McMurphy only riles him up further by calling her insulting names. This causes conflict between two opposing parties-- one which likes the Big Nurse, and one which doesn't.
        
        Further into the book, Harding explains how the Big Nurse has manipulative tactics on having the patients think about their actions. For example, if a patient used a kleenex, and Big Nurse found it, she would come up to the patient and ask what they used that kleenex for. If the patient said "a pen" or that they had "a cold", Big Nurse would simply say "Oh, I see."
        Harding explains that Big Nurse does this to insinuate that the patient might've done something else with the kleenex, for example, which leaves the patient wondering what exactly they did do.
        This can cause conflict
        
        Harding also talks about the circle of life, about how "the wolf preys on the rabbit, and the rabbit knows his place. It wouldn't be smart for the rabbit to challenge the wolf. It wouldn't make sense." He explains how everyone are rabbits, and how the Big Nurse is the wolf. That she teaches them their places.
        McMurphy is displeased, and doesn't want to be classified as a rabbit. This can cause further conflict between the Big Nurse and McMurphy.
        
        Harding has the tendency to keep his hands hidden under his legs, between his legs, or just hidden in general. While McMurphy interacts with Harding, Harding slowly begins to reveal his hands, by making different hand-motions and such. This shows that McMurphy does in fact have the power to bring out parts of the patients that are usually hidden.
        
        There is conflict between Pete and mainly everyone, when he mentions being tired at the group meeting. The nurses try and quiet him down, and the Big Nurse is clearly displeased that he interrupted their meeting with saying he was tired. In the end they inject him with a sleeping needle, but there was no need since he already was collapsing with exhaustion.
        
        After that interaction at the meeting between Pete, the black boys, and Big Nurse, his spirit is visibly broken, and he turns into a mindless robot. This may prove to cause conflict later between the members of the hospital and the workers.
        
        McMurphy constantly likes to strike up conversations with other patients, ask them conflicting question, and tries to twist their mindsets on their opinions. It becomes evident that McMurphy also begins to insult the other patients to try and get a reaction from them.
        
        McMurphy is mocked for thinking that he could be any kind of leader, when he was diagnosed a psychopath. He's asked if he honestly thinks that he could lead, or be in power, of the patients if he's crazy.
- - - - We find out that the book is mainly revolved around McMurphy
        
        It becomes increasingly obvious that McMurphy has a control issue. He has the need to control the other patients, or become the one in power.
        
        There is a constant mentioning of "machinery" from the main character. He seems to "analyze" people by describing them with machinery rather than organs, or thoughts. It's a simplistic way of understanding people, and can be used a lot in regular day-to-day life too.
      - It becomes obvious that the workers at the mental hospital use excessive force, when Pete begins to complain about being tired, and practically collapses from exhaustion, but they still use a sort of tranquilizer where it isn't needed.
      - During the book there was an area where mentioned that McMurphy might be faking psychosis. Is it true? Or is he so far gone that where it seems like he's faking psychotic behaviour is genuinely him being psychotic?
  - - - Harding foreshadows events in the future, by saying that maybe McMurphy wasn't a 'rabbit' but a 'wolf'.