Pages: 162-175 Chapter 16 & 17
Main Characters in chapter 17 & 18
1) Chief Bromden 2) Randle McMurphy 3) Charles Cheswick 4) Nurse Ratched 5) Nurse Pilbow
Summary
Chapter 17
• One night Bromden doesn’t take his medication • Because of this he gets out of bed • While he’s up he looks out to a window. He can see that the hospital is surrounded by countryside and notices a dog looking for something • Soon an aid and a nurse come to put him back to sleep
Summary Cont’
Chapter 17
• Later, Bromden pictures the nurse with the birthmark trying to wash out her mark
• He pictures her doing this with a metal brush • As she’s washing the mark it continues to stay on her skin indicating all the damage is from the ward
Symbols
• Dog- Life in the ward - the dog is domesticated - Bromden notes that the dog and the car are headed for “the same spot of pavement.” - The dog will eventually run into the car and be killed by impact - Symbolizes that when rebelling to rules/ customs the impact can be defeat rather then victory - Ex; when the patients don’t listen to nurse Ratched
Symbols Cont’
**Country side- McMurphy’s influence - Country side shows freedom and nature -Animals (geese) are undomesticated and free
Quotes
• “He hadn’t let what he looked like run his life one way or the other, anymore then he’d let the combine mill him into fitting where they wanted him to fit.” Pg 162 chapter 17- Bromden • “I was seeing him different than when he came in; I was seeing more to him then just big hands and red sideburns and a brokennosed grin. I’d see him do things that didn’t fit with his face or hands, things like painting a picture at OT with real paints on a blank paper with no lines.” Pg 162 chapter 17- Bromden
Bromden is amazed that McMurphy can be so strong; he doesn't let anyone else's opinion of him define who he is.
Summary Cont’
Chapter 18
• During the meetings, the patients begin to complain about