, a long-term patient in a psychiatric ward, narrates the events of the novel. The patients known as the "Acutes" are considered curable, while the "Chronics" cannot be fixed. The Chronics that can move around are "Walkers," and the rest are either "Wheelers" or "Vegetables." Nurse Ratched encourages the Acutes to spy on one another. If one lets slip an embarrassing or incriminating personal detail, the rest race to write it in the log book. Nurse Ratched rewards the winner by allowing him to sleep late the next day.
             , a swaggering, boisterous redhead, arrives as a transfer from the Pendleton Work Farm. He shocks Bromden with his ability to produce real laughter. He sidesteps the attempts of the daytime to herd him into the admission routine of a shower, an injection, and a rectal thermometer. He introduces himself as a gambling man and asks to see the bull goose loony, because he plans to take that place for himself. The Acutes enjoy themselves by playing along. He even introduces himself to the Chronics and shakes hands with them. Bromden is afraid that McMurphy sees through his deaf-and-dumb charade.
             Nurse Ratched runs her ward on a strict, unchanging schedule. Bromden describes it as if every minute were choreographed with mechanical perfection. Therefore, Ratched does not welcome disruptions of any kind. Bromden recalls , who demanded information about the medications she handed out every morning. He was sent for multiple electroshock treatments and became completely docile and unthinking. Eventually, he was discharged, considered to be "cured." Bromden conceives of society as a huge machine that he calls the "Combine," and he sees the hospital as a factory for it. Most human beings are cogs, and the ones who don't fit properly in the Combine go to the hospital to be reshaped.
             During the Group Meeting, Nurse Ratched re-opens the topic of 's difficult relationship with his wife. When McMurphy makes a few jokes to lighten the ...