mood, Ratched retaliates by reading his file aloud, focusing on his arrest for statutory rape. McMurphy regales the group with stories about the sexual appetite of his fifteen-year-old lover. Meanwhile, he brushes off Ratched's attempt to ruffle him by deliberately mispronouncing his name. Even enjoys McMurphy's humorous rebellion against Ratched. Still, McMurphy is disconcerted that the patients and the doctor can smile, but not laugh.
             During the meeting, the patients tear into Harding's sexual problems. Afterwards, they are embarrassed, as always, at their viciousness. McMurphy tells Harding that the meeting was a "pecking party." The men acted like a bunch of chickens pecking at another chicken's wound. He warns them that every chicken gets his turn, so a pecking party can wipe out the whole flock. When McMurphy points out that Nurse Ratched pecks first, Harding becomes defensive and states that Ratched's procedure is supposed to therapeutic. McMurphy replies that she is merely a ball-cutter.
             Harding finally agrees that Ratched is a cruel bitch. He explains that everyone in the ward is a rabbit in a world ruled by wolves. They are in the hospital because they are unable to accept their roles as rabbits. Nurse Ratched is one of the wolves, and she is there to train them to accept their roles as rabbits. She can make a patient shrink with shame and fear while acting like a concerned angel of mercy. She never accuses directly, but she rules others through insinuation. McMurphy declares that they should te
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