At the very beginning of one of our assignments, Chief starts to question why McMurphy has not been adjusted or changed by the combine: "Maybe, like old Pete, the Combine missed getting to him soon enough with the controls...keeping on the move so much that the Combine never had a chance to get anything installed" (89). Chief claimed that since he had been moving all around the country and never settled down in one place for a long enough time, the Combine never was able to install anything or program something into him because he wasn't able to be broken down. As soon as he felt he was being changed, he could have just gotten up and left in order to avoid becoming a product of the Combine.
I think that this passage shows Chief is jealous of McMurphy in a way. He wishes that he could have escaped the Combine just as Mac did. He is envious of the way McMurphy does not care about many things and how he does not get paranoid or retreat into a fog. I also think that its not just Chief who is jealous of him. I think all the guys on the ward look up to McMurphy because they see the way that he rebels against the nurse and the way he manipulates the doctor. All the guys wish that they could have escaped, but only one was fortunate enough. Now we just have to wait and see whether or not this Combine gets to McMurphy.
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Throughout the book, as said in the post, the patients wish they could have escaped the combine and they are jelous of McMurphy for escaping it. But on page 136 it seems as if McMurphy has become part of the combine himself and has installed wires in Cheif's arm. Chief states, "...McMurphy's got hidden wires hooked to it, lifting it sow, just to get me out of the fog into the open where im fair game. He's doing it, wires...No. Thats not the truth. I lifted it myself." In the begining Chief thinks he is part of this mechanical combine, blaming his actions of McMurphy. But suddenly he snaps into reality and realizes he is not a machine and he raised his hand himself. What do you think made him change his dellusion and take responsibility for his action?
i agree with edward and lexi. this period of time in the book shows a conflict between conforming and fighting. While McMurphy bothers the nurse and befriends the doctor, the other people on the ward feel threatened by his reckless nature. if mcmurphy doesn't do something significant, he could be faced with answering to the ward patients instead of just the combine
(we obviously know more now, but just explaining my thought process at the time)
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