One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Part Four

In the shocking finale of this novel, Nurse Ratched ultimatley defeats RP McMurphy. By lobotimizing him, she removes his rebellion, fesity spirit, and temper from the ward. Before she can demoralize all the other patients, Chief Bromden seeks to stop McMurphy from becoming a symbol of the "Combine's" power. He smothers him with a pillow during the night, before all of the other patients see what has been done to this once strong, individual spirit. With the loss of McMurphy, folowing the suicide of Billy Bibbit, Ratched has finally sealed her control over the 38 men on her ward. When Chief Bromden escapes into the countryside to return to his people, it is the culmination of everything he has learned from McMurphy, a symbol of everything we subconsciously learn from the people around us. With this shocking end to the story of one of the greatest power struggles of the literary twentieth century, Kesey hopes to say that the establishment will always have some measure of control over us, and that is not only our right, but our responsibility as Americans to fight and question that power.