At the beginning of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest the patients in the psychiatric ward are kept under control because they have been made to be afraid. There are two types of patients in the ward: Acutes and Chronics. Acutes are those "sti

ll sick enough to be fixed" (13) whereas Chronics are so mentally damaged they "can't be repaired" (14). The characters, who are mostly Acutes, fear that if they stand up for themselves they will be subjected to worse treatment and may even end up as a Chronic. Ellis and Ruckly are examples of Acutes that were turned into Chronics by the use of shock therapy for the former and a lobotomy for the latter. The patients fear they will become like Ellis and Ruckly if they resist. Also, all the characters in the ward except Scanlon and a few of the Chronics are there voluntarily, "there are only a few men on the ward who are committed" (183). All of these patients have been made afraid of leaving and facing the outside world so they succumb to whatever the nurse wants. Harding for example has been made afraid of not being accepted by normal society as well as his wife and therefore accepts the so-called psychological help that the ward provides. His wife when speaking to him looks down upon him, "Dale, when are you going to learn to laugh instead of making that mousy little squeak?" (172). When McMurphy asks Harding why he does not leave, Harding says that he wants to leave the hospital "with all the traditional red tape and complications...I want my wife to be here in a car at a certain time to pick me. I want them to know I was able to do it that way "(257). He fears that what is waiting outside of the hospital walls is much worse than the little security he has in the ward and refuses to leave until he has become someone who is accepted by society. One specific example from the novel that shows that the patients are being controlled by their fears is the incident involving McMurphy's attempt to change the TV schedule so they could watch the World Series. Even though McMurphy is viewed as their leader and they all have monetary interest in the outcomes of the game, when it comes time to vote and therefore go against Nurse Ratched all but Cheswick remain silent. Billy Bibbit tries to explain that they do not want to vote for the change because of the resulting long-term consequences when he says, "Some of us have b-been here for fi-fi-five years, Randle. And some of us will b-be here maybe th-that muh-muh-much longer, long after you're g-g-gone, long after this Wo-world Series is over" (115). Harding adds "She always has the capacity to make things worse for us. A baseball game isn't worth the risk" (117). It is fears like these that keep the patients of the ward from rebelling against Nurse Ratched and the Combine.

Despite all the tactics employed by the Combine there are those who resist. These unfortunate few are ultimately struck down and destroyed. An example of this is shown of this is at the beginning of the novel by the character of Taber. Taber refuses to take his medicine without knowing what it is. Due to thi

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Approximate Word count = 1926
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)