McMurphy finds out that Nurse Ratched has the power to keep him there in the asylum as long as he wants, and that changes his perspective. At the next meeting, when Cheswick brings up the issue of cigarettes, McMurphy is silent. McMurphy sees how Frederickson and Sefelt need their medication to prevent seizures but it rots their gums out.
This has special resonance for him in terms of his rebellion against Nurse Ratched. She says the men are to be punished for their little rebellion. Nurse Ratched leaves him alone for a long time after that, and he begins to plan a fishing fieldtrip for all the men.
When McMurphy discovers that Chief can hear and speak after all, he signs Chief up for the fishing trip. The fishing trip is successful and McMurphy manages to get laid. McMurphy becomes a small legend because he refuses to admit he was wrong, even though it means perpetual punishment with electroshock therapy.
They have a major ward party, where they all get drunk and Billy and McMurphy go to bed with the two prostitutes. McMurphy wins hundreds of cigarettes and then allows his opponents to win them back.
That night, McMurphy whispers to Bromden and implies that he knows he is not really deaf. Bromden does not take his night medication and has a nightmare that the hospital is a mechanical slaughterhouse. The staff hangs Old Blastic on a meat hook and slashes him open, and ash and rust pour out of the wound.
Turkle wakes him from the nightmare. When Williams, one of the aides, will not let him have toothpaste before the appointed time, McMurphy brushes his teeth with soap. Bromden hides his smile, as he is reminded of how his father also used to win confrontations with humor. Ratched prepares to reprimand McMurphy for his singing, but he stops her cold by stepping out of the bathroom wearing only a towel.
He says that someone has taken his clothes, so he has nothing to wear. When Washington, another aide, offers McMurphy an outfit, McMurphy removes the towel, revealing that all along he was wearing a pair of boxer shorts—black satin covered with white whales.
Ratched manages to regain her composure with serious effort. McMurphy is even more confident that morning. He asks Ratched to turn down the recorded music playing in the ward. She politely refuses, explaining that some of the Chronics are hard of hearing and cannot entertain themselves without the music turned up loudly.
She also refuses to allow them to play cards in another room, citing a lack of staff to supervise two rooms. He asks an aide for toothpaste, but is told that ward policy won't allow the toothpaste to be unlocked because patients might use it at their own discretion. McMurphy baits the aide into a philosophical argument that points out the absurd and arbitrary nature of the ward policy, and resorts to using soap powder to brush his teeth.
This also reminds Chief of how his father used to frustrate government agents by using the same rhetorical techniques.
McMurphy is confronted by Big Nurse as he exits the latrine. He greets her as "Miss Rat-shed," wearing what appears to be nothing more than a towel. He insists that someone has stolen his clothes during the night.
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