Chapters 7-10 (pages 85 - 116)

McMurphy has certainly had a big impact on the ward even in his short time there so far. He always seems to get around things and likes to have things his own way. He doesn't seem as easily influenced by the Combine as the other patients. For example, one morning McMurphy was the first one up and was going about singing loudly. The other patients were astounded because they hadn't heard singing in so long. Chief was wondering, "[The black boys]...never let anybody raise that much racket before, did they? How come they treat this new guy different" (Kesey 91-92) Then he realized, "...the new guy is different, and the Acutes can see it...He's just as vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn't get him" (Kesey 92). This just shows how different McMurphy is from everyone else there. So different, in fact, that Chief notices a new smell that no one else has. He smells of, "...dust and dirt from open fields, and sweat, and work" (Kesey 101). Quite literally, he would smell this way because of where he came from: a work farm. However, this is making a bigger statement and saying rather than the typical ward smells, McMurphy stands out and has retained pieces of himself still. These smells would be appealing to Chief because it would bring back memories from his Indian tribe and would be smells he used to be very familiar with. It would probably bring him comfort.

The Combine is what Chief calls the brainwashing, controlling, meticulous influence of the ward, the staff, and the Big Nurse. He experiences it as if it were a tight organization that is trying to control the patients' every little move, even to the point of controlling their thoughts and the most basic actions. Chief sees through it most of the time and is very aware of the controlling brainwashing that is going on. He sees the way his fellow patients are walked all over and the way McMurphy stands up to the unspoken rules just by being himself. I think McMurphy is aware that the Big Nurse is controlling everyone, but I don't think he tunes into all the little details in the way that Chief does. The other patients (at least the higher functioning ones) may be also aware that they are being strictly controlled and that the Big Nurse has to always get her way, but again, they probably don't realize the full effect of the Combine. For example, something simple like having the toothpaste locked up until a certain time is just a rule the patients are used to. If the Combine can control little things like that it can certainly begin to take over every aspect of the patients' lives. However, McMurphy challenges it. He asks, "What reason you suppose they have for puttin' something as harmless as a little tube of toothpaste under lock and key" (Kesey 93). He starts mocking one of the black boys about how people would be brushing their teeth whenever the spirit moved them and they (the Combine) wouldn't want that. He says, "And, lordy, can you imagine? Teeth bein' brushed at six-thirty, six-twenty - who can tell? maybe even six o'clock. Yeah, I can see your point" (Kesey 94). This to me proves that McMurphy is more aware of the Combine than the other patients because he realizes what they're trying to control just for the sake of having power. I feel like the other patients have gotten so used to the rules that even if they know in the back of their minds that some of it isn't right, they just move on and live their life almost indifferently each day.

When McMurphy enters the ward, he is coming from the fields. All sweaty and dirty. I think that this is the smell that the Chief associates with him. So after McMurphy changes into ward cloths, he still smells of sweat and the fields. I also think that McMurphy is one of the only ones in the ward that is moving around and excited enough to sweat. "so fare-thee- well, darlin', I'm gone on my way" (91) In this quote McMurphy is singing and dancing which would probably work up a sweat. Everyone else just sits and does nothing. I think that the smell of McMurphy is what the Chief associates with good and fun.

The Combine is what the Chief calls the all powerful influence of the ward. Those that have power include the Big Nurse, the Doctor and some of the Black Boys. The Combine is the machine that the Chief believes controls the ward. Such as when he is dreaming in chapter 7. He describes the machine as "one of those trestle affairs like you find in meat houses, rollers on tracks to move carcasses from the cooler to the butcher without much lifting." (Kesey 87) He is dreaming of the Combine, the thing that eats up those in the ward and destroys them and their spirit. I believe that the chief is not the only one to experience the effects of the Combine. McMurphy, when trying to brush his teeth is told that he is not allowed to have toothpaste because it is "it's ward policy" (Kesey 93) He disagrees, but has to except it and move on. This is what the Chief believes to be the Combine's influence on others. I believe that, although it may not seem as though the other patients on the ward see or believe in the Combine, those in the ward are so used to the Combine that they do not see or understand the power of it.   

McMurphy brings light to the ward that they have been missing their whole lives. If he had never shown up, they would all still be miserable and sad but McMurphy shows them that being in there does not have to be depressing. He shows them how to make better of a bad situation, “But this morning I hear McMurphy out there in the latrine as I come out of the covers. Hear him Singing! . . . Singing! Everybody’s thunderstruck. They haven’t heard such a thing in years, not in this ward.” (Kesey 91). He demonstrates to the rest of the ward a great example of what happiness looks like again. Most people in the ward are very content with their living situation at the moment because that is all they know. They needed someone like McMurphy to show them that they deserve better and the way they are being treated is wrong.

The Combine is what The Chief has named the control that goes on in the ward. All of the brainwashing and control over the patients is known as the Combine. The Chief talks about how The Combine has not gotten to McMurphy yet, “He’s just as vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn’t get him . . . the Combine missed getting to him soon enough with controls.” (Kesey 92). So, The Chief is aware of the control going on in the ward but just goes along with it. McMurphy can tell there is a power imbalance, especially between the Nurse and everyone else and he does stick up for himself most of the time. But, I would not say that he has a name for it like The Chief. I think he just believes that they are being treated unfairly but is not aware of all the brainwashing happening yet because he is new. 

Unlike the other characters, McMurphy has a very different personality. When thinking about the ward, I try and relate to it by thinking about school. The people in school, or in this case, the ward, is used to seeing each other day in and day out. Just like at school when a new person comes in, you kind of like become infatuated with them. Why are they here? Where did they come from? In the ward, when McMurphy first comes to the ward, I think the people that have already been in the ward are already curious as to what he is about; what he is like. It appears that McMurphy has a very bold personality in which rubs that chronics, or well the chief, the wrong way, “But this morning I hear McMurphy there in the latrine as I come out of the covers. Hear him singing! Singing so you’d think he didn’t have a worry in the world. His voice is clear and strong slapping up against the cement and steel” (91). Just like stated previously, the idea that someone is coming into the ward and acting so care-free makes the chief suspicious about what is going on. I think that when McMurphy came in, carrying an unusual smell also didn’t help anything. The smell that Mcmurphy carried was a smell that the chief was certainly not used to as it was one of the first things he noticed. If McMurphy smelt of sweat, and dust, it makes them wonder why he is even there. Why does he, out of everyone that has been admitted to the ward, smell like something so different.

The Cheif considers the combine as someone that has all this power that really just all goes to his head. The combines have all this power over the others that are in there. The combines just so happen to have all the power. Like we know of the Cheif, he pretends that he is not able to speak or hear. So when he sees all the “power” that the combines hold, he kind of just keeps it in the back of his head. At this moment in time, he can’t really do anything with that information he picked up. As for McMurphy, he was trying to do something as simple as brushing his teeth and on the the ‘combines' would not let him and would say, “Tha’s right, locked in the cabinet” (93). When that was told to McMurphy, he got to realize how that sounds. How the power must be held within all the “combines”. If he can’t get something as simple as toothpaste, there must be something else going on. In a way, that was kind of like a slap on the face for McMurphy indicating the power others have over them which makes me think that other people on the ward do notice it.

This smell may be appealing to the chief because he has very limited scents available to him within the ward. The smell of dirt and fields gives a sense of the outside world. McMurphy creates that smell. Unlike the other McMurphy moves around and has a very bubbly personality. Unlike a robot Mcmurphy both says and does what he wants. Even though he had to change out of his work clothes, the smell following him seems like an analogy to me. It reminds me of the quote “she leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes. Even though McMurphy is not leaving a sparkle per say he leaves his feeling of independence and freedom with everyone he talks to. “ I was seeing lots of things differently. I figured the fog machine had broke down in the walls when they turned it up too high for that meeting on Friday, so now they weren’t able to circulate fog and gas and foul up the way things looked. (91)” The fog analogy again gives the feeling that the chief feels that Mcmurphy is both real and gives the sense of the real world. 

The Combine to chief feels like where the brainwashing and memory loss occurs. This is where his sense of dreaming comes in. He mentions he doesn't feel like McMurphy has gone through this and has stayed true to himself. McMurphy would not let the hire ups change his views and ways. He hadn’t let what he looked like run his life one way or the other, any more than he’d let the Combine mill him into fitting where they wanted him to fit. Chief is saying no matter what the high powered people wanted Mcmurphy to do he stayed true to his beliefs and wouldn't let them change who he was.

The smells of dirt and sweat that McMurphy carries on him are probably appealing to Chief because of how new they are. He’s so used to smelling the same smells from being in the ward for so long, so smells from the outside world would be very powerful and intriguing to Chief and the other patients. Chief may also be specifically drawn to these smells because they remind him of his Indian tribe and what his life used to be like outside of the ward. McMurphy creates these smells because he was literally from a farm, so he carries these new smells with him. However, these smells he carries also help to symbolize his nature and how carefree and rebellious he is compared to everyone else. With his new smells also comes new behaviors. For example, Chief says, “But this morning I hear McMurphy out there in the latrine as I come out of the covers. Hear him singing! Singing so you’d think he didn’t have a worry in the world” (91). This singing is something that doesn’t happen much or at all in the ward; it’s new and it’s something that McMurphy has brought into the ward with him.

The Combine is what Chief calls all of the brainwashing and controlling tactics that the people of the ward use on the patients to keep them in check and under their control. Chief seems to be very aware of all of the manipulation and control used in the ward, and he sees all of the little things that the nurses and black boys do to keep everything under control. However, Chief observes that, “Maybe that’s it, [McMurphy] never gave the Combine a chance, just like he never gave the black boy a chance to get to him with the thermometer yesterday morning, because a moving target is hard to hit” (92). Chief notices that McMurphy doesn’t seem to be as controlled by the Combine as everyone else is, since he is always trying to push the rules. For instance, McMurphy was confused as to why the toothpaste had to be locked up as if it made a difference what time of day it was when they brushed their teeth. When it comes to the rest of the patients in the ward, though, it seems as though they aren’t as phazed by the Combine’s controlling tactics as Chief and McMurphy are. They all go about their business without questioning how much of their lives are being controlled by the Combine.

It’s clear that McMurphy’s presence in the ward has impacted those around him. His bet from the previous section where he said he could beat Nurse Ratched at her own game has gone into effect and is starting to change the atmosphere of the ward. Instances where he challenges the ward’s policies, like using soap powder to brush his teeth when they wouldn’t give him toothpaste or manipulating the doctor into agreeing to have a second day room after Nurse Ratched denied it, start to give hope to the patients and brighten the atmosphere. Since the other patients can’t really do anything about their situation, McMurphy is taking it upon himself to change things and Chief even says how he feels good “... seeing McMurphey get that black boy’s goat like not many men could…” (Kesey 94). Chief then goes on to compare McMurphy to how his father was. This similarity Chief sees between his father and McMurphy is most likely the reason why the smells of open fields, sweat, and work that McMurphy brings to the ward appeals to him. They remind him of his old life and the outside world as opposed to the monotony he’s confined to in the ward.

To Chief, the Combine represents the control and power that the ward and society have over the patients in the ward. To me, the Combine could also represent how those who fit into society will always have an upper hand over those with difficulties or disabilities. It seems as though everyone has a place within or working for the Combine. The patients are subjected to the Combine through the harsh rules and punishments they receive (electrical chair, shots, pills, strict rules, being tied down to beds, etc.) because they aren’t “normal” and don’t fit into society. The workers in the ward play their part in the Combine by working for it and enforcing the ideals society has. They also fear Nurse Ratched as well as the patients and so they do her bidding and thus give Nurse Ratched her power in addition to the power she already has from being what society considers normal. I believe it’s because of the natural upper hand Nurse Ratched has and her ability to get others to do what she wants that causes Chief to say that she will always win because she has the power of the Combine behind her. While most of the patients experience the Combine through the daily life on the ward, McMurphy is one of the only people who hasn’t let the Combine control him. As Chief explains, “He’s just as vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn’t get him… the Combine never had a chance to get anything installed” (Kesey 92). What he’s saying is that although McMurphy may have been just as likely to get brainwashed into playing his own part to fit into society, he never gave it a chance to. He is not going to let anyone or anything control him. Although he recognizes the control the Combine has over everyone, he is going to fight it and encourage others to do the same.

Even towards the start of the story, we can tell that McMurphy is not like any of the other patients in the ward. Chief is figuratively speaking when he says, “... the man smell of dust and dirt from open fields, and sweat, and dirt”(Kesey 91). McMurphy seems to come from a free life; which is exactly what Chief is referring to when he uses this imagery to describe the atmosphere McMurphy brings to the ward. This imaginary scent is appealing to Chief because it’s referencing to see change and someone different from the others. He even admits, “But the new guy is different, and the acutes can see it, different from anybody been coming on this ward for the past ten years, different from anybody they ever met outside. He’s just vulnerable, maybe, but the combine didn’t get him” (Kesey 92). This brings us to the idea of the ‘combine’. 

The way Chief describes this term, the first thing that comes to mind is a disease. He says, “How’d he manage to slip the collar? Maybe, like old Pete, the Combine missed getting to him soon enough with controls… the Combine never had a chance to get anything installed”(Kesey 92). The Combine is related to all of the illnesses that would make someone a patient at the ward. It is like catching a virus in the way he perceives it to be. All of the patients experience this, which does not include Chief. Chief does not actually belong in the ward because he is a sane person with no legit illness that qualifies him to be a patient. They all experience this when they act out with symptoms that would classify them into the ‘crazy’ category. 

When Chief brings up the idea of a new smell, he means this literally and figuratively. McMurphy smells different in the way that Chief is used to the way that the ward typically smells, so a new scent brings diversity to the facility. McMurphy came from a work-farm so this scent still lingers. This familiar and comforting smell brings feelings of reminiscence to Chief (Indian tribe past). McMurphy brings more than a new scent to the ward as he changes all dynamics of the ward entirely, for example, Chief says, “But this morning I hear McMurphy out there in the latrine as I come out the covers. Hear him singing! Singing so you’d think he didn’t have a worry in the world”(91 Kesey). McMurphy is bringing singing and happiness to the ward, something these patients don’t experience usually in this facility. 

The idea of the Combine is how Chief describes the brainwashing and authoritarian type influences the staff and Nurse Ratched are projecting onto the patients. Chief sees through it unlike some other patients who are too used to the treatment for it to seem irregular anymore, except McMurphy who is new enough to understand the Combine threat; “He’s just as vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn’t get him . . . the Combine missed getting to him soon enough with controls.” (Kesey 92). Chief and McMurphy are similar in the way that they both have secrets that are keeping them more sane and more observant of the corruption within the ward. These two patients can see through the manipulation and the power-hungry Big Nurse, all adding up to a potential rebellious motive. 

McMurphy came from the fields and that could be Chief's association when he implies he smells like dust and dirt. Chief is so used to the same smell that lurks in the ward and since McMurphy is new a new smell could definitely be present from him. McMurphy also tends to move around a lot he is not one who likes to sit still and he also gets worked up easily. So Chief may not be referring to an actual smell but rather just a sense of feeling he gets from someone (McMurphy). In the way, he is not being literal about this smell he means that McMurphy seems to get away with things easily as if the staff doesn't want to try and bother him from misbehaving, "Singing! Everybody’s thunderstruck. They haven’t heard such a thing in years, not on this ward. Most of the Acutes in the dorm are up on their elbows, blinking and listening. They look at one another and raise their eyebrows. How come the black boys haven’t hushed him up out there?" (Kesey 91) The reader can infer that McMurphy is almost treated differently, and none of the others understand why he is treated this way but they certainly notice it. 

The Combine is something that Chief describes as the brainwashing and controlling society within the ward that includes, the doctor, Nurse Ratchet, and the other staff. Chief looks through the Combine and doesn't allow them to play with his head, if anything he messes with Combine without them knowing. As he pretends to be deaf when in reality he can hear everything, so he knows all the secrets if they are said around him because they think he is deaf and can't tell anyone. "He’s just as
vulnerable, maybe, but the Combine didn’t get him. “ ‘My wagons are loaded,’ ” he sings, “ ‘my whip’s in my hand ...’ ”
How’d he manage to slip the collar? Maybe, like old Pete, the Combine missed getting to him soon enough with controls." (Kesey 92) This leads me to believe that McMurphy may understand how the Combine works just doesn't realize it has a name but he seems to think he knows how Nurse Ratchet works around things. So far McMurphy and Chief are the only ones who are not manipulated by the Combine.

 In the past chief was part of his Indian tribe, but once he was placed in the ward, those smells became less and less frequent. McMurphy entered the ward, he brought the smells of dust, dirt from open fields, sweat, and work. This brought a sense of nostalgia and relief to chief. The ward is a very dark place for the patients so having that taste of familiarity was refreshing for him. However, I'm not convinced what he was smelling was actually true. He is the only one who experiences those specific smells. Chief isn't exactly the most reliable narrator, as he sees things that aren't always there. I think he connects the the appeal of safety and hope from the smells from McMurphy of his past, to the safety and hope McMurphy radiates to Chief. That feeling is shared by everyone not just the chief. "Singing! Everybody is thunderstruck. They haven't such a thing in years, not on this ward" (Kesey 91) The ward seems to feel more bearable with McMurphy there. 

The Combine is what the chief has titled the brainwashing from the ward and staff onto the patients. The way Chief experiences this is through this "fog" that seems to come and go. He hides in it but doesn't allow it to take him over and play with his head. However it doesn't seem to be getting to McMurphy either and Chief notices it. He starts thinking "He's just as vulnerable, maybe, but the combine didn't get him....Maybe that's it, he never gave the Combine a chance, just like he never gave the black boy a chance to get him with the thermometer yesterday morning, because a moving target is hard to hit." (Kesey 92) McMurphy is confident in his own self being. He doesn't see the things the Chief sees. He doesn't have the same tactics of ward survival that Chief does. However at the end of the day, they both have the same goal: Don't fall into their trap.