One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Bromden shares his recollection of one Christmas when a man resembling Santa Claus entered the ward and six years later was released, “clean-shaven and skinny as a pole” (68). This memory transitions into Bromden discussing the passage of time in the ward. He believes that Ratched controls the time and that she speeds past enjoyable moments, then slows down or pauses on tedious moments. However, he notes little or no time manipulation—or fog production—since McMurphy’s arrival that morning. When Ratched goes home at the end of her shift, Bromden reports that the “machinery in the walls […] drops into a lower gear” (70).

The patients remain in the day room for the rest of the evening. Running a gambling table, McMurphy complains about the music playing through the speakers, thinking it is the radio. In fact, Ratched plays a tape on repeat throughout the day, which the inhabitants of the ward know so well that they hardly notice it. McMurphy considers complaining to the nurses, until Harding reminds him of his pledge to be non-combative through the duration of the bet.

Throughout the evening, McMurphy wins a large pile of cigarette packs, which they use as gambling chips (gambling with money is prohibited), but just before bedtime, he lets the other players win theirs back.