After helping the patients recognize that they have been victimized by Ratched’s autocratic methods, McMurphy withdraws in order to gain her favor to ensure an early release. The patients, especially Bibbit and Cheswick, perceive this as a sellout. Cheswick’s feeling of betrayal is perhaps more telling, because Chief recalls that, during his tantrum at the group meeting, “He never had looked big; he was short and too fat and had a bald spot…but standing there by himself in the center of the day room like that he looked tiny.” Whereas each of the patients eventually “grows” bigger when they empower themselves through their association with McMurphy, Cheswick doesn’t spend enough time with the rebellious McMurphy in order to grow larger. Instead he commits suicide.
