McMurphy’s demeanor is reflected in the actions of his fellow patients. Harding is the first to push his luck with Nurse Ratched, ribbing her that the patients have heard that McMurphy pinched her posterior region.
Chief reminisces about a conversation he overheard between Bibbit and Bibbit’s mother, an emasculating woman intent on keeping her 31-year-old son a dependent child upon her. The conversation as related by Chief includes very heavy Oedipal overtones, which Bibbit seems to be overcoming as he nears the impending loss of his virginity to Starr.
During the debauchery of the ward party, Harding reveals to McMurphy that he has known his whole life that he is “shall we be kind and say different,” indicating that he knows that he is a homosexual. Lack of social acceptance of homosexuals, believes Harding, caused him to go “crazy.” He now feels that he is almost ready to rejoin society and accept himself. He credits McMurphy for his recovery, but notes that it has cost McMurphy his own sanity.
