Summary

Miss Ratched has called a meeting of the staff to discuss McMurphy. Chief suspects that Miss Ratched wants McMurphy to undergo electroshock therapy. For this reason, Chief goes to the meeting to clean the room as he does each time they have a meeting. The staff still thinks Chief is deaf, so they speak openly around him. The meeting proceeds as Chief expected, with most of the staff suggesting McMurphy have electroshock therapy. However, Miss Ratched says that she does not want McMurphy to have the therapy because she is concerned that by punishing McMurphy now, they will make him something of a hero to the other patients and encourage the continuing disruption. For this reason, Miss Ratched convinces everyone to wait and try to control McMurphy in other ways.

Over the next few weeks, McMurphy continues to be outrageous, refusing to clean the...