Plot Summary Thus Far: We are introduced to Chief, our main character, as well as a normal day of life on the ward with Nurse Ratched’s rules and regulations in place. The ward consists of the Acutes, willingly admitted male patients who are able to communicate and have a chance at reentering society through their treatment at the ward, and the Chronics, patients who are deemed unable to care for themselves and will be on the ward for life (this is further subdivided into Chronics who can move by either walking or their wheelchairs and vegetables who can no longer do either of those things). It is established that the Acute and Chronic sides do not mingle. Suddenly, Randal P. McMurphy, a new patient on the ward, arrives and breaks this monotony entirely. McMurphy is a convict imprisoned for fighting, gambling, and having sex with an underage girl. Unlike other patients who enter the ward, he goes around shaking hands, introducing himself, and establishing loudly why and how he came to the hospital. 

Spoken by McMurphy : “‘What happened, you see, was I got in a couple of hassles at the work farm, to tell the pure truth, and the court ruled that I’m a psychopath. And do you think I’m gonna argue with the court? Shoo, you can bet your bottom dollar I don’t. If it gets me out of those pea fields to be whatever their little heart desires, be it psychopath or mad dog or werewolf, because I don’t care if I never see another weedin’ hoe to my dying day. Now they tell me a psychopath’s a guy fights too much and fucks too much, but they ain’t wholly right, don’t you think?’” 

 

(13-14)

The court system ruling McMurphy a psychopath after his behavior was deemed unacceptable at the work farm equates the mental health system as more punitive than carceral. Their ruling also outlines the court system’s attitude towards mental health and what socially acceptable behavior is for a man. 

McMurphy is sent to the mental hospital because the court has ruled him a “psychopath” for getting into too many fights (Kesey 13). McMurphy does not argue with the court’s judgement “because I don’t care if I never see another weedin’ hoe to my dying day” (Kesey 13). While mental health facilities may initially seem more palatable to prisoners than hard labor, Kesey is arguing that mental hospitals are actually more punitive than prisons. Mental hospitals break down their patients systematically through psychological manipulation, while prisons are more focused on physical labor. However, mental hospitals are still sanctioned to give physical punishments for misconduct, though this is under the guise of “treatment”. For instance, mental hospitals are sanctioned to give lobotomies, drugs, or administer electroshock therapy, while prisons cannot do this. The court sees it fit to funnel down prisoners from places like the work farm into mental health institutions in order to force them to conform to society’s standards of acceptable behavior, which is the goal of punishment. This establishes a link between the two institutions, as the prison feeds into the hospital, creating the idea of a prison to hospital pipeline for men who do not conform. Because prison is not enough to make McMurphy conform to society, the proverbial next step is to put him into a mental hospital, which strengthens the claim that mental hospitals are punitive. The court gives the label of psychopath to McMurphy in order to funnel him into the mental hospital (Kesey 13). Again, McMurphy does not argue, because he will “be whatever their little heart desires” if it “gets [him] out of those pea fields”. (Kesey 13). The court can essentially label prisoners as psychopaths with impunity to meet their ends. What is interesting is that McMurphy follows the aforementioned thought with “be it psychopath or mad dog or werewolf,” (Kesey 13). The clinical label of psychopath, which is used for a human being, is equated by the conjunction or with a mad dog, an out-of-control animal that may be put down to better society because otherwise it will harm others. Thus, psychopath is a dehumanizing label. What is equally if not more interesting is the word psychopath also being equated with werewolf, a mythical monster that does not exist as it is the combination of a mad dog, which is an animal, and human, who is a psychopath. It is important to remember that the court is giving McMurphy this label, meaning that to the court system, a person who is deemed a “psychopath” is not a human being so much as a monster that poses a threat to society and must be euthanized. However, this is not the only layer of the court’s thinking. “‘Now they tell me a psychopath’s a guy fights too much and fucks too much,’” (Kesey 14). The idea of this label not being accurate fits into the idea of the werewolf–a psychopath does not actually exist, and the idea of psychopathy is a social construct. The court deems someone a psychopath because the prisoner in question is a man who is too masculine, one who has an out of control sexual appetite and is too aggressive. This over-masculinity is viewed as a threat to society, which is why McMurphy is funneled into a mental institution to be forced to conform to an acceptable masculine ideal. This line of thought ends with “‘but they ain’t wholly right, don’t you think?’” (Kesey 14) which asks the audience assembled and the reader to examine the label of psychopath and question the impunity of the judicial system in labelling men and funneling them down into punitive institutions for mental health.