e the leader for the other patients. Their sanity, their claim to manhood lies in the balance. Cheswick, dismayed by McMurphys surrender, commits suicide.Cheswicks suicide signals to McMurphy that he has unwittingly taken on the responsibility of rehabilitating the other patients. However, after protecting Big George from the cruelty of Ratcheds aides, McMurphy is sent to Disturbed for electro-shock therapy. The weight of his obligations to the other begins to wear away his strength and his sanity. Nevertheless, McMurphy arranges a fishing trip for himself and nine other patients. He guides them through the process of dealing with the hostility of the outside world and sets the stage for Billy Bibbit to lose his virginity by arranging a data between him and Candy Starr, a prostitute from Portland.When the other patients sense that McMurphy is weakening, they urge him to escape. He tells them he will leave early in the morning after Billy has his date. He arranges a going away party for himself. While Billy finally enjoys the pleasure of sex with Candy, McMurphy and the other patients smoke marijuana and drink. However, when the time comes, McMurphy cannot bring himself to leave the hospital. Like the other patients, he has become unable to deal with the outside world. In the morning, Nurse Ratched finds out about their party and Billys sexual encounter with Candy. When she threatens to tell Billys mother, Billy becomes hysterical and commits suicide by slashing his throat. McMurphy attacks Ratched and rips open the front of her dress and tries to strangle her. In retaliation, she has him lobotomized. However, she has lost her tyrannical power over the ward. Her patients transfer to other wards or check themselves out of the hospital. Before he escapes from the hospital, Bromden suffocates McMurphy so that he can die with some dignity rather than living out his life as a vegetable.Bromdens ultimate fate is ambiguous. He states that he le...
