The Acutes are made up of patients who are seen to be "curable." These men include McMurphy, Harding, Cheswick, Billy, and others. As a group, they hang out together during the day and often play cards.
Who are the Acutes and Chronics in the Cuckoo's Nest?
The patients are divided into two main categories: the Acutes, who are considered curable, and the Chronics, whom Bromden, himself a Chronic, calls “machines with flaws inside that can't be repaired.” The Chronics who can move around are Walkers, and the rest are either Wheelers or Vegetables.
Why is Cheswick in the ward?
Charles Cheswick, inspired by Randle McMurphy's heroics in the mental institution's ward, wants to join the fight against Nurse Ratched.
Who are the Vegetables in Cuckoo's Nest?
The Chronics: The name used for patients for which there is no hope. A large number of these are Vegetables, men who are so far gone they are almost brain dead. Chief Bromden is considered a Chronic, because he has been on the ward so long and everyone thinks he is deaf and dumb.
What does McMurphy bet the other Acutes?
The other Acutes are afraid to vote against Nurse Ratched's wishes, however. After losing the vote, McMurphy says he and Charles Cheswick are going to break out a window in order to go to town to visit a bar and watch the game. The patients bet that McMurphy can't lift a large control panel to throw through the window.
Why is Billy bibbit in the ward?
He is completely dominated by his mother (a close friend of Nurse Ratched), and committed himself to the hospital voluntarily because he couldn't handle the outside world. After he loses his virginity to Candy Starr in the nighttime ward party, he is initially proud.
Why is Harding in the ward?
Dale Harding Although he is married, Harding is a homosexual. He has difficulty dealing with the overwhelming social prejudice against homosexuals, so he hides in the hospital voluntarily.
What was McMurphy's mental illness?
Each film takes up specific gendered mental illnesses – Susanna is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, seven times more likely in women than men, and McMurphy with Anti-Social Personality Disorder, three times more likely in men than women.
Why does Cheswick drown himself?
At one point McMurphy decides to fall in line when he learns his stay in the ward is indefinite and his release is solely determined by the Big Nurse. As a result, Cheswick drowns himself in the ward's swimming pool when he decides he himself will never escape the relentless Big Nurse.
Is Nurse Ratched evil?
Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind the Wicked Witch of the West of The Wizard of Oz) by the American Film Institute in their series 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains.
How does Nurse Ratched get the Acutes to spy on each other?
They become mentally crippled by excessive shock treatment or brain surgery, common practices in the hospital. How does Nurse Ratched get the Acutes to spy on each other? If one reveals an embarrassing or incriminating personal detail, the rest race to write it in the logbook.
What is Nurse Ratched's one weakness?
When McMurphy attacks her and tears her shirt open in front of the men, he reveals her weakness—she's a woman after all. Big breasts don't lie. Nurse Ratched has her revenge. While she is recovering from the attack, she arranges for McMurphy to have a lobotomy.
Why did McMurphy get a lobotomy?
McMurphy is given a lobotomy for his attack on Nurse Ratched. When he is returned to the ward after the operation, he is a vegetable. That same night, Bromden suffocates McMurphy with a pillow.
Why is McMurphy in the ward?
Spivey explores with McMurphy the reason he has been sent to the mental hospital from the prison work farm, where he was held previously. The doctor asks McMurphy whether he is faking mental illness to get out of work, and McMurphy admits slyly that he believes there is nothing wrong with his mind.
Why does Cheswick drown?
After he returns, on the way to the pool, Cheswick tells McMurphy that he understands why McMurphy no longer rebels against Ratched. That day, Cheswick's fingers get stuck in the pool's drain and he drowns in what is possibly a suicide.
What happens to McMurphy after Cheswick dies?
However, after Cheswick commits suicide, McMurphy realizes that Nurse Ratched's control is a life-and-death matter. At that point he steps up his rebellion. Punishment with electroshock therapy only serves to strengthen his will and preserve his spirit from Nurse Ratched's manipulation.
Who is Scanlon One Flew Over?
Scanlon: A patient obsessed with explosives and destruction. He is the only other non-vegetative patient confined to the ward by force aside from McMurphy and Bromden; the rest can leave at any time. Jim Sefelt and Bruce Fredrickson: Two epileptic patients.