Skip to main content

At the end of the chapter, how does McMurphy discover Chief Bromden’s secret?

McMurphy discovers that Chief Bromden is not deaf when he is assigned a bed next to the Bromden. One night when McMurphy climbs into bed, he warns Bromden that one of the orderlies is coming to douse the lights. Bromden is startled when McMurphy says this.


After the snickering orderly ties the sheets on Bromden, he departs, and Bromden hears McMurphy next to him breathing deeply as the covers on him rise and fall. Soon, however, McMurphy begins a "soft, throaty sound" that develops into a low chuckle. Turning toward Bromden, he whispers happily,



"Why, you sure did give a jump when I told you that coon was coming, Chief. I thought somebody told me you was deef."



Despite learning Bromden's secret, McMurphy does not reveal the truth to anyone; he only talks to Bromden when no one else is around. For, Bromden pretends to be deaf because the orderlies will speak their "hate secrets" aloud before him. He also witnesses the hatred that Nurse Ratched has for these men in some of her responses to them, as well as her actions. Of course, McMurphy realizes that Bromden's opportunities to see and hear the real interaction that transpires with the orderlies and with Nurse Ratched may someday prove useful to him. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more