How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Quote #1
McMurphy: She likes a rigged game, you know what I mean?
McMurphy can see through Nurse Ratched's manipulative tricks even if the other mental patients can't. He knows that Nurse Ratched will never allow a situation to arise if she can't control its outcome. That's what he means when he says Ratched likes "a rigged game." She holds all the cards—all the power.
Quote #2
Nurse Ratched: The patients are not allowed in the nurses' station. All right?
Ratched speaks to McMurphy like a child when she tells him to leave the nurses' station, which is a shortcut to showing him who's in charge. McMurphy is quick to obey, but because he doesn't yet understand how manipulative Ratched can be.
Quote #3
McMurphy: Do you think it might be possible to turn the music down so maybe a couple of the boys could talk?
How very polite. McMurphy quickly recognizes that the inability to communicate is what keeps many of the patients from connecting, and it certainly doesn't help that Nurse Ratched is always blaring classical music over the PA system. But when he asks her to turn it down, she refuses.