How did chief know that mcmurphy wasent just drugged up at the end and would have mabye came out over it say 2 hours later, looking to get the eff outta dodge,
I’ve only seen the movie, so sorry if it is answered in the book!
out of it, not over it
why can’t these messages be edited :smack:
It’s been years since I read the book and watched the flick but I’m thinking it’s because Chief had been institutionalized for quite some time and had seen plenty of folks get lobotomies. Not to mention, the obvious incision on the skull.
Also, remember Chief wasn’t really the dumb ox that he pretended to be all those years.
Christ it’s early. Sorry my answers are a bit lame. Hopefully someone more astute at this fine hour can enlighten you more.
At least you get a bump. 
I’ve only read the book myself, wherein McMurphy leaves the OR with the telltale bruising around his eyes that result from a lobotomy. He wouldn’t have that if he were merely drugged, and there’s no way, given the power relationships as they’re presented in the novel, that McMurphy could assault Nurse Ratched and not pay a severe price.
In the movie, he’s not really bruised, and (as I recall) you can’t really tell he has an incision. It kind of just looks like a crease across his forehead.
Were they still doing lobotomies through the eye at that time?
I just watched the relevant scene in the DVD. Chief sees two attendants walk McMurphy back to his bed and lay him down, and when they leave, he unbuckles his restraints and goes to talk to McMurphy, but he sees two incision scars on McMurphy’s forehead, each about 1.5 or 2 inches long. They are very prominent.
Kesey wrote the novel in 1963; the movie came out more than 10 years later.
I always thought they needed to make that point a little clearer in the movie, as well. When we saw the movie, I had read the book and my brother hadn’t, and that was his first comment.