Based on the first reading, I feel it's safe to conclude that the nurse is the obvious villain. She seems to have no heart as she tortures her patients for minuscule offenses. At one point, it's it's explained that the Big Nurse finds joy in "fixing" her patients; "The ward is a factory for the Combine. It's for fixing up mistakes made in the neighborhoods and in theschools and in the churches, the hospital is. When a completed product goes back out into society, all fixed up good as new, better than new sometimes, it brings joy to the Big Nurse's heart...." (40). It is clear that her definition of "fixing" these people includes numerous forms of cruelty and abuse.
McMurphy is an antihero in my eyes. He seeks to disrupt the cruel routine of the Big Nurse by stirring up trouble in the Combine. While he method of improving his living conditions causes much unnecessary trouble, his intentions are to help others.
I don't believe there's any true hero at this point. Chief is solely an innocent bystander.
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