Throughout the book so far we have seen McMurphy use sex, gambling, and especially laughter as something that seperates himeself from the rest of the patients on the ward. His experience in these areas almost make him more interesting to the patients. He tests the limits and "beats to his own drum". He is not about to follow the rules of the combine, and if he does is intentions are not pure, it is only to win the bet against Nurse Ratched. On page 113 Cheif describes McMurphy's attitude towards the ward as well as the role of laughter and when he utilizes it: "A couple of time some stupid rule gets him mad, but he just makes himself act more polite and mannerly than ever till he begins to see how funny the whole thing is-the rules, the disapproving looks they use to enforce the rules, the ways of talking to you like you're nothing but a three-year-old-and when he sees how funnt it is he goes to laughing, and this agravates them no end. He's safe as long as he can laugh, he thinks, and it works pretty fair" (113). It is almost as if McMurphy uses laughter to hide from the seriousness of the ward and also to protect himself. Being able to laugh allows him to keep his sense of self and sanity, without it he would be no one, he would be conformed to the machine-like combine, like the rest of him. He is aware of how he is the only one that laughs and almost in an indearing way, wants to teach his buddies on the ward to embrace the laughter within them because is heightens the quality of life here on the ward. In my opinion, laughter is what is bringing him together with all the other patients, whom they're learning a lot from.