In Chapter 8 of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, how does McMurphy interact with Ratched?

This event allows McMurphy finally to win his bet with the other patients that he could make Nurse Ratched lose her cool and get angry. Even though he manages to win a vote to watch the game, Nurse Ratched refuses to let him, turning off the power to the television when he turns it on and sits down in eager anticipation. However, even though she thinks this will seal her victory, McMurphy's response takes her completely by surprise and results in her losing her temper:

To tell the truth, he don't even let on he knows the picture is turned off; he puts his cigarette between his teeth and pushes his cap forward in his red hair till he has to lean back to see out from under the brim.

What finally makes Nurse Ratched explode is when the other patients come and join McMurphy "watching" the game, even though the screen is turned off. Bromden, bemused, observes that if anybody entered the room at this stage they would not be able to tell who was "mad" and who was "sane." This is such an appropriate way for McMurphy to get to Nurse Ratched because it allows him to challenge her authority and show that he is an individual who will not be cowed or shaped by her manipulations.

Compare Nurse Ratched's treatment of a man to McMurphy's interaction with the same man in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

At no point does Nurse Ratched treat Billy like a fully-grown man. Right throughout the book, she treats him with the same degree of officiousness and condescension as the other inmates. Nurse Ratched dominates and controls Billy, making him feel incredibly nervous in her presence. Whenever she talks to him, Billy always entwines his arms and legs, a nervous gesture which shows just how intimidated he is by her.

When Billy meets McMurphy for the first time he acts in a similarly nervous way. But it isn't very long before Billy comes out of his shell and starts becoming more confident and self-assured. This is because McMurphy treats him like an adult, making him realize that there's a big old world out there beyond the confines of the institute—that instead of being cooped-up in a psych ward, treated like a child by the controlling Nurse Ratched, he should be out there having fun, driving cars and chasing girls.

Thanks to McMurphy Billy realizes he's much stronger than he thought he was. It's notable that when Nurse Ratched confronts him after she discovers him in bed with Candy, Billy is able to speak to her without stuttering for the first time. This is entirely due to the influence of McMurphy, who, by treating Billy as a human being, has given him the strength to come out from underneath Nurse Ratched's thumb.