Ken Kesey’s figurative language in his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, illustrates that a broken individual can be made whole again. Throughout his life, Bromden has always been assumed to be deaf and dumb. When he speaks to people, their “machinery disposes of the words like they were not even spoken” (181). Here, Kesey’s metaphor represents the effect that Bromden’s words have on a mind plagued with societal expectations. Bromden is a large, Native American man that does not conform to the mold set by the Combine.
In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey illustrates in the book's final passage Chief Bromden’s escape into nature and freedom from his prior mechanical entrapment. Kesey outlines in the novel the difference between the hospital, an automatic and controlling institute. To the outside countryside that Bromden observes as representative of freedom, which he breaks free into. This imagery of machinery vs. nature is carefully crafted by Kesey within diction and imagery of scenes and characters. Where this is most prominent however, are the scenes Bromden experiences solely at night.
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey asserts the overarching importance of individuality through the use of a conflict between the patients and the nurse as a microcosm of society. In the novel, the delusions of the narrator
In Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ the main character and narrator, Chief Bromden, is noticeably stuck inside his own head as he acts deaf and dumb to escape the pressures of being a part of something. As the novel moves on, for someone who’s perception of living is to stay transparent and withdrawn totally inside himself the Chief takes a transformation from his delusional mind and gains strength physically and mentally, creating a journey towards freedom and finally, breaking free from the ward and from himself. Kesey uses the transformation to unravel a number of ideas about the importance of freedom and explores how the pressures of society can lead individuals to conform within themselves. The theories Chief believes
Shortly after Randle McMurphy “whipped” Nurse Ratched in group therapy in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the narrator, Chief Bromden, acquiesced the truth that it was only a temporary victory, with the heavy, recurring fog returning quickly, now feeling “as hopeless and dead as [Chief] felt happy a minute ago”, noting “the more I think about how nothing can be helped, the faster the fog rolls in. And I’m glad when it gets thick enough you’re lost in it ad can let go, and be safe again” (Kesey 113). In Kesey’s novel, the fog serves a multitude of purposes, chiefly Bromden’s psychological state and the suppression his individuality and willpower by the hospital throughout the novel.
Imagine a life where people ignore us and treat us as if we were not even there, simply because they believe we do not have the same mental age as our peers and cannot hear. All on a day to day basis. When entering One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, one can tell that Chief Bromden, our Indian narrator, is fully aware of his surroundings and does not live up to the statement above; even though the nurses and aids in the ward think otherwise. In this novel, we see how Chief Bromden comes to understand that he is not the one who started to present himself as deaf and dumb, but it was the people around him that thought he was too dumb to hear what they were saying. Through Kesey’s writing, we come to see how McMurphy, a rough-n-tough fighting man, helps Chief regain his ability of speech and build his emotional and “physical” strength back to its fullest potential.
In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Ken Kesey, Chief Bromden is a good choice of narrator because the Chief plays the perfect role of observing others and things around him. He pretends to be deaf and mute, and other men don’t know the Chief can hear him. Therefore, they won’t act in front of him so Chief can see what is actually going on around the hospital. Throughout the story, Chief has truthfully tells the story and the words he speaks seems trustworthy. Not only does he tells the story truthfully, but also brings the readers in the story and makes readers trust McMurphy.
Ken Kesey’s comic novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, takes place in an all-male psychiatric ward. The head of the ward, Big Nurse Ratched, is female. Kesey explores the power-struggle that takes place when the characters challenge gender dynamics in this environment. One newly-arrived patient, McMurphy, leads the men against the Big Nurse. The story is told through the eyes of Chief Bromden, a patient who learns from McMurphy and fights for his freedom.
When our main protagonist, Chief Bromden is first introduced, he starts out in the fog; however, when McMurphy arrives, everything changes: “They haven’t really fogged the place full force all day today, not since McMurphy came in” (Kesey 75). The fog keeps everybody content or at least unwilling to stand up against the system, but McMurphy inspires them all to stand up for themselves. The fog is symbolic of the waste that our mechanized society has created, and how it pollutes our ability to live naturally: the combine. The fog that Bromden experiences is a representation of the lack of transparency by the Combine of the ward. The clearing of the fog occurs with McMurphy's rebellion and represents the newfound clarity that Bromden and the other patients acquire when McMurphy is around.
Kesey’s, the author of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest’, narrative serves as a study of institutional processes and follows the background of Bromden, where the readers are able to
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Comparison Essay It is virtually a maxim that a character’s inner thoughts are more enhanced in books than in movies or films. The novel was written by Ken Kessey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has a film version directed by Milos Forman. Throughout the book, Kessey shapes Chief Bromden’s overall character through his past, his view of the hospital and inner thoughts by using overwhelming mechanical imageries. However, in the film this crucial history and imageries were lacked.
Throughout One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest the narrator, Chief Bromden, has a slight mystery surrounding him, like several of the other characters. That is, what mental illness is Chief in the ward for exactly? The answer might seem like the obvious post traumatic stress disorder, but is it really? While he does have the necessary traumatic experience for PTSD to occur, he doesn’t necessarily show all the symptoms. In fact he shows just as many symptoms for depersonalization/derealization disorder and schizophrenia as he does PTSD.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, considers the qualities in which society determines sanity. The label of insanity is given when someone is different from the perceived norm. Conversely, a person is perceived as sane when their behavior is consistent with the beliefs of the majority. Although the characters of this novel are patients of a mental institution, they all show qualities of sanity. The book is narrated by Chief Brodmen, an observant chronic psychiatric patient, who many believe to be deaf and dumb.
The main characters of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest have very distinct and different traits that in return make the novel the classic that it is today. One of the main characters is Chief Bromden. He is basically narrator of the book. Chief Bromden is the son of the chief of the Columbia Indians and his wife is a white woman. He has suffered from paranoia and hallucinations, has endured many electroshock treatments, and has been in the hospital for ten years, the longest patient to ever be in the hospital.
Ken Kesey uses his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to describe the lives of patients in a mental institution, and their struggle to overcome the oppressive authority under which they are living. Told from the point of view of a supposedly mute schizophrenic, the novel also shines a light on the many disorders present in the patients, as well as how their illnesses affect their lives during a time when little known about these disorders, and when patients living with these illnesses were seen as an extreme threat. Chief Bromden, the narrator of the novel, has many mental illnesses, but he learns to accept himself and embrace his differences. Through the heroism introduced through Randle McMurphy, Chief becomes confident in himself, and is ultimately able to escape from the toxic environment Nurse Ratched has created on the ward. Chief has many disorders including schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and, in addition to these illnesses, he pretends to be deaf and dumb.
