Insanity In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

In the novel, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, our narrator is a tall, dark Indian man named Chief Bromden. Chief is a very special character. He does not speak throughout the bulk of the novel. Chief lost his voice when he lost his sanity. Although he is narrating everyone’s story in the novel, he also slowly reveals bits about his own story and why he came to be as insane as he is. The novel follows his journey out of a hallucinated “fog” and into a normal state. Chief describes himself as “cagey” (3), when really, he has simply lost his sense of reality and his voice in life. He claims everyone believes he is “deaf and dumb” (3), meaning he can’t hear and is too stupid to speak. However, this is not the case. Chief sees

A scene that reveals the truth behind wards fit for the insane. He shows that “the black boys in white suits’ (3) are in charge. This ward is much different than most in this time period. In 1962, the time the novel was published, females were always the nurses and the men were the doctors. It was almost taboo if you saw a female doctor. Not only this, but being the male doctor meant they were in charge. However, in this novel, it is the females who are in power. Nurse Ratched or “Big Nurse” controls all of the men. Chief even says they feel “nervous and fidgety” (152) in her presence. The patients here are all poorly treated by a staff with no compassion. Nurse Ratched is dominant, racist, and unfair in every way possible. Chief’s description of her physical appearance includes comparing her to a “tractor” where he can “smell the machinery inside” (5) and the way she “walks stiff” (4). Sticking someone like Chief, who is innocent but insane, in a setting like this is what fails him from ever getting

However, then something happens - Randle McMurphy comes into his life. McMurphy is a very cool guy that does not care for rules. He is not scared of Nurse Ratched and comments on how terrified the men appear when he says “I’ve never seen a scareder-looking bunch in my life than you guys” (70). McMurphy is clearly sane when he arrives at the hospital and is simply trying to avoid another sentence at Pendleton Work Farm. He is free, confident, and determined. Chief sees something in him that he saw in his father before he submitted to his mother. Through McMurphy, Chief is able to gain his voice back. Chief spends days watching McMurphy and narrating about him. It is clear to the reader that he has a weird connection with McMurphy that makes him love him and willing to do anything for him. One day, Chief opens up to McMurphy. He tells him about his crazy dreams, his beliefs about the ward, and all about his childhood and how his silence came to be. He tells him that he used to be big - and now he is small. McMurphy, who had also grown a certain affection for Chief, is quick to help him. He tells Chief he is not small and assists him in becoming strong. Once again, Chief’s “small” feeling has nothing to do with his physical state. To become big again, Chief must believe in himself and become strong. He must fight this system that dehumanizes people by resisting what has oppressed him his entire