One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Quote Analysis

In the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, the narrator of the story named Chief Bromden goes through tremendous character development through finding the courage and confidence to face his fears. Since the beginning of the novel, the “fog machine” is mentioned several times by Chief Bromden, as it was something he always used to help him hide away from other nurses and patients. He describes it as a thick fog that clouds his vision, as said through the quote: “They start the fog machine again and it’s snowing down cold and white all over me like skim milk, so thick I might even be able to hide in it if they didn’t have a hold on me” (Kesey, 7). This quotation describes the fog as a cold, white and thick fog, and

I lifted it myself. McMurphy whoops and drags me standing, pounding my back. “Twenty-one! The Chief’s vote makes it twenty-one! And by God if that ain’t a majority I’ll eat my hat!”” (Kesey, 142). In this section of the novel, we discover that Chief Bromden was the last vote of the meeting, and we also learn that he himself chose to raise his hand to participate in the vote, rather than sitting in silence. Through this quote, it proves to the readers that Chief Bromden has built a sense of confidence, and is now able to stand up for himself as well as his other fellow patients, rather than letting the nurse and helpers beat him around like they did before. As said earlier, whenever the fog machine was turned on, it usually signified that he wanted to hide away from the others. However, this time it was not “turned on” because he felt the courage to make his own decisions. Additionally, the Nurse’s reaction to him raising his hand in the vote further proves the fact that he acted out of place, as she was described to be lost for words. This is described later on in the quote; “Just by the way the nurse is staring at me with her mouth empty of words I can see I’m in for trouble, but I can’t stop it” (Kesey,