Significance Of Fog In One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

The novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, written by Ken Kesey, is widely regarded as a literary masterpiece, this is due to how it throws you on a rollercoaster of emotions while still managing to portray a plethora of brilliant characters. As 'Chief Bromden ', the novel’s narrator, describes the ward and patients, he repeatedly notes the existence of some “fog”. Through the comparison of the instances in which “the fog” is used, readers can grasp the symbolic meaning behind the fog. Therefore in this text, several different aspects of the meaning behind the fog will be presented and analyzed to understand its significance to the novel.

The first time we encounter fog in the book is nearly right at the

It id clear that McMurphy did not trust the staff at the ward and certainly not Nurse Ratched even tho they were meant to know what is best for the patients. Chief Bromden saw him as someone who fought against the fog and even tried to free the other patients, he was the only one that was not controlled by Ratched. Bromden was not always a fan of McMurphys efforts of pulling him out of the fog as he saw the fog as a place to hide, a place where he did not have to think and act of his own accord, a place where he felt safe from nurse Ratched, “Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe. That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at” (Kesey, p. 128). By “being easy to get at” Bromden means that Nurse Natched would have a reason to punish them if they did not follow her orders exactly and started to think for themselves. This again can point to the fact that the fog symbolises nurse Ratcheds control over the patients, however, it also serves as a safe place for Chief Bromden, somewhere he could escape from