Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest By Ken Kesey

The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey introduces Chief Broom, a half Indian character, and the events that occur to him inside of a mental hospital in the beginning of the novel. Chief Broom narrates the novel and describes every situation that occurs to him as well as the feelings that he evokes in chronological order. Broom’s fake act of remaining “dead and dumb” allows him to observe the actions and conversations of the workers (10). For instance, Chief Broom describes that the worker could “smell [his] fear” before actually taking him to shave his head which shows that the writing of the story occurs in order rather than jumping to different points in time.
Although Chief Broom narrates the story from his perspective,

a majority of events that he claims appears to be invalid. Afterall, Broom remains at a mental institution to care for him and his special needs. Therefore, a majority of the events he claims to observe could be partially true but also partially imagination due to the mental illness he suffers. Broom even acknowledges to the reader that he does not necessarily tell the whole truth by stating that “it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen” (13). In addition, Broom does not even “remember if [he] got breakfast or not” which proves that he clearly cannot retain any of his memories, thus clarifying that the information he has to offer does not hold one-hundred percent truth to it (14). As a result, the reader should believe most, but certainly not all, of the events that Broom narrates because the events may have not even occurred at all.