One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Character Analysis

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This above all; to thine own self be true. In the book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Kesey’s symbols and irony reveals Chief Bromden’s development throughout the story. McMurphy tries to make conversation with Chief to help him go back to being the big strong man he once was. Although Chief is big and strong, he believes that he is weak; bullied most of the time because he is quiet and intimidated. McMurphy and Chief make a type of friendship that helps Chief be the strong man that he really is. On page 43 chief describes that the fog is made and not natural, “before noontime they’re at the fog machine again…” The fog symbolizes the control that the nurse has over all the patients; because the medication may be the actual cause of the fog it tells us that the nurse has the control over them. Since she is in charge she gets to decide what happens in the ward and she controls everyone. For example when McMurphy wanted to do something different she made everyone take a vote for it and no one really wanted to vote against her. On page 24 is when McMurphy first meets chief; “He’s scared of his own shadow. Just a bi-big deaf Indian” this can be ironic because Chief is a really big man but in his eyes he sees himself as a weak man. In the book McMurphy tries to …show more content…

Nurse Ratched’s control pane symbolizes the control nurse Ratched had over the patients. When McMurphy asks Chief to lift the control panel; this symbolizes the power that Chief has had all along. Chief was able to lift the control panel taking away the power of nurse Ratched. The control panel is also a symbolization of Chief’s freedom. “it wasn’t me that started acting deaf; it was people that first started acting like I was too dumb to hear or see or say anything at all.” When chief was able to lift the control panel and rid the control nurse Ratched had over them was able to see his true

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