Many critics say the novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, R.P. McMurphy is the protagonist who creates suspense but I believe Chief Bromden, a “deaf” patient, is the hero who gains the ability to step out of his comfort zone and escape the mental institute. Chief Bromden has spent many years in the mental institute but when a new patient was added, the routine of his life changed. Chief was known as the “deaf” patient for the longest time. In the ward, there were two groups such as; “…Chronics don’t move around much, and the Acutes say they’d just as leave stay over on their side…” (18). Categorized in groups leaded patients to stay in their comfort zone with no interactions. With an invisible line between the room, it was …show more content…
In the novel he displayed Mac as an idol he looked up to; “…starts moving around shaking hands before the black boy can take good aim. The way he talks, his wink, his loud talk, his swagger all remind me of a car salesman…” (13). Chief didn't express himself verbally and emotionally so watching Mac walk into a new environment and greeting the patients had Chief wanting to gain confidence and become like him. In John Locke’s philosophy, he states; “Knowledge arising from sensation is perfected by reflection, thus enabling humans to arrive at such ideas as space, time, and infinity” (Locke). Watching Mac had given Chief hope and positivity that he would be able to become like him. However, it was not simple due to Big Nurse, a cold hearted tyrant, who was not liked by other patients; “So she really lets herself go and her painted smile twists, stretches to an open snarl, and she blows up bigger and bigger...” (5). Big Nurse enjoyed having order and complete power so she was able to manipulate her staff and patients to fulfill her desires. Like Big Nurse, the Griever, from The Maze Runner, shared similar characteristic such as being the antagonist which led to other characters in both novels’ wanting to escape and defeat
Gautama Buddha once said, “You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” One’s self esteem is reflected by their actions throughout their lives. Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, depicts how a new patient, R.P. McMurphy, is trying to free himself and his fellow patients from the manipulation of Nurse Ratched. Alongside McMurphy is Chief Bromden, a massive Native American, checking into the ward for being “deaf and dumb.” Chief Bromden is well known for having a low self esteem. Because of observing McMurphy’s reckless actions and carefree personality, Bromden slowly releases himself from his negativity. Bromden’s growth is portrayed to some extent in Milos Forman’s movie adaptation of the movie; however, Forman’s presentation was lacking in detail as opposed to the novel. Because of Forman’s abridging of the film, the viewer’s knowledge of Bromden’s change is limited.
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey is about a man named Chief Bromden. He is half Indian and is locked up in a mental institute. He has led everyone in the ward to believe that he is deaf and dumb; instead he is just quiet and observant. Big Nurse is the head of the ward and mentally controls every patient she has, not allowing them to become better. McMurphy is a transfer to the ward and loosens up the atmosphere. He is a very relaxed, outgoing, funny guy that loves to joke around and be loud. When he too notices the Big Nurse's mental control on everyone, he sets out to help the patients become sane and not be influenced by the Big Nurse. One of the possible themes for this story is that women, although not physically stronger than men, can mentally be stronger than men and can control them with that alone. In the following paragraphs I will show how Kesey portrays women's control.
The choice that a novelist makes in deciding the point of view for a novel is hardly a minor one. Few authors make the decision to use first person narration by secondary character as Ken Kesey does in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. By choosing Bromden as narrator instead of the central character of Randle Patrick McMurphy, Kesey gives us narration that is objective, that is to say from the outside of the central character, and also narration that is subjective and understandably unreliable. The paranoia and dementia that fill Bromden's narration set a tone for the struggle for liberation that is the theme of the story. It is also this choice of narrator that leads the reader to wonder at the conclusion whether the story was actually that of McMurphy or Bromden. Kesey's choice of narrative technique makes One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a successful novel.
In the play, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which Dale Wasserman adapts from a Ken Kesey novel, she takes the audience into the world of institutions of psychology inner works. Except it is not done through the eyes of a journalist searching for the truth, but through the eyes of a major character that has little to say throughout the play, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden plays a major role showing the main character, R. P. McMurphy, what he is up against and does this without speaking a word. Early in the 20th Century for people in psychological institutional, confinement meant that you could not function as a productive member of society. Personnel in these institutions took their role as one of power over their patients, disregarding them as humans. Patients resigned themselves to viewing nurses and doctors as people who knew more, therefore should trust without question.
“Old Rawler. Cut both his nuts off and bled to death, sitting right on the can in the latrine, half a dozen people with him didn’t know it till he fell off to the floor, dead. What makes people so impatient is what I can’t figure; all the guy had to do was wait.'; – Chief Bromden reflecting on the dead guy. This quote helps set the mood for the novel and many of the patients. They seem to possess a prison-like attitude, with scorn and cynicism. It also shows that the ward is not a nice place to live; kind of depressing.
For example the nurses and workers at the hospital are described as machine like and not living. Chief said this of nurse Ratched “Her face is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh enamel… A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what would of otherwise been a perfect work” . As you can see the author wanted the reader to see nurse Ratched as a very mechanical and robot like character. While all the authority figure characters are very mechanical McMurphy is more human with his scarred nose, long red hair, and his constant laughter and joy. Chief represents the natural world too in that he is native American and could remember when he was free and went hunting with his father but then the government and modern society came into his life and destroyed everything he loved. Eventually McMurphy converts all of the inmates to his free and wild ways and has finally succeeded when he is played into going to far and to wild and chokes nurse Ratched which leads to him being taken into the machine like society and is made into a lifeless robotic version of
Many critics say the novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, R.P. McMurphy is the protagonist who created suspense but I believe Chief Bromden, a “deaf” patient, is the hero who gained the ability to step out of his comfort zone and escape the mental institute. After meeting Mac, Chief’s daily routine had changed due to observing Mac and gaining determination. Although Chief faced many obstacles, using what Mac taught him helped him overcome them.
One scene especially filled the gap to why the Chief acted deaf and dumb and that was the scene where he was in his village in Columbia. White people approached the village and mocked the conditions in which the Native Americans lived. When the Chief would speak up to say that he believes the village is “lots cooler” (Kesey 164), he was ignored and the white people would continue to mock the living condition of the village as if he could not understand what they are saying. This was the first time in which he felt small mentally and was treated as though he was actually deaf and dumb. This scene is critical in defining the Chief’s character because it lays the foundation to Chief’s mental state. The only mention of the Chief’s background in the film was towards the end in which the Chief tells McMurphy that the last time he saw his father, his father was wasting away to alcohol. The filmmakers added in this scene to provide a hint to the viewers as to why the Chief acts deaf and dumb, but because there is no additional content that supports the Chief’s mental state, it is difficult to grasp Chief’s condition. Therefore, this scene is rendered as pointless to the portrayal of the Chief in the film. Because the film did not include enough scenes in which the Chief describes his background, it is difficult for a viewer to understand the Chief’s mental condition fully, which consequentially impairs the development of the Chief and his role as an important character throughout the
Chief’s narration of the happenings in the Oregon asylum in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are remarkable. He provides the best sense of the novel that any reader could hope for. Not merely for the style of which he writes, but because his story is a independent from that of the “main” character, R. P. McMurphy. As Chief recollects, “… I can remember people saying that they didn't think I was listening, so they quit listening to the things I was saying. Lying there in bed I tried to think back when I first notice it” (Kesey 210). This quote creates depth behind the man that stands sweeping the halls and listening into everyone’s conversations. He’s not been placed as a witness to the novel’s story by accident or coincidence, but in actuality he acts and perceives as he does
How can you be big and small at the same time? In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chief Bromden is one of the inmates in an insane asylum who escapes the Institution. Many of the other inmates are afraid of the Institution and cannot escape. How does Chief escape? McMurphy helps him break free. He teaches Chief how to be strong and independent again. He listens to Chief and helps him get back his self-confidence. McMurphy influences Chief to do things for himself. Having this help, Chief finds himself and his self-confidence. This leads to Chief escaping the Institution because he can face the world on his own without hiding under a false identity of being deaf.
Llewelyn Moss is one of the main characters in No Country For Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy. Llewelyn Moss gets himself into a great amount of trouble when he discovers a drug deal gone wrong that eventually leads to the death of multiple people including himself. Through crime and murders, Llewelyn finds himself on the run and comes face to face with what can be described as one of the most evil killers. As the reader discovers the rite of passage of Llewelyn Moss, the reader discovers the mistakes and consequences of the mistakes done by him. Being on the run and being the cause of the deaths of people, Llewelyn can still be seen as the outlaw hero as he fights against true evil.
Tradition, Honour, Discipline, Excellence; are the four pillars that are apparent in Dead Poets Society, Weir uses this symbol alongside the symbol of uniform to show how the students at Welton Academy are subject to conform to these rules. Similarly, in OFOTCN Kesey uses the fog that constantly surrounds Chief and the patients on the ward. Chief claims it is ‘made’ by Nurse Ratched. Because we know that Chief is schizophrenic and sees this that are not literally there, we recognize that the fog may be medically induced and is a fog of the mind rather than a literal fog. It keeps the patients from rising up in rebellion against Nurse Ratched but is also keeps them satisfied with their lives and prevent them ever thinking for themselves. The way Nurse Ratched controls the patients of her ward is very similar to the way Principle Nolan controls his students. Weir and Kesey use these characters and these symbols as tools or techniques to illustrate the difficulty around the struggle for independence. The uniform, pillars, and the fog are all symbols that help them live in that way but they prevents them from ever trying to improve their situations. As Chief says, “the men hide behind the fog because it is comfortable.” Weir and Kesey are using the symbols as a technique to explain the idea that you can live comfortably when dependent
“You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There's still a lot of good in this world.” Johnny is a 16 year old boy, who has brown hair and dark complexion. He is very shy and quiet but when you grow up in an abusive home and the Socs beat you up it kinda makes you shy. “If you can picture a dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny.” Ponyboy is a 14 year old boy, who has brown hair and green eyes. He is quiet and very intelligent he skipped grades. Ponyboy’s parents died in a auto car wreck and he is being raised by his two brothers Darry and Sodapop. Darry is 20 years old he has brown hair and green eyes he rarely grins and is very strict. But Soda on the other
Of the plays we have discussed and read over, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the most realistic and powerful, but also the least enjoyable. A lack of enjoyment does not mean a lack of greatness; this play was great. What I mean is, this play didn’t promote good feelings, and if I was to go see it I wouldn’t be able to see it again afterwards. Each character was whiny and conniving, and honest despite maintaining a web of lies between eachother. It was the honesty and lack of pretense that made Cat on a Hot Tin Roof so real and so repulsive. Sometimes plays are not meant to entertain. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was meant to share the cynicism of its playwright and shock the audience into reassessing themselves and their motives.
The character of a hero’s journey is highly criticized for their actions. This is the case for Randle McMurphy in Ken Kesey’s novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. McMurphy’s journey is very similar to any other hero’s as he goes through the important stages. Mac’s journey, however, is unique to himself and different from other heroes. Mac’s incredibly different journey of heroism begins when he is sent to the mental ward. Mac meets his mentor, Chief, who he assumes to be mute and deaf. McMurphy gains several allies in his hero’s journey, but he also meets his main enemy, Nurse Ratched. McMurphy encounters several obstacles on his journey and he has to overcome them to complete his journey of heroism. His allies aid him in overcoming each