“Bromden’s point-of-view is necessary to make the characters big enough to be equal to their job” (Kesey). The reliability of the narrator, Chief Bromden, in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest has been debated between different parties since the novel was published in 1962. It is unknown to most people whether to believe that everything Bromden states in his account is the truth or mere figments of his imagination. The author, Ken Kesey, purposely wrote Bromden as the narrator for a specific purpose. He did not want the narrator of this novel to be similar to any conventional novel written before its time. There are many arguments on both sides, but Bromden’s narration both highlights and detracts from his reliability at the same time. …show more content…
Kesey’s usage of Chief Bromden as a narrator detracts from the reliability of the events in the novel because of his suffering from mental instability; however, he is able to highlight these events with his detailed descriptions and unusual mindset. Chief Bromden is a patient who suffers from schizophrenia. Hallucinations and paranoia are common symptoms that he deals with consistently. These symptoms cause for the unreliability of the information presented in the novel because of how it is difficult for the reader to determine whether he is stating fact or mere figments of events that he imagined in his mind. The misleading visions and opinions of Chief Bromden detract from his reliability. He recognizes his own unreliability in the beginning of the novel and states, “you think this is too horrible to have really happened, this is too awful to be the truth! But please. It’s hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen" (Kesey 8). It is obvious throughout the novel that Chief Bromden has a biased point of view. He is inclined towards the actions of McMurphy from the moment he set foot in the mental institution. He describes the actions of Nurse Ratched and the black boys as cruel and dehumanizing acts. Bromden’s support for McMurphy is most evident when he breaks his “deaf and dumb” façade in raising his hand when McMurphy instructs him to and when he realizes the objective of McMurphy’s actions in the ward to help the patients. Chief Bromden’s bias against the mental institution creates an unbalanced point of view that highlights one side of the story more than the other. His mental instability detracts from the reliability of his first person account. However, because of his position inside of the mental institution, he is able to give insight on events that happen during the story that other characters would not be able to. The detailed descriptions given by Chief Bromden throughout the novel allow for a better understanding of the events that occur by the reader.
Because Chief Bromden is believed to be deaf by the mental ward associates, he goes along with the façade and plays the “deaf and dumb” card to gain information. For example, he is assigned to clean the room during staff meetings and is able to learn about Nurse Ratched’s strategy for dealing with the shenanigans put in place by McMurphy. He is able to learn that Nurse Ratched has planned a strategy to not send McMurphy to Disturbed and initiate what he expects her to do. The eavesdropping Bromden performs allows for foreshadowing of events that are to come in the rest of the novel. His mental viewpoint becomes fascinated with what is considered different or out of place in the ward. This allows him to give vivid and meticulous details of the actions of the various patients, especially McMurphy. Bromden’s insight into what takes place behind closed doors and his detailed account of those events add to his reliability as the narrator of the story. His descriptions reveal how he thinks throughout the novel and show how his mind process changes from the beginning to the …show more content…
end. A major key in the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is the difference between reality and the figment of imagination. Chief Bromden is schizophrenic patient in the mental institution that has an unusual mindset. His unusual way of thinking adds to his reliability in that the reader is able to discern easily what he sees as reality and what he sees as a mirage in his brain. Therefore, the reader is able to tell what actually happened in the story and what was hallucinated by Bromden. This constant change in reality versus fantasy creates a complementary balance through the entirety of the novel. Kesey believed that there needed to be fantasy written into the novel to emphasize the variety of characters to give the reader the best description of character personalities and actions. He wanted Chief Bromden to glorify McMurphy as a “god” through whimsical descriptions to emphasize his importance as a martyr in the novel. It is also revealed through Bromden’s point of view that the Big Nurse is a dehumanizing tyrant around the mental ward. These exaggerations of characteristics are deliberate by Kesey through his manipulation of Bromden’s viewpoint. Bromden also goes through character changes as the novel advances. He struggles with many hallucinations towards the beginning of the novel, but begins to relate back to reality when McMurphy appears and brings life back into his being. His telling of McMurphy’s story allows him to better understand himself and gain control of his mindset, allowing him to finally break free of the institution’s grasp on his humanity and to flee towards the real world. This change towards reality makes Bromden a reliable source as the novel goes on because it is evident that he begins to come to his senses and tells about genuine events that occurred. The narration of Chief Bromden both detracts and highlights the reliability of the information posed in the novel.
His schizophrenic condition that put him into the mental institution causes for instability on whether he is suffering from paranoia or not during his narration of McMurphy’s story. On the other hand, he is able to pull of the “deaf and dumb” frontage to the ward employees and gain insight into what others would not be able to obtain information on. His insider point of view gives the reader a multitude of details concerning both events posed in the ward and his own thought process. Chief Bromden’s mental condition also allows for the depiction on the difference between reality and fantasy, allowing the reader to tell what actually happened and what did not. His unusual thinking makes the reader know what the actual truth is. The reader is able to question Bromden’s reliability, as well as trusting his account. Chief Bromden’s mental illness may draw away the reader’s trust in his point of view, but it also adds a sense of affirmation to the events presented from the detailed descriptions and difference in sense of
reality.
The novel that Kesey wrote is focused on how Bromden’s past memories should not let him down, but to gather his strength and let go of the past to start anew. Kesey builds up the encouragement through the help on McMurphy in order for Bromden to face reality with the hallucinations, to Nurse Ratched’s authorities, and the use of symbolism.
Chief Bromden’s development in the story was evident mostly by his narrations throughout the story. Kesey created Chief’s initial character to be anxious and uncomfortable. This is most evident when he speaks about a certain “fog” in his narrations. The “fog” he hallucinates about may have been included as imagery of his inner apprehension and nervousness. "It's still hard for me to have clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen"(13). Bromden had come to the conclusion that the fog was not real, but had trouble trying not to think about it. “When the fog clears to where I can see, I’m sitting in the dayroom” (9). This quote makes the reader feel that Bromden’s angst may cloud his perception and represent his desire to hide from reality. Besides the fog, Bromden als...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey begins with a short introduction by the narrator, Chief Bromden. Chief Bromden is a half Indian Chronic at the ward. Chronics are patients that have been in the ward for so long that people assume that they will never check out. During the time that Bromden was there, he acted as a dumb deaf mute without being caught by anyone. Though his condition does not seem as bad as some of the other Chronics—some were vegetables—it was evident that Bromden had problems with hallucinations and delusions from the final line of the first chapter, “But it’s the truth even if it didn’t happen.”
B. The effect that the Nurse and the ward have on Bromden 1. could not smell 2. thinks of himself as little 3. hides in the fog 4. fears everything 5. sees himself as comic 6. hallucinates II. Bromden in progress A. Gives up deaf and dumb B. Great turn - around C. Begins to smell things D. Regains his laugh E. Loosens up III. Bromden at the end A. Bromden escapes B. Bromden is a hero C. McMurphy is death; Bromden strength D. Bromden becomes big IV. Conclusion A. Modern world; machines destroy B. Nurse Ratched the machine C. Modern world is the combine Bromden and his Changing Mind In One Flew Over the Cuckoo?s Nest by Ken Kesey, Chief Bromden is a character who has to work his way back to being and acting like a real human after so many years of being ?
Chief Bromden, known as Chief Broom, is a long-term patient that serves in the psychiatric ward due to his schizophrenic condition. Because of his condition, he creates many hallucinations. For example, he believes that he can hear mechanical operations behind the walls of the psychiatric ward. In discussion of Chief Bromden, one controversial issue has been whether or not he is a heroic figure because of his hallucinations, failing to address the real events in the novel. On the other hand, many contend how Chief Bromden is a hero utilizes his surroundings and observations to overcome his psychosis. I believe that Ken Kesey portrays Chief Bromden as a figure who completes the hero’s journey because he overcomes his own psychosis and decides to express himself and live his own life.
White characters such as Nurse Ratched and McMurphy show surprise that he is able to speak and understand them while the black boys claim that Indians can't read or write. Bromden justifies that he is victim to racial inequality when people look "at me [him] like I'm [he’s] some kind of bug" (26) or when people "see right through me [him] like I [he] wasn't there." Throughout Bromden's childhood, he realized that the white people thought he was deaf and mute and that even if he spoke, no one could hear him. In order to survive through the dangers of the social hierarchy he existed in through the ward, he feigns deafness. Bromden points out that, "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." (178) Bromden, has also been constantly abused by the staff and other patients at the ward who call him Chief Broom, a derogation of his name as Chief and a mockery of his floor mopping “duties” in the ward that the black boys force upon him. Bromden's circumstances is illustrative of his race and of his entire tribe. The social criticism that Kesey portrays, emerges piecemeal through Bromden’s constant flashbacks and hallucinations of his village. Kesey compares Native Indian cohesion with the new estrangement accompanying the loss of Indian cultures and the adjustment of a white lifestyle to show the social unity once created by Indian traditions. By the end of
He values this trait in others too, and when the Chief sees just how deceiving McMurphy can be, he is dumbfounded. Just as quick as he trusted McMurphy in the first place, Bromden lost his trust once he saw the con man for what he really is. This can be applied to everyday life as well, because there are so many scams out in the world that people are afraid to trust others. Once Chief Bromden sees what McMurphy is capable of, the Chief understands why the Big Nurse is so skeptical of him. McMurphy always acts according to his ethics, which consist of maintaining having the upper hand in all situations. The narrator provides indirect characterization for McMurphy. By describing his actions and how the man thinks, the reader can interpret McMurphy’s behavior to discover some of his traits. Since McMurphy plays with the thinking of others, I can infer that he is sly and calculating. Additionally, since McMurphy looked reluctant to bet, I can infer that the man is skilled in acting, because he obviously knew the outcome of the bet but pretended
In Ken Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the reader has the experience to understand what it was like to live in an insane asylum during the 1960’s. Kesey shows the reader the world within the asylum of Portland Oregon and all the relationships and social standings that happen within it. The three major characters’ groups, Nurse Ratched, the Black Boys, and McMurphy show how their level of power effects how they are treated in the asylum. Nurse Ratched is the head of the ward and controls everything that goes on in it, as she has the highest authority in the ward and sabotages the patients with her daily rules and rituals. These rituals include her servants, the Black Boys, doing anything she tells them to do with the patients.
McMurphy’s resistance against Nurse Ratched begins to awaken Bromden’s own ability to resist the grip of the nurse. Bromden slowly starts to see that he is an individual that possesses his own free will; in turn the fog begins to fade. Through Clarisse’s love of nature she begins to open Montag up to a world outside conformity. She see’s that Montag is not like everyone else and that he has the potential to become a free thinking individual. Clarisse is able to force Montag to confront his deeper issues with reality eventually making him realize his own potential.
The threat of electroshock therapy is one that goes uncontested by the patients who have all seen the results of the therapy and have seen the brave and defiant patients like McMurphy, who are not subdued by marginalization like most of the patients, fall compliant or vegetative to the cruel control of the hospital. The amount of control and fear that is wielded against the patients makes them defenseless to dehumanization, which is experienced to extremes in the hospital. Bromden is even more vulnerable and targeted due to racism against Native Americans and Bromden’s facade of being deaf and dumb. The black boys in the hospital question how Bromden could’ve been signed up for the trip saying “Inniuns ain't able to write... What makes you think Inniuns able to read?” (Kesey 191). The dehumanization he experiences through racism is what roots and grows the idea in his mind that he is very weak and defenseless, so he could not resist or fight the oppression being held over him by the hospital similarly to how he couldn't fight the oppression or racism he faced out in the
An exceptionally tall, Native American, Chief Bromden, trapped in the Oregon psychiatric ward, suffers from the psychological condition of paranoid schizophrenia. This fictional character in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest struggles with extreme mental illness, but he also falls victim to the choking grasp of society, which worsens Bromden’s condition. Paranoid schizophrenia is a rare mental illness that leads to heavy delusions and hallucinations among other, less serious, symptoms. Through the love and compassion that Bromden’s inmate, Randle Patrick McMurphy, gives Chief Bromden, he is able to briefly overcome paranoid schizophrenia and escape the dehumanizing psychiatric ward that he is held prisoner in.
Kesey, Ken. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Ed. John Clark Pratt. New York: Viking-Penguin, 1996. Print. Viking Critical Library.
George has a huge phobia of cleanliness and begs the aides not to spray him. McMurphy and Bromden get into a fight with the aides to defend George, and the Nurse Ratched sends them to Disturbed Ward. The pleasent Japanese nurse explains to them that army nurses have a bad habit of running the place like an army hospital. Nurse Ratched informs McMurphy that he can avoid getting electroshock therapy by admitting he was wrong. He refuses and tells her “those Chinese Commies could have learned a few things from you, lady.” McMurphy and Bromden are sent for electroshock treatment, but McMurphy appers unafraid. He climbs onto the table and says aloud if he will get a “crown of thorns.” Bromden, however, is afraid and struggles the entire time. During and after the treatment, Bromden experiences images and memories from his childhood. When he awakes he resists the fog and works to clear his head. For the first time he managed to do after receiving electorshock therapy. He knows that this time he is not subjected to any more treatments. McMurphy, unfortunely, receives three more treatments that week. He shows no pain but Bromden can tell that the treatments are hurting him. Nurse Ratched noticies McMurphy is growing as a figure in the eyes of the other men because he is out of sight, so she brings him back from Disturbed
There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disruption to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine.
According to psychologist, Sigmund Freud, there are three main parts that make up a human’s personality: the id, ego, and superego. In the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, the narrator of the story, Chief Bromden, represents each of these traits. In the beginning, Bromden only thinks of himself as any other crazy man, who no one pays attention to, but throughout the story Bromden develops mentally through all three stages of Freud’s personality analysis, maybe not in Freud’s preferred order, but he still represents them all.