Essay on The Chief in One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Critical Essay One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest, written by Ken Kesey in 1962 is a gripping multidimensional novel, set in an Oregon Mental Institution set deep in the countryside. The novel is narrated by an American half-Indian known as the â€Å"Chief†, who is a seemingly deaf and dumb patient with Paranoid Schizophrenia. By choosing Bromden as the narrator instead of the main character McMurphy, Kesey gives us a somewhat objective view, as its coming from only one perspective. The story comes from Kesey’s own experiences working on the Graveyard shift as an orderly at a Mental Institution, where he witnessed the Bureaucratic workings of the Institution and looks at the struggle for Power and Control†¦show more content†¦This pun serves a greater metaphorical purpose, as Ratched manipulates the patients and twists them to spy on one another or expose each other’s weaknesses in group sessions. The ratchet is also like a ratchet wrench she uses to keep her patients ‘adjusted,’ this entrance further reinforces that she hold all the Power and Control on the ward for now at least. The Imagery of the machine is introduced early in the novel, through the character of Chief Bromden, and it recurs at regular points throughout the book, he sees society as a giant machine, which he calls the Combine, and he sees the same machine at work on the ward in the form of what he describes as the Big Nurse in machine-like terms. In the first chapter, as he sees her approaching the black boys, â€Å"she blows up bigger and bigger, big as a tractor, so big I can smell the machinery inside the way you smell a motor pulling too big a load†. He describes her physical appearance in terms that could be applied to machines her face is smooth, like a porcelain doll,Show MoreRelatedOne Flew over the Cuckoos Nest - Analytical Essay811 Words   |  4 PagesEssay – One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest. 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