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One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

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One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Chief Bromden the narrator

In the novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, the author, Ken Kesey, chose a patient suffering from schizophrenia to narrate the story that is based on Kesey's own experiences. The first-person narrative of a patient, Chief Bromden, makes the asylum setting ordinary, and encourages the reader to invest in the personalities of its inhabitants instead of perceiving the characters as mere poke and shallow. Kasey’s inclusion of Bromden's delusions within the narrative itself, which are at first a disruption to the reader used to linear narratives of the real, become merely another narrative model for the reader as the novel progresses. Demonstration thought allows the reader to discover that while Bromden's disability makes him different, it is not debilitating for him as a narrator, nor, more importantly, as a man. Such insights into Bromden and the others initiate in the reader a reassessment of potentially unexamined perceptions of mental institutions, their inhabitants, and lead the reader to review the origins of concepts such as blind and speechless.

The novel is seen through the eye of Chief Bromden and how he interprets the world he lives in, which he calls "the Combine." Bromden has a very observant eye and gives detailed descriptions. His peer’s false assumption of Bromden's hearing gives Chief the ability to spy, revealing foreshadowing details. Although these characteristics make him a reliable source and a high-quality narrator, because of Chief's hallucinations and paranoia, some of his opinions and visions are misleading. If the story were told through a sane character, such as Randal McMurphy, the distinction between reality and illusion would have been more lucid. Using Chief Bromden as a narrator puts limitations on the reader’s interpretations, but also gives a very reliable and creative perspective of the events in Ken Kesey's, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Very detailed descriptions make a scene seem more

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