Analysis Of One Flew Over The Cuckoo s Nest - 1038 Words

Chief Bromden is the main character in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief Bromden, also know as â€Å"Chief Broom† is mentally ill in a mental ward. Chief suffers from Schizophrenia, lack of identity, and oppression. Chief Bromden changes throughout the novel by coming out of his fog, becoming aware of his surroundings, and even leaving the mental ward with the help of his friend Mcmurphy. Chief bromden has a large quantity of schizophrenic episodes throughout the book. He suffers from frequent hallucinations and paranoia due to his schizophrenia. Chief Bromden’s episodes are a thematic device according to William C. Baurecht. One example of Chief Bromden’s episodes would be when he sees what he calls the fog from the fog†¦show more content†¦He feels like he has two different ways to be and does not know which way that is. He is not comfortable in his own skin. Besides his schizophrenia, this is one of his main internal conflicts. Not havi ng a sense of who you really are can very well take quite a significant toll on a person’s well being. Not only was he uncomfortable in his skin but he was also a target for racism. Chief Bromden’s mother is a white woman and his father is a Native American man. The Chief’s identity crisis had a lot to do with a larger issue concerning the destruction of his Native American identity. His own mother was responsible for the removal of Chief Bromden’s father from his own land. His white mother was the dominant in the relationship which is not surprising at all due to the fact that she is also the dominant race. â€Å"This led the Chief to take his mother’s surname instead of his father’s, an act that is symptomatic of white assimilation of indigenous cultures†. According to the Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. This is conflicting for Chief Bromden because this means that in a way, he is disconnected from his father and his Native A merican side of his lifestyle. This is bad because he most likely looks more Native American than he does white and he does not even have a clue how to act like his other people. If he does not know how to connect with the other half of his life, he can not act