Part 1 Cuckoo's Nest

Examine the problems and possibilities inherent to Kesey’s choice of Chief “Broom” Bromden as a narrator. You might discuss issues related to a) his perspective and subjectivity, b) his position in the societies of the ward and of the world at large, c) his personal history and mannerisms, and d) his narrative style.


Kesey's choice of making Bromden the narrator has both possibilities and some problems. With Bromden as the narrator, we as the readers are able to see the emotions and feelings of a patient in the ward that are similar and understanding of the other patiets in the ward. We are able to see more clearly how wrong the treatment is in the ward, mentally and physically. This is an advantage of having a chronic patient tell the story through his eyes. If the narrator were a doctor or nurse or even a nurse's aid, the insight on how the patients feel, would probably not have been so vivid and descriptive or even close enough to being accurate. Because it seems as though the staff in the ward really feel as if they are doing these patients some good and that their methods and ways of doing things are effective.
Another advantage to having Bromden as the narrator is that, since his point of view is third-person omniscient, we know all of the thoughts and feeling of all of the characters invovled.
And since Bromden is sort of mute from years and years of tragic encunters in his life and at the ward, he is able to know everything (anyting at any time) because if he cannot talk then no one can get any information from him. So the Nurse and the aids do not necessarily trust him, but know for a fact that anyting said around him will not get back to anyone.
Even though Bromden never used this to his advantage, he could.
You know how they always say, you are able to know more when you listen, well if Bromden actually contributed to some of the conversation in the book, then our view of other things moght have been limited.
A problem that might be as a result of having Bromden as the narrator is that he is constantly having flashbacks and different sights of different things that show his illness too. He is informed about many things and works in the ward, but is still a patient none the less, and has mixed emotions that might be misleading because he refers to the ward as a factory and everything in it as machinery that works together and constantly refers to fog. I was thrown off by his use of it at first, but came to realize that the fog was his state of mind. When he would wake up after he had been on a lot of medication, the cloudy state he was in would wear off.
But for the most part Bromden was a good choice as a narrator.