In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Ken Kesey uses various aspects of the narrator, Bromden, to define identity and the struggles faced with finding identity. Kesey introduces various characters throughout the novel to challenge the reins society takes in restricting personal identity and ultimately uses these struggles to portray how the characters preserve through strength. Society is what defines identity, humans need to fit certain parts for society to work and function properly much like the machine Bromden refers to the world inside and outside the ward being part of. The extended metaphor of a machine is used to exemplify all the roles we are made to play in society and concludes that to define identity is to define your worth. Kesey
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Kesey uses Bromden’s character to connect personally with this aspect, Bromden was always assumed to be deaf and dumb so he settled into that role that people had given him. “They think I’m deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so. I’m cagey enough to fool them that much” (Kesey 1). Bromden had always felt this way and he never thought to break free from this assumption until McMurphy enters to shake things up. McMurphy does not understand the cowardice that Bromden has felt for so long, but as he start to push Bromden to break out of this definition the world around him has given him he teaches him to change; to be less afraid. Kesey uses growth to define identity through gain. Personal growth is a large factor in identity and in the novel McMurphy is brought in to help Bromden grow mentally and break free of some of social standards and restrictions that he had slipped into. In the end Bromden grows immensely when he kills McMurphy not out of hate but out of pity, he knows that it would be far worse of McMurphy to suffer through life than to die right then. Not only does killing McMurphy show Bromden’s growth but it goes further when he breaks out of the ward and runs away, something that he would have only dreamed of before he grew out of many fears. This growth drastically impacted Bromden’s sense of identity, not only did he escape from his place in the machine but he also found that the machine is not as cut and
Kesey uses Bromden’s character to connect personally with this aspect, Bromden was always assumed to be deaf and dumb so he settled into that role that people had given him. “They think I’m deaf and dumb. Everybody thinks so. I’m cagey enough to fool them that much” (Kesey 1). Bromden had always felt this way and he never thought to break free from this assumption until McMurphy enters to shake things up. McMurphy does not understand the cowardice that Bromden has felt for so long, but as he start to push Bromden to break out of this definition the world around him has given him he teaches him to change; to be less afraid. Kesey uses growth to define identity through gain. Personal growth is a large factor in identity and in the novel McMurphy is brought in to help Bromden grow mentally and break free of some of social standards and restrictions that he had slipped into. In the end Bromden grows immensely when he kills McMurphy not out of hate but out of pity, he knows that it would be far worse of McMurphy to suffer through life than to die right then. Not only does killing McMurphy show Bromden’s growth but it goes further when he breaks out of the ward and runs away, something that he would have only dreamed of before he grew out of many fears. This growth drastically impacted Bromden’s sense of identity, not only did he escape from his place in the machine but he also found that the machine is not as cut and