Chief Bromden - Characters, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-Summary, Themes & Characters - Novels PDF Download

Chief is the narrator of the story and for most of the book, he’s just an observer. He watches how McMurphy interacts with the men, what McMurphy is trying to do, and how the staff reacts. Because Chief pretends to be deaf and unable to speak, people talk freely around him, allowing him to learn their secrets. Although he appears powerless, he actually has a lot of power because of all the knowledge he’s gained through observation and listening in on conversations.

Chief has a theory about the way the world works: it’s all a great big machine (called the Combine) and everybody is just part of this machine. The parts that are broken are sent to this hospital to be "fixed" again—to be wired back into this machine. He doesn’t want to be part of it. He resists it and part of the resistance is pretending to be deaf and speechless.

McMurphy is so charismatic, and so outside of the Combine system, that he gives Chief hope that life doesn’t have to mean fitting into the machine that is the Combine. Eventually, Chief reveals that he can talk and hear just fine. He tries to protect McMurphy by explaining how the system works, and to what lengths they (the people who promote the Combine, like Nurse Ratched) will go to prevent McMurphy from gaining power. But, McMurphy is too confident. Chief tries to protect McMurphy again when he gets into a fight with the orderlies. And he tries to protect McMurphy yet again when they go to the Disturbed Ward and are subjected to electroshock therapy. 

Ultimately, though, he fails to protect the man he has come to see as a savior. When McMurphy finally returns to the ward as a lobotomized vegetable, Chief frees him from the physical prison of his body by smothering him with a pillow. Because of McMurphy, Chief finally has the courage to break free from the hospital and escapes through a window after breaking it the way McMurphy trained him to.

Chief plays the role of eyes and ears in the novel, as well as the one who guides us into and out of this strange, mysterious, crazy world.

Chief Bromden's Timeline

• Chief hides from the orderlies so he doesn’t have to get shaved. He knows that when you're shaved, they use a little machine to get inside your head and make you conform to the system.
• Chief observes McMurphy walk into the ward.
• He describes how the fog keeps everybody content or at least unwilling to stand up against the system.
• Chief’s first real action is to vote with the Acutes to be able to watch baseball.
• When Chief reveals his ability to speak to McMurphy, it’s the first time he’s spoken in years. He tries to explain to McMurphy how the system works—now that "they" see that McMurphy is "big," they have to make him small again.
• Chief describes how he used to be a big man but now he’s small and McMurphy promises to try to help Chief become big again.
• Chief goes on the fishing trip after McMurphy signs him up for the fieldtrip. The experience makes Chief taste freedom again.
• McMurphy and Chief go to the tub room and discover that Chief can lift the panel there. He has a lot of strength.
• When McMurphy tries protect George from one of the orderlies, Chief jumps into the fight to protect McMurphy. The two of them are sent together to the Disturbed Ward.
• Chief is subjected to electroshock therapy. Unlike after previous treatments, this time Chief doesn’t stay in the fog for weeks. No, he fights and comes out of it. That’s the power that McMurphy gives him.
• Chief joins in on the ward party and has a great time.
• When McMurphy returns from his lobotomy, Chief realizes what he has to do. That night, he takes a pillow and smothers McMurphy to death.
• Chief lifts the panel in the tub room and smashes a window. He climbs through and runs away.
• He catches a ride with a Mexican who lends him a jacket to cover his asylum uniform, along with ten bucks for food.
• Before he heads to Canada, Chief thinks he’ll visit the place where he grew up.