Cuckoos Nest

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The Chief was able play the part of a passive observer, stationing himself in important meetings and able to see and hear things which are
concealed from other inmates. This insight into what is happening around the ward is vital to the way in which Kesey’s themes are brought to the readers awareness. We are able to understand not only Bromdens delusions but also his perceptions into the way
the ward and society work.
Although Bromden does not always see everything as it literally happens. He hallucinates often, seeing things in terms of machinery, ‘She’s carrying a woven wicker bag ... I can see inside it; there’s no compact or lipstick or woman stuff, she’s got that
bag full of a thousand parts she aims to use in her duties today - wheels and gears, cogs polished to a hard glitter, tiny pills, needles, forceps, watchmakers’ pliers, rolls of copper wire ...’ (10). Kesey uses the Chiefs distorted subconscious ramblings and
perceptions to give the reader the true subjective ...

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that is sterile, mechanical, conformed and unnatural - a mechanical matriarchy.
Women, such as the Nurse Ratched, feature in Kesey’s novel in either of two lights. Either as a “ball-cutter” like the Big Nurse, who are intent on dominating men and depriving them of their freedom and masculinity. Or as Candy, the whore, who is intent on giving men freedom and pleasure. There is no middle ground between these
extremes, which only goes to exaggerate Keseys themes. He uses these contrasting extremes throughout the novel for other such themes as good vs evil, mechanical vs natural and sterility vs fertility. Using such juxtapositions Kesey makes his ideas stand out clearly to the reader.
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