insanity of conformity: OFOCN Part2

Another character who displays a thirst for acceptance of sanity is Chief Bromdem (the narrator). This character plays an important part in the novel, because he serves the purpose of the book; he’s the first step for realization of change, he’s the student and perhaps for the audience he can finally serve as the teacher. Bromdem, starts out as a tall, quiet, dumb looking native American, who gets bullied by his fellow peers and instructors; but the reader knows that he’s not crazy, nor dumb because of the inside perspective he gives us, we can tell he is conscious of his situation, thus he cant be crazy. The narrator symbolizes the people or the common public in society, unlike McMurphy, Bromdem fears of what the instructors can do to him and thus he behaves as he is instructed or expected by the institute.

Going back to Freud’s theory of the human mind, our histories define our nature, our culture defines our history. If we don’t follow the way our culture guides us then what sort of history can any man be capable of leading? Furthermore, with such an idea fixed in our heads, how can we ever break free from such idealisms? The fear that society uses to make us feel segregated is their key to having power over us: fear of acceptance caused Bromdem to flee from sanity, into ¨insanity¨, maybe then a mad man; (an individual) will feel more secure. The importance of accepting this character as a symbol for ourselves is the solution to finding a way to break from our conformity: by us realizing that fear only causes us to become society’s slaves then maybe we will find the way to become our own men, free of judgment. Hence the order that Chief Bromdem goes through: a lunatic, a student, the doubtful, the fearing, the fearless and the teacher. Other characters involved in the book, each show a side of our civilization that is characterized as wrong and shown as a flaw. Akin to, self righteousness, homosexuality, sexual appetite or lust, pride, kindness, loyalty; all those are exaggeratedly imposed by our culture as flaws that need to be fixed thus suppressed. Also showing us that civilization is already crippling those flaws and dominating them so much that although it seems that they are fixed and all is perfect, in reality beyond the surfaced image everyone is drowning in pressure and fear. This teaches us that the mental conformity that our society is using on us is actually damaging our society and not fixing it like the assumed it would.

The final character that I think is vital to the connotation of the novel is the prudish Nurse Ratched. As opposed to the rest of the cast, this woman along with her three helpers plays the antagonist in the plot. If the patients symbolize the slain in civilization, then this woman represents the slayer. She serves as an imagery of conformity and structural behavior: she is depicted as cruel, petty, organized, feared, controlling, and in a sense very pretty. Kesey wanted to show her as a representation of the beautiful and perfect modern western empire, who although fools everyone with her superficial kindness and fairness, she is actually a despicable villain who is always thinking of ways to lower everyone else down below her.