One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Language Analysis

In One flew over the cuckoo’s nest, Ken Kesey uses first person narration by a secondary character using a subjective tone. By using an unstable perspective of a schizophrenic Indian, Bromden, results in ambiguity leading the readers to make decisions on which parts of the plot are real and which are hallucinated. Sentence structure and machine imagery help emphasise the ambiguity of the novel by placing the reader through the mind of Bromden. Through using these techniques Kesey mystifies the plot which makes the reader to ponder over whether the plot is real or hallucinated.
An unreliable perspective is used through the text, employing a narrative voice which results in ambiguity, leading the reader to think about the reality of the novel.
‘When they hate like this, better if they don’t see me’ (page 1) is suggested that sees hate as a psychological condition and does not think of hate to relate to something or someone. It is also seen that Bromden presents ‘factual events’ that the reader would most likely attribute to his hallucinations, like the orderlies who ‘… Commit sex acts in the hall and get it mopped up before I can catch them.’ (Page 1) Due to the unreliability of the narrator, it is unknown whether to be true or not, resulting in the readers deciding for themselves the events which are real and the events with took place in his imagination. Bromden’s mind style consists of a limited concepts of which he relates to as metaphors and similes of machinery ‘his eyes are all smoked up and gray and deserted inside like blown fuses’ (page 13). This is the core of his conceptual system and shows that Bromden has an imbalance of mental and linguistic abilities because of his background. Through the use of sentence structure the reader views the way the narrators mind functions leaving the reader to question the trustworthiness of the