Zach Torbett Q. 1

      In our novel, our narrator is Chief Bromden. He's a 6'7 American Indian male that hallucinates frequently. He pretends to be deaf and dumb throughout the whole novel. This may be because of his troubled past of constantly getting ignored by everyone.  Through pretending to be deaf and dumb, Chief learns all the secrets of the ward.  No one censors anything around Chief, which gives him the upper hand on a lot of situations. He receives the nickname "Chief Broom"  because he goes around the ward and sweeps all the time. It's actually briefly discussed that Chief went to college and lived a pretty normal life before his time in the institution. The only one that knows Chiefs secret is McMurphy, and they seem to become close friends as the novel progresses.

      A common belief about Chief is that he can't comprehend anything; however, Chief actually can comprehend and shows it at the end of the novel. In the beginning of the novel my opinion on chief is that he was just some crazy lunatic who couldn't think out anything.  As a novel progresses like many others I thought Chief turned into a power-hungry psychopath. Kesey proved me wrong through his word usage in the final pages of the novel. Chief states, "I lay there on top the body for what seemed days" (Kesey 323). Chief goes on to say, "Then I lay on my bed. I lay for a while, holding the covers over my face" (Kesey 323). This shows us that Chief didn't do this for power, he did this from his heart. He did it for his friend McMurphy who was in a vegetable state. In that state, McMurphy had no power, so Chief didn't gain power for what he did. Chief helped McMurphy find peace, and in the end it was the right thing to do.