One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Characters Analysis

Bromden

He is the son of a White woman and a Native American chief. He spent his early years in the Columbia gorge where his tribe lived. The land of his people was taken by the government, and his father blamed himself for failing to protect the people. Bromden has served in the army and has also played football in high school. He is the narrator of the story and sees the most development through the course of the book. He begins as a mute observer, and by the end, he is a free and powerful man.

Randle McMurphy

The protagonist of the book, he is a big red-headed man of Irish descent. He has spent all of his life travelling from one place to another. He has had many adventures and shares their tales readily. He is an experienced gambler that found his way to the mental hospital in order to find a more relaxing way to spend his sentence than being at a work farm. He represents one of the core values of America, and that is individuality and uniqueness.

Nurse Ratched

The antagonist of the book, she is described as being deeply controlling and extremely calculated. Nurse Ratched doesnt abide random occurrences in her ward; she ensures that everything proceeds according to the schedule that has been set out. She has a reputation for making use of brutal treatment methods like Electroshock Therapy and Lobotomy quite frequently. It is explained that she has a close relationship with the supervisor that allows her to exercise control even beyond the doctor in charge of the ward.

Dale Harding

He is a college-educated and articulate patient in the ward that voluntarily admitted himself to the hospital. There are strong implications in the book that Harding has homosexual tendencies, and they are at least part of the reason why he has chosen to be admitted to the ward. He has a particularly beautiful wife that is rumoured to be unsatisfied with him. He is also the president of the Patients Council and grows to be a close confidant of McMurphy.

The Black Boys

William, Washington, and Warren are the hospital aides that Nurse Ratched has carefully recruited and trained. Geever is the hospital aide for the night shift.

He is a 30-year-old man with a severe stutter and the appearance of being younger than his age. His arms and hands are covered with marks of cigarette burns and scabs. It is implied that his mental problem stems from the manner in which his mother treats him. She is an employee at the hospital and a close friend of Nurse Ratched.

Charles Cheswick

He is the most outspoken patient in the ward after McMurphy and among the first to support him when he began to oppose Nurse Ratched. He has a reputation of being extremely aggressive only in speech but rarely ever actively dangerous. His death plays an important part in McMurphys realisation of the true depth of his influence and the effects of his actions.

A mild individual that seems to have been selected by Nurse Ratched for being easy to navigate and dominate. McMurphy is able to connect with Dr. Spivey, and he uses him multiple times to try and oppose Nurse Ratched. McMurphy helps Dr. Spivey assert more of an active role in the treatment of his patients.