Imagery in One Flew Over the Cuckoo

In One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Chief Bromden’s fantasies are dominated by images of machines, and these images occur throughout the novel. What he senses as a machine can really be a living thing; a harmless and lifeless object; or an entire society.

In general, machines are thought to represent perfection and precision. Throughout the novel, chief Bromden often refers to the “combine”, a term that was once used to describe a machine for reaping wheat and is now used to describe a strict organized society. He thinks that society is something that one day will tear him up and mow him down and he is frightened, therefore he returns to his fog.

To the chief, the combine tries to establish mechanical order in the society; however, instead of bringing a controlled situation, the combine does nothing except create chaos, as do the machines that represent the combine. In part 3, when the inmates go on the fishing trip, the chief sees ho

The majority of the imagery found in the novel has to do with geese and birds. In the beginning of the novel when McMurphy first comes to the ward, he decides that he’s going to take over, and he asks his fellow inmate Billy Bibbits” Who’s the bull goose loony here?” in another words he is asking who is the leader of the ward.

The constant reference to animals in this novel is very prominent because it reflects the themes of the novel.

Another noticeable example of cartoon imagery is the nurse’s glass case. This is because she uses in the same way as the evil queen uses the magic mirror in “Snow White”. The big nurse uses the glass case to oversee the situation in the ward. She practically runs her ward from behind the glass case “she hands the little birth marked swing shift nurse a note; then her hands touches out to the control panel in the steel door, clacks on the speaker in the day room; good evening boys behave yourselves.” because of the power of seeing what goes on in the ward. This implants fear in the patients because they are being watched, and causes them to feel unnecessary guilt.

In conclusion, Ken Kesey has successfully used imagery in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest to portray a vivid image of the asylum and its inmates. These 3 different kinds of imagery also have evidently been used to develop the story and add depth to the story.

Another use of the bird imagery is when McMurphy compares the way the meetings are run to a “pecking party”, where each of the patients turn on each other. After hearing this, Harding explains to McMurphy that all of the patients are like rabbits.” Mr. McMurphy … my friend … I’m not a chicken, I’m a rabbit. The doctor is a rabbit. Cheswick there is a rabbit. Billy Bibbit is a rabbit. All of us in here is a rabbit of varying ages and degrees, hippity-hopping through our Walt Disney world”, an

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