In "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest," Chief Bromden is the narrator of the play. He is usually in the background observing. The importance of Chief Bromden is to show the complacency of the patients on the ward. The fears of the machinery running the ward and in general society also are made evident in the Chief's asides. "The way they do it, Papa, each night they tip the world on its side and everybody loose goes rattlin' to the bottom. Then they hook 'em by the heels, and they hang 'em up and cut 'em open (8)". The views presented by the chief are, in actuality, what happens to the patients and what he sees due to the medications have given him. In so many words the nurse is tearing the patients down.
             The chief moves the plot along in his silence until he finally speaks to McMurphy. The Chief just pushes the broom around because that is all the staff thinks he can do. He is believed to be deaf and mute, but R.P. McMurphy finds out otherwise. McMurphy catches on to him in the second act when he offers Chief Bromden a stick of gum (57). After this, the Chief relates his family history to McMurphy and the oppressiveness of the "Combine" (58). The Chief gets fired up about the oppressiveness and being too small to fight back. This gives McMurphy a new goal and something to fight for. In the electroshock scene, Chief Bromden starts out meek, but McMurphy energizes him and the Chief yells "GUTS BALL-L-L!" (65). Finally, Chief Bromden releases McMurphy from the hospital by euthanizing him and breaking out of the ward in the same way McMurphy wanted to.
             Dale Wasserman employs Chief Bromden in order to show the struggles of the patients in the ward. The patients are dehumanized by the nurse and Chief Bromden is already there since he no longer speaks. The playwright uses the Chief to show the patients' silence. Chief Bromden does not speak and starts out believing he is small and gradually grows in strength and ou...