Ken Kesey's best-selling novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, is set in the 1950s at a mental hospital in Oregon. Chief Bromden, or Chief Broom, is the narrator of this novel. He has been a patient at the hospital for ten years. The mental patients are all male. They are divided into Acutes and Chronics. Acutes can be cured and Chronics cannot. Randle P. McMurphy is transfer from the Pendleton Work Farm. McMurphy is arrogant and rebels against Nurse Ratched. He stages a sit in so he can view the World Series. By being a rebel, McMurphy inadvertently becomes the leader of the other patients. Kesey's characters are very effective in bringing the story together.
The first character introduced in this novel is Chief Bromden. He is the narrator of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He suffers from paranoia and hallucinations, and has received multiple electroshock treatments. He has been in the ward for longer than any other patient. Many of the patients think he is "Just a big deaf Indian-(26). Chief Bromden is "Only half Indian, a Columbian Indian That's a defunct Columbia Gorge tribe. The doctor said his father was the tribal leader. Hence this fellow's title Chief '-(27). Even though he is six feet seven inches tall, he often goes unnoticed because he just stands in a corner and sweeps. That is how she got the nickname "Chief Broom."".
Another character in Kesey's novel is Randle McMurphy. McMurphy is the novel's protagonist. He is a large, redheaded gambler, a con man, and a backroom .
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boxer. He was previously sentenced to six months at a prison work farm. While there, he was diagnosed as a psychopath for too much fighting. Miss Ratched believes that McMurphy "is planning to take over He is a manipulator-(29). By being a leader to the patients on the ward, he has sacrificed his freedom. McMurphy's sanity contrasts with what Kesey implies is an insane institution. .
Nurse Ratched is another character in Kesey's novel.