If people stray too far from the accepted path, they can expect some form of retaliation and punishment in return. Although we often believe that we exist in a truly free society, there are controls on that freedom which can be turned on at any time. As a result, Kesey's choice of the mental asylum for the setting clearly underlines the hypocrisies of society.
The head nurse, Nurse Ratched, dictates and rules the hospital by fear, "Big Nurse recognizes this fear and knows how to put it to use; she'll point out to an acute, whenever he goes into sulk, that the boys be good boys and cooperate with the staff policy which is engineered for your cure, or you'll end up over on that side" (21). She provokes belittlement and uselessness in all of her patients so that she and the Combine will have complete control over their minds and their souls. Through her careful and calm appearance, she is able to manipulate her ward to do whatever she pleases, and seeing as she has the final say, all of the patients live in fear of what she might do if they rebel or speak out. .
Kesey also uses satire to bring relevance and meaning to his setting. On the way to the ocean for the fishing excursion, they pass by a neighborhood, " the houses looked so much alike that, time and time again, the kids went home by mistake to different houses and different families. Nobody ever noticed. The only one they noticed was the little kid at the end of the whip. He'd always be so scuffed and bruised that he'd show up out of place wherever he went- (204). Kesey mocks society once again as a group of mindless beings who are content on living their lives in a fog of control and indistinguishability. The bruised and beaten child represents all of the people that wander to far from society's norms. The child is all of the patients that have been herded into the insane asylums.
Bromden, as the son of an Indian chief, is a combination of pure, natural individuality and a spirit almost completely corrupted by the mechanized society.