The novel and movie for "One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" use different techniques, to achieve their individual purpose. The film does not represent all the issues, which are often symbolised in the novel, but it does focus on a few topics raised in the novel to great effect. While the novel provides insight to a world otherwise unknown to many, through first person narrative perspective the movie does not. Such a technique gives a detailed and often disturbing look at the life and history for the counter-cultures, that exist in society.
The novel " One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is narrated in first person. Chief Bromden a mentally ill Indian who ironically tells the story, since he is a mute for most of the events he is describing. However the significance that the Chief is a mute not only guides the novel but gives one insight in to all characters, events and personal histories, otherwise unavailable. For example the Chief is allowed unlimited access into Staff meetings, which helps the reader to gain greater understanding of the Big Nurse. Kesey also uses many devices that show that the chief is clearly an unreliable narrator such as hallucinations and the fog machine. Flashbacks of events allow Kesey to use reality and hallucination to brilliant effect.
On the other hand the movie is told in third person and while the story is focused on McMurphy, the movie is completely devoid of any intricateness made available by first person narrative perspective. Because the chief is only an auxiliary character in the movie, the audience learns little about his complex past and personality. Such as his previous war experiences that have left him shell-shocked, the black boys that are driven solely by hate and the knowledge of the Big Nurse ie that she has chosen her staff and tuned them into her frequency. .
The fog is an important metaphor in the novel as it represents the patients receding from the realities that McMurphy wants them to face.