Imagery can be defined as vivid descriptions that present or suggest images of sensible objects; figures in conversation. In One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest Kesey uses three different kinds of imagery to develop the story and creates vivid Pictures in the mind of the reader.
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 how the Combine works. "five thousand kids in green corduroy pants and white shirts it was always the same kid, over and over- He notices that everything appears to be the same.
Another noticeable "machine" in the institution is the big nurse; Nurse Ratched is the perfect example of a machine. Early on in part 1, the chief compares her to a noisy diesel truck when she hears McMurphy singing in the bathroom. The chief describes the big nurse as "working the hinges in her elbows and fingers when she rumbles past she's already big as a truck, trailing that wicker bag behind her like a semi behind a Jimmy Diesel- (93). He also refers to her features as cold and calculated, like a machine.
