The greatest part of literature is arguably its ability to teach us about ourselves through characters. A great main character can transform a novel through their personal journey to better themselves as a human. Growth is solely what separates the main characters from the supporting characters. And if done right, a main character and their struggle can become iconic. I consider the main character of One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey to be Chief Bromden because, although he only pushes the movement forward towards the very end, he experiences the most personal growth.

Chief Bromden's past, presented to us throughout the novel, is critical to comprehending his growth. Bromden's childhood was defined by his battle between the dominant white culture, which also controls the government that attempts to claim indigenous land, and his Native American heritage, which is often mocked and ridiculed by others throughout his life. This split is symbolized by his parents, a Native American Chief and a white woman who is his namesake. Elaine Ware explains the consequences of this divide in her journal article The Vanishing American: Identity Crisis in Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest: “As the narrator of the novel, Bromden never reveals his first name. Son of a Chinook Indian Chief, Bromden should have viewed his personal name as important” (Ware 96). This lack of self-identification and self-confidence by Bromden is his main character flaw throughout the book, worsened by his years of staying in the ward. This causes him to try and hide away, refusing to fight back against the ward and committed to staying silent, even if it means he is driven closer and closer to total insanity. To demonstrate this, Bromden describes a vision of ‘fog’ to the reader: “Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back and feel safe. That's what McMurphy can't understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we'd be easy to get at” (Kesey 128). This fog is not only a symbol of his poor mental condition, but also demonstrates his desire to hide away from his problems. Additionally, likely through the draft, we learn that Bromden was in the military during World War II. His experiences in war, combined with his lack of identity, and his personal divide between Native American and white society, likely led to his immense fear of the ‘Combine’ we see in the novel, but also his inability to face this fear.

As the novel progresses, Bromden's experiences in the novel give him greater awareness, which, in the process, gives him the confidence to fight in what he believes in, improving his mental health. We see this firstly by the clearing of the fog and the increased memory of Bromden. Bromden describes: “I had shut them [Bromden's eyes] when I put my face to the screen, like I was scared to look outside. Now I had to look outside. I looked out the window and saw for the first time how the hospital was out in the country” (Kesey 163). Just 30 pages earlier, before Bromden went along with McMurphy, Bromden could barely hear or see anything. But through this fight, Bromden saw the world a little more clearly every day. This led to the conclusion of the novel, where Bromden escapes the ward and flees to Canada, finally becoming free. But before he travels to Canada, he describes his other plans: “I'd like to check around Portland and Hood River and The Dalles to see if there's any of the guys I used to know in the village who haven't drunk themselves goofy. I'd like to see what they've been doing since the government tried to buy their right to be Indians” (Kesey 324). This plan also resolves his inner conflict, fully embracing his Native American heritage by traveling back to his old village. It is clear when comparing his character from his childhood to the end of the novel, Bromden is a dynamic character who goes through great character growth.

Especially compared to Bromden, McMurphy is an extremely stagnant character who barely goes through any growth at all. When we are introduced to McMurphy, he is portrayed as a laid back, brass, sociable, alpha male who makes a point to introduce himself to every patient in the ward. Bromden illustrates, “I see that he's making everybody over there feel uneasy, with all his kidding and joking and with the brassy way he hollers at that black boy who's still after him with a thermometer, and especially with that big wide-open laugh of his” (Kesey 18). He may truly feel this way sometimes, but often, he acts laid back because of his determination to beat Nurse Ratched. McMurphy's stubbornness is his greatest strength in the ward, but also his greatest weakness. It is also the very reason why, at the end of the book, McMurphy is assigned a lobotomy. McMurphy's character traits never change, but more importantly, McMurphy's motivations never change. Bromden picks up on this at the end of the book, when McMurphy is being taken away after exposing Big Nurse: “A sound of cornered-animal fear and hate and surrender and defiance, that if you ever trailed coon or cougar or lynx is like the last sound the treed and shot and falling animal makes as the dogs get him, when he finally doesn't care anymore about anything, but himself and his dying” (Kesey 319). He is always looking out for himself, whether to try to make a better life for himself in the ward, to leave the ward, to beat Big Nurse, or just to survive. If he thinks he has to rise up all the patients in the ward to achieve those goals, he will. He does eventually leave the ward, but not alive, simply because of his unwillingness to give up, his selfishness, and his ego. He never even attempts to change these things about himself. McMurphy does not exhibit the qualities of the main character because his character is not developed or altered much at all throughout the novel.

How would this perception of McMurphy as a supporting character fit with what we know to be true for a stereotypical protagonist? The answer lies in romanticism and the trend it set in literature, the myth of the king, the hero, and the fool. Carol Pearson does a superb job at summarizing this trend and how it relates to the novel in “The Cowboy Saint And The Indian Poet: The Comic Hero In Ken Kesey's ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest’”. Pearson describes, “The king creates a wasteland by imposing order on the kingdom. The fool represents alternatives to this sterile order.” “The mythic hero (and future king) at the conclusion of a mandatory quest represents a wholeness-the fool and the king, chaos and order, reason and emotion unified in one person” (Pearson 91, 92). Pearson continues to define the king as Nurse Ratched, the fool as McMurphy, and the hero as Bromden. You could further argue that Bromden was ‘crowned’ when Big Nurse lost her influence over the ward, and when McMurphy was murdered by Bromden after being given a lobotomy. It's clear to see that McMurphy is a ‘fool’ who uses comedy to his advantage, but that's not all his character entails. McMurphy, although not very intelligent or mature, acts as a mentor and trains Bromden to be his disciple and later, successor. Through McMurphy and Big Nurse, Chief Bromden rises to become the hero and new ‘king’ of the ward.

I understand the main character of One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey to be Chief Bromden primarily because he experiences the most personal growth, but also because he takes center stage at the end of the novel. No one really knows who Kesey imagined as the main character as he wrote his novel, but he does leave hints. Why would Kesey put Bromden as the narrator if he wasn't very significant to the plot? It would make much more sense to put McMurphy as the narrator, if Kesey intended to make him a deep and intriguing protagonist with development and depth. Why would Kesey include so much about Bromden's past and nothing surrounding McMurphy's? Why would Kesey make Bromden, out of all characters, mercifully murder McMurphy? The fact that audiences assume that McMurphy is the main character simply he is the loudest says something about what, as a society, we look for in our leaders. Sometimes we have to be a little patient and let the real leaders raise their voices.