Image Study
The Hospital as a Machine
Bromden, when referring to different aspects of the hospital, often describes it as a machine. This reflects Kesey's view of society and it's mechanical demand of conformity. In a machine, all parts work together and don't stray from what they are supposed to do. Bromden refers to the workers as well as the actual building as a machine, portraying these parts throughout the book to create a sense of foreboding in the establishment. When the book first opens, Kesey is especially heavy with mechanical imagery to implant the idea into the reader's mind. In just the second paragraph, he describes the black boys with "eyes glittering...like the back of radio tubes" (1). Moments later, as Nurse Ratched arrives, he imagines her bag to be full of "wheels and gears" (2) in order to do her duties. Not only are the workers mechanical, but patients become mechanical as the hospital invades their minds. Bromden takes it a step further, confident that Ratched has implanted the hospital with "miniature microphones" (121) and fog machines to confuse them and spy. These connected images throughout the book reflect the cold, inhuman nature of society and the distrust that permeates it.
The Aspen Painting
Bromden observes a painting the the Public Relations man brought in once. He hallucinates being inside the painting, feeling the cold, seeing the brook and the snow, and being outside the hospital. Bromden describes in detail his surroundings and how amazing and free it made him feel. He takes a path through the wilderness. It is appropriate that the Public Relations brought in the painting because it reflects the outside world. Bromden then observes that outside the painting, the phony Public Relations man is "hugging his elbows and shivering" (127). It appears that even though he goes on about how great the hospital is, he still longs for the sweet cold of the outside world.
Green Seepage
Whenever the staff gathers for a meeting, Bromden notices a green seepage ooze from the walls and their skin. It begins with "green light, bitter as bile" and "it'll be all over the walls and the windows by the time the meeting is halfway through, for [him] to sponge off" (151). Recognizing Bromden's illness, we know that this seepage does not really exist but is symbolic of the gross spirit of the hospital and staff. It shows how ugly it is under the surface.
Pecking Party
When McMurphy first criticizes Nurse Ratched's methods in his first Group Meeting, he describes it as a "pecking party". He then talks in detail about what this is. It is revealed that when a flock of chickens spots blood on one of them, "they all go to peckin' at it, see, till they rip the chicken to shreds, bones, blood, and feathers" (57). This powerful image of the men as chickens pecking one another is important because it reveals how the Big Nurse turns them all against one another through mind games.