As the novel’s narrator, Bromden offers a unique perspective on its events. A tall, half-Native American man who is cowed into silence and submission by the powers that be, Bromden slowly emerges from his shell to become a powerful agent. His narrative is filled with hallucinations that add poetic insight to his story, including fog and omnipresent machinery that serve the Combine’s causes. Rather than obscuring the truth, these hallucinations accurately convey the interconnections between the larger social forces at play in Bromden’s life.

Following a youth disrupted by racism and war, Bromden is admitted to Ratched’s ward at the mental hospital, where he spends a stagnant decade before McMurphy’s arrival. Over the course of the novel, Bromden becomes a close friend of McMurphy. He maintains a largely passive role as an observer until, under McMurphy’s influence, he takes a series of steps toward self-actualization, including voting, talking, fighting, and escaping. Bromden’s decision to kill McMurphy, which he makes independently, shows that he can now think and act for himself, even as McMurphy’s influence lives on.