Freedom is defined as ‘the condition of being free of restraints’; but freedom for me has a greater and deeper meaning. Freedom is the power to make one’s own decisions, the power to laugh, the power to speak one’s mind with out boundaries. Freedom is a frame of mind. One is only truly free when they themselves believe it to be so. This mentality of freedom is best seen in Chief Bromden’s character. Although he lives in world full of rules, he slowly but surely breaks from the chains, and begins to believe himself free, regardless of his location.
This way of thinking, lead him to finally become physically free. In the beginning of the novel the Chief is stuck in some sort of “fog” that acts as his way of hiding from the outside world and all his problems. Everyone on the ward thought him to be a deaf mute because he never talked. But the truth was that he wasn’t deaf or mute, but it wasn’t until he started coming out of the fog, that he began to improve. Chief once said that, ” he knows you have to laugh at the things that hurt you just keep yourself in balance, just to keep you from running plumb crazy”(123).
Laughter is what helped him to come out of him fog and talk for the first time in many years. ” At first I started getting real mad. I though he was making fun of me like other people hadbut the more I thought about it the funnier it seemed to me. I tried to stop but I could feel I was about to laugh-not at McMurphy’s signing but at my own self”(134). After that moment, he began talking again; because of this he was freed from his old role as the deaf and dumb Indian. He swore that although, “its fogging a little, but I won’t slip off and hide in it. Nonever again”(241).
This was his first step. I also believe that self image has a lot to do with getting into the freedom mind-set. At first the chief says, “I’m way to little, I used to be big though, but not no more”(186). He honestly believes that he, a humungous man, is no taller than the average guy. He sees himself as small and weak. But after a couple months he begins to realize that he isn’t the weakling he thought he was. He realized that he was big again, “I looked down and saw my foot was bigger than I’d ever remembered it”(225). He even regained his strength.
The Chief was able to, “pick him (Williams) off and throw him in the showers”. Not only was this something that the Chief would have never have done because he would have been disobeying the rules but he would also have never of thought he would have the power to do such as thing. He “knew that this time I had them beat”(241). In realizing this, he was even closer to freedom. I feel that the turning point of the Chiefs quest for freedom came when all the guys had an illegal party, inviting the prostitutes back, and reeked havoc through the ward during the night.
Here the Chief truly became free, he began realizing that he was finally happy again, “I was drunk, actually drunk, glowing and grinning and staggering drunk for the first time since the ArmyDrunk and running and laughing and carrying on with womenI felt so good… that I gave a yell and swooped down on McMurphy and the girl, grabbed them both in each arm, and ran all the way to the day roomI felt that good”(255). The chief began thinking freedom. He no longer was lost; he knew he would be fine.
As he escaped from the ward, he “was taking huge strides as I ran, seeming to step and float a long ways before my next foot struck the earth. I felt like I was flying. Free”(272). In conclusion, I believe that the Chief exemplified my definition of freedom. He took on his problems and faced them, regardless of the difficulty. He never gave up and helped to ensure that the others never did too. He regained his happiness and with it came his life. He grew over time from a weak rabbit to a strong man and for me he is the definition of what it is to be free.
