Chief Bromden

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Chief Bromden is a fictional character in the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest novel, which was later made into a play and into a film, both sharing the same title as the novel. He was portrayed by Will Sampson in the film.

Chief Bromden, also known as "Chief Broom" in the novel, is a towering man of mixed Native American and white heritage. He is diagnosed as an incurable paranoid-schizophrenic, and pretends to be deaf and mute in order to protect himself from the forces of the Combine, which he believes is a mechanized society intent on usurping freedom and individuality. The Chief is gradually rehabilitated by McMurphy and emerges as the true protagonist of the novel by its conclusion. Bromden suffocates McMurphy after the latter has been lobotomized and rendered helpless by Nurse Ratched and the Combine, and then proceeds to escape the hospital. Chief Bromden is the narrator of the novel.