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Cuckoo’s Nest Essay: Themes The use of many symbols and themes play major roles in the development of character and plot in almost any novel; such is the one of the many tools of a writer. Such result of the tools is best exemplified in the characters and development in the novel THE CUCKOO’S NEST by Ken Kesey. The tragic novel takes place at a mental asylum in which a perfectly sane man attempts to escape prison by admitting himself to the mental asylum, where he ultimately ends up “saving” the inmates from an oppressive society. Of the many inmates is the Chief Bromden who is supposedly “deaf” and delusional which can be seen through his narrations. What make the characters so interesting are the continual parallels with the characters in THE CUCKOO’S NEST to religious figures and also the reality the book instills through presence of delusions in the Chief’s diction. The question comes up though; Mac Murphy is not the type of person that is benevolent enough to help anyone. Mainly because of the fact that he’s a criminal and he’s been stamped as a criminal for reasons that would most likely contradict his motives (i.e. “saving” the inmates from asylum) However, putting his past aside, Mac Murphy is