In the introduction to the Chief, the reader learns that his existence in the ward has created a disregard for him that has become a practical strategic move. He plays mute, giving himself advantages to discreet information that has helped him to learn to navigate properly in the hospital. He …show more content…
At this point in the novel he has a problem with contrasting states of mind. He is a schizophrenic patient, which explains why he describes the fog to be like a different area, but it also becomes a safe zone from things that are unfamiliar like the new daring ideas from McMurphy. Leaving the fog means disturbing their comfortability, yet Chief has secret wishes for change. "Nobody complains about all the fog. I know why, now: as bad as it is, you can slip back in it and feel safe. That’s what McMurphy can’t understand, us wanting to be safe. He keeps trying to drag us out of the fog, out in the open where we’d be easy to get at." Even with all the bellyaching he does about the fog, bring it up seventy for times, he begins to unravel a feeling of hope. " I’d think he was strong enough being his own self that he would never back down the way she was hoping he would. I’d think, maybe he truly is something extraordinary. He’s what he is, that’s it. Maybe that makes him strong enough, being what he is. The Combine hasn’t got to him in all these