Cuckoo's Nest Character List

Billy Bibbit

acute, shy, repressed, thirty-one year old stutters; intimidated, controlled and made to feel guilty by his mother

Blastic

A "vegetable" who dies in his sleep during Chief's hallucination of the Combine's mechanized butcher shop.

Candy and Sandra

friends of McMurphy; prostitutes

Charles Cheswick

acute; taken to Disturned Ward after protesting institution's policies

Chief Bromden

narrator, large in stature, half-Indian patient who has been in the hospital the longest, nicknamed Chief Broom, pretends to be deaf and mute

Colonel Matterson

oldest chronic; WWI veteran

Dale Harding

acute; college graduate; serves as a president of the patient's council; dominated by his wife

Dr. Spivey

primary doctor; easily manipulated, chaperones patients on a fishing trip

Ellis

former acute, now chronic; left incapacitated by Electro-Shock treatments; remains in the same position most of the time

Fredrickson

acute, takes Sefelt's medicine

Geever, Washington, Williams

black aides; loyal to Nurse Ratched

George Sorenson

chronic; former fishing boat captain; obsessed with cleanliness

Martini

acute; "sees" things that aren't there

Mr. Turkle

elderly African American night aide

Nurse Pilbow

nurse; tried to wash away conspicuous birthmark; carries a crucifix

Nurse Ratched (Big Nurse)

stern, manipulative antagonist, controls the mental institution, represents supressed sexuality; mentally and emotionally emasculates the patients

Old Pete Bancini

chronic; suffered brain damage at birth

Old Rawler

a noisy patient in Disturbed who bleeds to death after castrating himself

Randle Patrick McMurphy

loud, strong, bold protagonist, represents overt sexuality and freedom

Ruckly

former acute; now chronic because of a mistake in treatment

Scanlon

acute; voluntarily committed patient who has fantasises of blowing things up

Sefelt

acute; epileptic who refuses to take his medication

Taber

former patient; subject to "treatment" after questioning what is in his medication; used as an example to the other patients