Chief Bromden's escape from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken KeseyHow can Are you tall and short at the same time? In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Chief Bromden is one of the inmates of an insane asylum who escapes from the facility. Many other inmates are afraid of the facility and cannot escape. How does the leader escape? McMurphy helps him free himself. It teaches the leader to become strong and independent again. He listens to Chief and helps him regain his confidence. McMurphy influences Chief to do things on his own. Thanks to this help, the leader regains himself and his self-confidence. This leads to the leader escaping the institution because he can face the world on his own without hiding under a false identity as deaf. Chief Bromden is a six foot seven inch (half) Native American who feels very small and weak even from his physical description. , he is very big and strong. The boss does not have enough confidence in himself and he is not independent. That's what makes him so small and weak. When Randle McMurphy, the asylum's newest inmate, arrives, the chief remembers what his father was: strong, independent, confident and tall. “He talks a little like Dad, his voice loud and full of hell…” (16) McMurphy helps Chief regain his confidence and teaches him to be independent. In the control panel scene, McMurphy bets with the other men that he can lift the control panel even though it is too heavy for him. He teaches the chief and the other inmates that even if you think you can't do something, you should try. If you try and fail, you'll be fine, but if you never try, you don't know what you can do. The other men and the leader never tried to rebel against Nurse Ratched and the institution. They have seen others fail and are therefore afraid to try; but they are different. If they try, they might be able to defeat Nurse Ratched. They don't know their own abilities. They lack the self-confidence and courage to do it themselves. So McMurphy shows them how to try. “But I still tried,” he said. "Damn, I've probably done that by now, haven't I?"(111) During the second vote of the World Series, McMurphy asks the Chief and twenty of the Acutes to raise their hands again.