Cuckoo's Nest 1

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey, he seems to have painted a clear picture of villain, hero, and antihero within the first few chapters (if you can call them that). The Big Nurse is a blatant villain. She is rude and somewhat mean to the patients, and "gets real put out if anything keeps her outfit from running smoothly" (37). The outfit is symbolized as the mental ward, described by Bromden, and if anything goes awry in the ward then the Big Nurse is unhappy and takes it out on the patients. This is part of her controlling and dominating personality that makes her such a villain.
Randle Patrick McMurphy enters the book and immediately the audience is taken to him. He is loud and boisterous and insists on being the "bull goose looney" around the ward (19). Yet, the think that is likable about him is that he is funny and upbeat, but also that he is against the villain of Big Nurse. He plans to conspire against her and that is what makes him such a hero-- the fact that he is directly opposing the villain.
Chief Bromden is the antihero for the sake of no other category that fits him better. He is a supposed mute Chronic who people think "mine me like a baby", showing that he doesn't speak or show signs of recognition but he picks up on things others don't (3). The audience doesn't really feel any sort of attachment to him, and he isn't doing anything to question the reign of Big Nurse, so he fits under the umbrella of antihero.