Reliable Raconteur?

How reliable is the Chief as a narrator?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a first-person narrative from Chief Bromden’s point of view. I will attempt to list the arguments that support and undermine the argument that the Chief is a reliable narrator.

Reliable	Unreliable
Chief Bromden pretends to be deaf and dumb and therefore can listen to conversations that would otherwise be kept private. He is allowed to see Nurse Ratched be angry with the Black Boys because she does not think that he is able to share this incident with the other patients.	Chief Bromden is in a mental asylum which makes one wonder if his supposed insanity would hinder the accuracy of his narration.
The Chief seems to like telling things as he sees them. Besides his hallucinations, the Chief’s narration is mostly impartial and to the point. In fact, I would say that his hallucinations help the accuracy of his narration as they highlight certain events or themes.	The Chief is being drugged, and his view of reality may be skewered because of this.

The above arguments highlight both sides of the argument. I believe that overall, Chief Bromden is a reliable narrator. The fact that the reader tends to be able to distinguish between what is reality and what is a hallucination makes many of the arguments that the Chief is an unreliable narrator less valid.