One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Scarlet Letter: To Live With Fear To live with fear and not be overcome by it is the final test of maturity. This test has been "taken" by various literary characters. Chief Bromden in Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter both appear to have taken and passed this test. It first seemed as though the Chief was going to fail this test of maturity in the mental ward that he was committed to. He had locked himself up by acting deaf and dumb. He had immense fear of the "Combine," or society, that ruined things and peopl