Sometimes a Great Notion (1964). Detailed description

Sometimes a Great Notion was published in 1964, just two years after Kesey’s first novel, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In his second published novel, Kesey attempts a much more complicated literary work, writing more than 628 pages, which use multiple narrative techniques and points of view. Soon after the publication of Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey spent four months in the coastal town of Florence, Oregon, living and socializing with the loggers there in order to familiarize himself with their jargon and daily routine as research for Notion.

The story takes place in the 1960s in a small town near the Oregon coast, where one family collides with the local union (and many of the townspeople) as they resist participation in a logging strike. The Stamper family, headed by the patriarchal figures Henry and his son Hank, refuse to strike because of their fiercely individualistic values. These values indicate one of the major themes in both of Kesey’s major novels: the struggle to find a balance between the individual and larger society.

As the novel opens, the Stamper logging team, composed of Henry, Hank, and Hank’s cousin Joe Ben, struggles to fulfill a contract. Henry has injured his arm and is barely able to work, and the rest of the loggers in town are on strike. Rather than caving in to their seeming inability to complete the task, the Stampers write to seek help from Leland (“Lee”) Stamper, Henry’s son and Hank’s younger half brother, who is in graduate school at Yale University. Lee’s return begins the central action in the novel, that of the developing relationship between Hank and Lee.

This relationship is complicated by Lee’s knowledge that his mother, who committed suicide a year earlier, had an affair with Hank during his teenage years. In a twist on the Oedipal relationship, Lee attempts to exact retribution by seducing Hank’s wife, Viv, so that he might transfer the burden of knowledge to Hank.

The novel climaxes in a logging accident, which results in the deaths of both Henry and Joe Ben, as well Lee’s concurrent seduction of Viv. Additionally, Viv’s increasing awareness of the tension in the relationship of Hank and Lee prompts her finally to leave both of them to start her life over. The falling action highlights Hank’s role as the traditional hero in the novel. As McMurphy does for Bromden in Cuckoo’s Nest, Hank assumes the responsibility of leading another man, in this case, Lee, to full understanding of his capacities as a human being. As does Bromden, Lee lives in a “fog” of his own creation and requires a model of individualism to free him. Kesey uses imagery of bigness (complete with its phallic connotations) to suggest power; the physical size of the Stampers is related to their manhood.

The symbol for Hank’s stature throughout the novel is the tree, appropriate because of his profession as a logger and because of its phallic associations. Just before the novel’s close, though, Lee notices that he is “a good two inches” taller than Hank, thus symbolizing the completion of his self-actualization. Again like Bromden, who realizes his own massive size at the end of Cuckoo’s Nest and lifts the control panel in order to escape the hospital, Lee finds himself capable of rising above his complicated history when he becomes aware of his bigness.

Still, Hank proves himself as the novel’s hero in the traditional Greek sense as he survives challenges on various levels. At the start of the novel, he must put himself to the test physically, attempting to do more work than he is capable of doing. He faces pressure from the society around him, as his neighbors urge him to join the strike. Finally, he is tested emotionally, as he is faced with losing his father, his cousin (who is like a brother to him), and his wife, all at about the same time. However, he does not allow the trials to break him. The Stamper motto is “Never give an inch,” and Hank remains true until the end, when he and Lee finally jointly attempt the seemingly impossible task of floating all of their logs. They even go so far as to hang Henry’s amputated arm from a pole in front of the Stamper house, complete with all the fingers tied down except the middle, exhibiting Kesey’s characteristic humor in the face of adversity.

Setting plays a crucial role in Notion. In addition to providing the appropriate scene for the logging conflict, it sets the stage for Kesey to work out one of his major thematic quandaries: How do time and place (particularly as it relates to nature) contribute to human character and destiny? In his epic narrative, Kesey attempts to explore those intimate relationships, stating that his intent in the novel was to portray “a man, a family, a town, a country, and a time.” Such ambitious goals lend a mythical proportion to the novel, one that may be compared to Greek tragedy.

This comparison is supplemented by his continuing concern with the responsibility of the hero, and the shift in Notion to a more individualized conception (as opposed to the savior figure in Cuckoo’s Nest) also demonstrates Kesey’s engagement with the ideals of the American transcendentalists. Hank embodies the fiercely individualistic values of figures like Emerson and Thoreau, and in his unflinching truth to his own self, he ultimately benefits others.

The transcendentalists believed that reliance on the self eventually, and perhaps paradoxically, led to gain in the community, and Hank’s eventual triumph (and the benefits reaped in particular by Lee) suggests Kesey’s alliance with that ideal. Also, Hank communes on an almost spiritual level with nature while remaining constantly aware of its power; although the landscape is his home and livelihood, it also has the physical power to destroy his family. Finally, invoking the transcendentalists reflects Kesey’s homage to the Beat writers, who frequently cited the movement as a major inspiration.

While the universal themes of Notion are infinitely complex, they can often be simplified as variations on the theme of good versus evil. Kesey highlights this epic battle using the language of superhero comic books, which were both entertainment for him as a child and a major part of American culture. Kesey often alludes to Captain Marvel in discussions of Hank, thus equating him not only with the heroes of ancient Greek literature, but also those of contemporary American popular culture. Thus, Kesey, a mastermind of American culture himself, situates his novel both within long-standing literary tradition and within the traditions of which he is inextricably a part.

For Discussion or Writing
1. The title of Sometimes a Great Notion is taken from the lines in an American folk standard, “Sometimes I get a great notion / To jump into the river . . . an’ drown.” What is the significance of this title, and why might Kesey have chosen it?

2. Kesey, in many ways, follows in the footsteps of William Faulkner, another regional writer whose innovative style won him great acclaim. Kesey has often cited Faulkner as an influence on his work. Compare Sometimes a Great Notion to As I Lay Dying (1930), looking particularly at points of view and their effect on the narrative.

3. In an interview published in Kesey’s Garage Sale, Kesey writes, “Women’s Lib was the real issue in Notion. I didn’t know this when I wrote it, but think about it: It’s about men matching egos and wills on the battleground of Vivian’s unconsulted hide. When she leaves at the end of the book, she chooses to leave the only people she loves for a bleak and uncertain but at the least equal future” (218). Consider Sometimes a Great Notion within the context of feminism, which locates and critiques instances of gender inequality in texts and seeks to topple oppressive gender stereotypes. Can Notion be read as a feminist novel?

4. Since setting plays such a major role in Sometimes a Great Notion, non-Oregonian characters are often completely ostracized. Look in particular at Viv, who is not native to Oregon, and Lee, who has left the area for many years to live in the eastern part of the country. In what ways does dislocation affect these characters?