Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

First published: 1964

Type of plot: Realism

Time of work: 1961

Locale: Southwest Oregon coast

Principal Characters:

• Hank Stamper, the protagonist, thirty-six years old
• Leland “Lee” Stanford Stamper, Hank’s half brother, twenty-four years old
• Vivian “Viv” Stamper, Hank’s wife
• Henry Stamper, Hank’s father, the patriarch of the family
• Joe Ben Stamper, Hank’s cousin
• Jonathan Draeger, an agent of the national logger’s union
• Floyd Evenwrite, the local union’s representative

The Novel

The events of Sometimes a Great Notion revolve around a logging strike which pits the Stamper family against the local union and, thus, against the members of the small coastal community in which the family lives. Through Kesey’s dazzling manipulation of point of view, the characters of the community are portrayed in relationship to Hank Stamper, who is the leader of the clanlike family, and who functions as the traditional hero in classical terms. The strike dramatizes a fundamental clash of values: the fierce individualism inherent in this wildcat logging way of life against the need for cooperation among the various members of the community for their mutual well-being.

As the novel opens, a critical contract for the survival of the family logging business—to supply the sawmill of a national logging corporation with cut timber—has almost expired with only a small portion of the quota cut and with none of the timber delivered. The family needs every available man to work in the woods to meet the contract conditions, and since no one in the local community will work in defiance of the strike action, the family must send for Lee, Hank’s younger half brother. Lee had left the area with his mother when he was a child of twelve and is now a graduate student at Yale University. The novel’s action revolves around the developing relationship between Hank and Lee. Their relationship is complicated by Lee’s knowledge that as a teenager, Hank had a sexual relationship with Myra—Lee’s mother and Hank’s stepmother—which Lee believes contributed to Myra’s suicide. This Oedipal situation is transferred in the present action to Hank’s wife, Viv. She becomes a focus for the tension between the two brothers as Lee, in revenge for Hank’s sexual relationship with Lee’s mother, attempts to seduce Viv and to confront Hank with that knowledge.

As the novel moves toward a climax, Hank is tested in all the areas which constitute his sense of self, and which define the community’s concept of the hero. Physically, he must perform extraordinary feats in the daily logging operation, and he must continue to lead the other members of the family to perform similar feats. Hank’s most demanding tests, however, are emotional: He must not only withstand the great social pressures of the community to conform to the conditions of the strike, but, because of his love for Lee, Hank must also attempt to bring Lee to some awareness of his own worth as a person. Hank must also be a husband to Viv, and above all, he must retain his faith in his own individual values, the most important of which is a sense of his integrity.

At the climax of the novel, Hank’s father loses an arm in a logging accident and lies dying in the hospital; Joe Ben, Hank’s cousin who functions emotionally as a brother to Hank, loses his life in the same accident; and Lee successfully seduces Viv. Viv, who realizes that she loves both brothers, also realizes the full nature of the conflict between them. In reaction to this awareness, and in response to her life circumstances in general, she leaves both of them to make a new life for herself. In this final test, Hank must learn a new lesson: that a certain kind of weakness—the weakness of the meek who “shall inherit the earth”—makes for a certain kind of strength.

With this newfound knowledge, Hank once again engages in action, defining himself by that action, and once again achieves heroic stature. Hank’s actions provide a focus for the novel’s brilliant presentation of the realistic detail of a way of life in the Pacific Northwest—with its emphasis on self-reliance, its world of outdoor work, the mystical presence of nature, its dynamics of family relationships—and the mythical elements which have developed from that way of life.

The Characters

In the history of American regional literature, Hank Stamper is perhaps the most completely rendered character native to the Pacific Northwest. He is admirable in that he possesses a great integrity to the dictates of his inner self, a self which is a sanctuary, with “a door that can never be forced, whatever the force, a last stronghold that can never be taken, whatever the attack . . . but . . . can only be surrendered. And to surrender it for any reason other than love is to surrender love.” He is a self-reliant man with great confidence in his abilities, a man of tremendous animal vitality who is also sensitive to others. These traits have created a sensibility which embodies typical Western values: a preference for the natural world over the civilized and for individual over collective action; a fierce belief in self-sufficiency; a confidence in instinctive emotions rather than in rational processes. These characteristics have been portrayed in countless Western genre stories and films, and Hank himself is aware of how these values are stereotyped in popular culture. This awareness—which often surfaces in his humor—adds to his rich fictional reality for the reader.

Hank’s character stands in contrast to that of Lee, who has been reared by his emotionally distraught mother, a woman who was faced with marriage to a man—Henry Stamper—who could not fulfill her emotional needs. Lee’s sensibility has been formed by his painful childhood and by Eastern urban society. He is a confused young man, without a real sense of self—immediately before he receives the letter inviting him to Oregon to work in the family logging operation, he attempts suicide. In the Oregon experience, Lee discovers the courage to face life’s circumstances, learning this courage from Hank’s example. He also develops a sense of self, with the corresponding ability not to give up on himself when confronted with trying circumstances. Hank, in turn, learns from Lee that there are different kinds of moral strength—that in fact, the meek can often survive misfortune which undoes the strong.

The relationship between Hank and Viv is complex, one of the strongest aspects of the novel because of the emotional depth of both characters. She is a memorable character—certainly Kesey’s most fully realized woman figure—who is compassionate and giving to those around her. She is not native to the region, however, and she suffers a feeling of cultural displacement, which results in an emotional emptiness—a loneliness—which she cannot overcome. This loneliness has been compounded by the loss of her unborn child. As a housewife, Viv represents the traditional role of women in this way of life, a role which does not provide the necessary emotional fulfillment to sustain her. Traditionally, women have been excluded from participation in the outdoor world of work with its tremendous demands for great physical exertion, and with its corresponding emotional fulfillment. Hank is not able to change her circumstances for her: His own circumstances, the demands of his own role, prevent him from discovering—and attempting to provide—the changes that she must have in order to sustain their relationship.

The character of Joe Ben, Hank’s cousin who helps him run the family logging operation, illustrates Kesey’s versatility as a novelist. Joe Ben provides much of the book’s humor with his stereotypical opinions and attitudes, and yet at the same time he represents the values of the Western lifestyle. This type of humor—which is often related to the concept of self-reliance—is manifest in a number of vividly drawn characters, such as Hank’s father, Henry; Indian Jenny, a local sorceress; and Floyd Evenwrite, the local union representative.

The character who stands in strongest opposition to Hank is Jonathan Draeger, the agent for the national union. Draeger represents the larger, sophisticated forces of collective society, with its emphasis on collective action and its belief in rational processes. In the climax of the novel, Draeger’s view of man directly opposes Hank’s actions, with the outcome of the events clearly indicating Kesey’s preference for Hank’s individualism.

The mythical dimensions of the novel are achieved through archetypical, nameless characters who suddenly appear in point-of-view shifts, with their dialogues of rich vernacular. It is their presence in the novel which gives an epic scope to the action, providing comment on the present events, the past history of community and families, and the nature of the culture. Usually, such views are portrayed with a humor that adds to the complexity of tone in the novel.

Critical Context

Although Kesey’s earlier novel One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) has received more popular attention from the mass audience, many critics believe that Sometimes a Great Notion is a more accomplished novel. Its epic scope—with its presentation of a way of life for a region of the United States, the Pacific Northwest—makes it one of the most ambitious of modern American fictions. Ultimately, the novel is not confined to any region: Like all outstanding regional writers—William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Larry McMurtry—Kesey transforms local situations and events into universal concerns.

Because of Kesey’s use of a quickly shifting point of view, the novel requires a commitment on the part of the reader: As is true of many outstanding novels in modern American fiction, a first reading of Sometimes a Great Notion provides merely a first step in understanding the events and characters, a first step in appreciation, with subsequent readings adding to that appreciation.

Bibliography

Brown, Chip. “Ken Kesey Kisses No Ass.” Esquire 118 (September, 1992): 158-166. Profiles Ken Kesey as a literary prankster and details his offbeat personality. Describes Kesey’s image of himself as a “magician” and the art of writing as magic. Brown’s profile gives many personal insights into Kesey’s life and writing.

Carnes, Bruce. Ken Kesey. Boise: Idaho State University Press, 1974. Provides brief biographical information and critical background to Kesey’s works.

Kesey, Ken. “Ken Kesey: The Art of Fiction CXXVI.” Interview by Robert Faggen. The Paris Review 35 (Spring, 1994): 58-94. Kesey discusses his views on the role of the writer, whom he feels has the right to impose his ideas and attitudes on readers. Includes biographical information and a discussion of the Kesey novels that were made into motion pictures.

Leeds, Barry H. Ken Kesey. New York: Ungar, 1981. A critical interpretation of Kesey’s works.

Porter, M. Gilbert. The Art of Grit: Ken Kesey’s Fiction. Columbia: University Press of Missouri, 1982. Porter’s discussion of Kesey’s early work is an excellent starting point for study of Kesey.

Tanner, Stephen L. Ken Kesey. Boston: Twayne, 1983. Tanner provides a critical and interpretive study of Kesey, with a close reading of his major works, a solid bibliography, and complete notes and references.