Sometimes a Great Notion

“Watching, it occurs to Jonas that it isn’t the bank that is giving way, as one might naturally assume. No. It is the river that is getting wider.”

As loggers wrestle timber from forests and townsfolk try to survive the river’s floods, nature is a force that people struggle against. Generations earlier, Henry’s father Jonas noted the encroachment of the river onto land. Over time, the Stamper house, located along the riverbank, becomes more and more precariously positioned.

“NEVER GIVE A INCH!”

Hank paints this motto onto a sign and hangs it prominently in the Stamper house. It represents the family’s determination, obstinacy, and refusal to bow to the wishes of anyone else. Most prominently, the motto signifies the Stampers’ refusal to work with the striking logging union.

“Must have been somethin’ godawful rich to make you so sick.”

As a young Lee boarded a boat, heading with his mother Myra to live on the East coast, he felt ill. Henry assumed Lee has eaten rich foods before getting on the water, oblivious to the fact that Lee was upset because his half-brother Hank slept with Myra. After Lee attempts to get revenge on Hank by sleeping with Hank’s wife Viv, he sarcastically utters the same phrase to Hank.

“People all forever complaining about tough times and trouble, about bad work and worse pay, about cold winds blowing and colder winters coming.”

As logging union workers discuss their struggles, the narrator sketches the character of the workers and other people of the area, describing them as hard-working but economically, socially, and environmentally stressed. The remarks create empathy for the common people of the area, and serve to emphasize how distinct and independent the Stampers are.

“It was that way all my time at home—Brother Hank always help up to me as the man to measure up to—and it’s been that way ever since. In a psychologically symbolic way, of course.”

At Yale, Lee explains to his roommate Peters what his feud with Hank is all about. He attributes the feud to strife from long ago, and suggests that he is unable to avoid the need to overcome his feelings of inferiority. Lee frames this in psychological terms, pointing out how the trauma of the affair between Hank and Myra, Myra’s suicide, Lee’s attempted suicide, and Lee’s quest to get revenge on Hank are all connected.

“The little animal […] uttered a cry so tragic, so pleading, so frightened and forlorn, that the boy winced with sympathy.”

Hank is characterized as hardheaded, sarcastic, and even violent. Yet a pivotal scene describes his rescue of three bobcat kittens. His emotional connection to the animals shows that underneath his hard exterior, Hank is a complex character. The kittens’ subsequent death is tragic, and Hank believes his difficult personality has been influenced by the tragedy.

“Never for pay, of course—she was a professed Catholic and a devout amateur—but only for love, only for love, and whatever reasonable fringe benefits might be thrown in.”

Simone is one of the many minor characters described in the novel to give a sense of the town’s life. She sleeps with men in return for favors and gifts, but because of her strong Catholic faith, rationalizes that she is not a sex worker. Simone exemplifies how many of the novel’s characters are torn in two directions because of personal conflicts.

“I realized where the light came from that was illuminating my book: from the hole. From that forgotten hole in my wall that had once been my eyepiece to the hard and horny facts of life.”

Lee is aware that his quest for revenge against Hank is tied to the memory of Hank’s affair with Myra. However, only when he returns to the Stamper house in Oregon does he recall that he learned of the affair by spying through a hole that looked into his mother’s bedroom. The light that comes through the hole literally and figuratively illuminates his memories.

“I’ll get you a whole damn flock of birds if you want.”

When Hank meets Viv in Colorado, he is struck by her mysteriousness and how comfortable she is with not opening up about herself. When he finally convinces her to tell him what she wants from life, she mentions a desire for pet birds. Ironically, despite Hank’s promise to get Viv birds, she has only an empty birdcage in the Stamper house, which symbolizes her loneliness and restlessness.

“I had at it that first day with a will, dreaming that I might snow Brother Hank fast and measure up early and be finished with the whole ridiculous business before it broke my back.”

After Lee returns to Oregon, he throws himself wholeheartedly into logging work. His choice to work rapidly and try to complete as much as possible is related to the nature of their independent logging business, which earns money by the amount of timber acquired rather than on an hourly basis. His choice is also indicative of his quest for revenge against Hank.

“Hank and I realized very quickly that, even though we had arbitrated Jazz the Good Music we would discuss, we were still worlds apart as to what was Good Jazz.”

Hank and Lee discuss their mutual love of jazz. The half-brothers have different preferences in terms of the types of jazz they love, but share an enthusiasm for the music. However, their conversation ends in an argument indicative of their rivalry. The conversation about jazz represents a failed moment of bonding between Hank and Lee.

“If I expected to find respite in Mother Nature’s lush green arms I was disappointed.”

As Lee crosses from a road to the beach, hoping to have a rendezvous with Viv, he traverses a path dense with vegetation. He expects a sensual experience—the language sexualizes nature’s “lush arms”—that anticipates his expectation of a sexual encounter with Viv. However, the lack of “respite” presages that Viv will not show. Lee’s inability to find comfort in nature subtly evokes the idea that the Oregon wilderness cannot be subdued even by the determined Stampers.

“It appeared that the betrayed ghosts of old dreams and ideals, however bewildered, could grope their way up even the highest mountain in the country.”

Evenwrite’s grandfather was active in the labor movement and died in the 1916 Everett Massacre. Evenwrite’s father subsequently descended into alcoholism. Because of this, Evenwrite initially opposed organizing, though he later became president of the loggers’ union. His story is another example that past (the “ghosts of old dreams and ideals”) will inevitably surface to impact the present.

“Which side are you on? / In this war for life and liberty, / Which side are you on?”

Kesey reminds readers of the justness of the logging union’s struggle against a corporation in various ways, such as including this excerpt from Florence Reese’s union activism song, “Which Side Are You On?” The lyrics of the song discuss the cause of the labor movement, but also apply to the Stamper’s struggles to assert their own liberty, even if it runs counter to the cause of the logging union.

“Natural for animals to bunch together for protection. You don’t need drums and guitars. No. All you need is just to have people around with the natural fear, like all a magnet needs to be a force is just the pieces of iron to pull against.”

Evenwrite and Draeger speak to a disgruntled group of union members about the nature of collectivization. Draeger’s thoughts compare different forms of collective bonds, likening animal groups and a magnet gathering iron to the gathered union workers. Draeger looks with pity on these collected workers and their “fear,” making the fierce independence of the Stampers appear even more striking.

“That there, brother, is just as well blamed on the rain; falls on the just and unjust alike, falls all day long all winter long every year, and you might just as well give up and admit that’s the way it’s gonna be.”

The townspeople face hardships as the logging strike continues. The Stampers’ refusal to side with the logging union has created a deep rift in the town. The unceasing November rain is a great equalizer that affects everyone including the Stampers. The narrator’s reflections at the start of this section presage the imminent logging accident in which Henry’s grave injury and Joe Ben’s drowning will temporarily bring down the Stampers.

“If he didn’t take steps it would all never have been, like the sound a tree doesn’t make when it falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it.”

The strike and the unwillingness of the Stampers to relent have economically squeezed many residents of their town, including laundromat and movie theater owner Eggleston. Unable to support his mistress, failing in business, and distraught that he is powerless, he determines to kill himself as a last expression of control over his situation. He likens the alternative—doing nothing—to a tree falling in isolation in a forest, thus evoking the livelihood of the Stampers and the other loggers.

“Don’t you agree that’s a lot to it? People likin’ to watch the trees come down? That they is a natural hell-driven desire to see the righteous fallen?”

Joe Ben, the most spiritual and superstitious member of the Stamper family, observes that people are drawn to the dramatic sight of a tree being cut down, even though logging is a common occurrence in his area. Metaphorically, the desire to see logs fall represents many townspeople’s desire to see the Stampers defeated.

“Until the three of them meshed, dovetailed […] into one of the rare and beautiful units of effort sometimes seen when a jazz group is making it completely, swinging together completely.”

The narrator describes a moment when the Hank, Joe Ben, and Henry are in the woods at a logging site. The day has been particularly productive, with everything falling into a rhythmic, harmonic movement that recalls jazz music. Ironically, this moment of precision and unity comes just before a spitting tree will gravely injure Henry and kill Joe Ben.

“All a man is ever got to do is hold his mouth right an’ keep his faith. An’ wait.”

As Joe Ben lies up to his neck in rising river water, pinned down under a log after the accident, he remains calm. He maintains faith, though his death is imminent. His reaction seems naïve to Hank, who jokes about Joe Ben’s faith even as he tries to save his cousin. 

“I saw his arm had come the rest of the way off. It dropped out of the ragged sleeve to the street like a snake coming out of its skin.”

As Hank helps Henry into the emergency room in the aftermath of the logging accident, Henry’s severed arm falls completely off. The incident is brutally gruesome, but it takes on a grotesque humor when Hank compares the disembodied arm to a snake. He reacts nonchalantly, suggesting that he is in shock because of the accident.

“Nature or God. Or it could be Time. Or Death. Or just the stars and the sage blossoms.”

Lee recalls his time in a mental institution, and the lessons he learned from Mr. Siggs, a man he met there. Mr. Siggs counseled Lee that after a person gains stability over themselves and the ability to deal with other people, their mental energies turn toward larger, spiritual questions. The memory emerges near the end of the novel, as Lee’s revenge quest against Hank fails, suggesting that Lee’s perspective will now change.

“It is beginning to dawn on her that she has never really understood, not just since Lee came to Oregon, but since she came.”

As the novel closes, Lee decides to help Hank with logging instead of returning to school as he had planned. As Lee leaves Viv, she is amazed that the bond between the Stamper men is strong enough to call Lee to return to help Hank despite the brutal feud between them. Viv cannot comprehend that bond, and decides to leave town herself.