Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey

Critics on Sometimes a Great Notion

Most critics who have investigated Sometimes a Great Notion have interpreted Hank as an "absurd hero" who struggles, like Sisyphus, against the uncaring universe. In the existentialist world-view the struggle itself, not the goal struggled for, is what gives meaning and purpose to existence, and the ultimate impossibility of the quest to subdue unconquerable nature makes the struggle both absurd and poignant. Elaine B. Safer's view is typical of those critical assessments that see the novel as a work informed by existentialism (Camus, 152).

She describes Sometimes a Great Notion as "comic absurdism" and "black humor," interpreting the action of the novel as "an encyclopedic spectrum of expectation and hopes that fail" (138). While the hopes of many characters do indeed fail, the final image of the novel, Hank and Lee leaping from log to log while a tugboat pulls the booms downstream to meet the "impossible" contract, belies Safer's contention that in the end the story is best explained by an existentialist interpretation. "Knowing that there are no victorious causes, I have a liking for lost causes: they require an uncontaminated soul, equal to its defeat as to its temporary victories," writes Camus, defining the existentialist perspective (64). But Hank's cause is not lost: even more than Beowulf, he achieves victory. His chronicle needs to be read not as an example of the existentialist "absurd quest" but as a depiction of the heroic archetype Kesey has called "Man the Winner" (Strelow 72).

M. Gilbert Porter first noted the presence of Beowulfian elements in Sometimes a Great Notion, pointing out that when Hank's brother, Lee, imagines his homecoming he sees: "an atavistic time and place, a haunted mere where Heorot is 'mighty Stamper hall,' its 'Great Ruler' old Henry Stamper, whose 'grisly visage' rules over a 'horde' of kinsman in 'plaid shirts, spike boots'" (62). The parallels between the novel and the epic extend far beyond this scene, however. The displays of Henry's and Grendel's severed arms are only the most obvious congruence between the two works. Hank and Beowulf possess many of the same characteristics, including leadership, physical prowess and an unwavering spirit. Both heroes fight unrelenting battles against overpowering forces of destruction. And both Hank and Beowulf are examples of the unbending warrior defiant in the face of overwhelming odds. It is important to note, however, that Kesey's novel is not a simple recasting of the poem; Kesey uses the traditional material for his purposes and freely changes elements. But even though Beowulf cannot be used as a skeleton key to unlock the novel, an understanding of the relationship between the book and the poem can provide a deeper understanding of Sometimes a Great Notion (Hamlin, 59).

Personal Characteristics of Hank and Beowulf

Characters in separate works often possess similar characteristics, so the appearance of shared traits is not prima facie evidence of a genetic literary relationship. Nevertheless, the specific congruencies between the traits of Hank and Beowulf indicate an ...