Sometimes a Great Notion and the Grapes of Wrath

A little determination goes a long way. In the case of Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey, the Stamper family are loggers in Oregon during the mid-1900s fighting to keep their family business alive. In contrast, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is about the arduous journey to California by the Joads, an Oklahoma family striving to create new and improved lives for themselves during the Great Depression. Both books examine a family's battle against the repressive forces of individualism and nature as they seek to find a place for themselves in the American Dream.

The Stampers face ostracism and serious opposition from the townspeople because of their individualism. Dutifully adhering to the family motto to "never give an inch," the Stamper family make the decision to not join the striking logging union; instead, they fill the contracts of the striking workers by providing the mill with the required amount of lumber. Consequently, they incur the wrath of the townspeople. In one instance concerning Leland, Hank's half-brother, he encounters "rowdies" as he takes a walk along the beach. Once they discover him to be a Stamper, they plan to assault Leland and would have succeeded if not for the sudden appearance of Hank. An unsatisfactory town meeting held in regards to the Stampers leads to a fight between Hank and his rival, Biggy Newton, who receives support from a cheering crowd. In addition to the subsequent sabotage attempts by a grudge-bearing Floyd Evenwrite, it becomes clear that growing tensions between the Stampers and the townspeople are reaching a boiling point. In addition, the family's individualism also leads to the death of Hank's cousin, Joe-Ben. Due to the high tide, the determined trio of Hank, Henry and Joe-Ben aim for efficiency and speed as they work to get enough logs down to the river. During this, a tree falls in the wrong direction and crushes Henry's arm whilst Joe-Ben is carried down into the

water, legs trapped by the tree beneath the rising tide that drowns him. Individualism may have its positives as the Stampers would not have reached the point they're at now without it, but it also proves to be a double-edged sword; by doing what he believes to be the best for his family, Hank's pursuit of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" endangers the rights of others in the town to pursue the same dream and presents a potentially destructive dark side to the American Dream. Individualism leads to the bad blood shared between the Stampers and the townspeople, and it indirectly causes the death of Joe-Ben.

By way of contrast, the Joads are victims of individualism by the California landowners. There is much resentment towards the mass migration of "Okies" such as the Joad family; they are viewed as serious threats to land ownership. As a result, the landowners pay the laborers extremely low wages to ensure that their aspiration to achieve success will remain exactly as that - an aspiration that will never be reached. A system is devised in which migrant workers are treated akin to animals by the wealthy farmers who fear an uprising. Families move around constantly and no place is permanent; there are too few jobs and too many workers. A clear line divides the rich from the poor and signifies the rise of capitalism. The landowners are only concerned in securing their wealth, just like their ancestors before them when they took over Mexican control of California. It is this problem that the Joads face when they arrive in California: "And now they were weary and frightened because they had gone against a system they did not understand and it had beaten them" (392).