Sometimes a Great Notion

Oregon is overcast with cold November rain and inundated with the sounds of Canada geese. Lee, Hank, and Eggleston listen to the honking: “‘[w]inter is here,’ the geese proclaimed” (454). The rain is unceasing; it “falls on the just and unjust alike” (456).

Eggleston runs a laundromat. He bought the movie theater next door at his wife’s suggestion so that no competing laundry business would move in. His wife became jealous of Eggleston’s Black assistant, Jelly, suspicious that her husband was having an affair. Eggleston was not having an affair, but after his wife accuses him, he and Jelly get together. Eggleston and Jelly continue their affair even after she moves to Portland. Eggleston frequently goes to Portland to see her on the pretense of choosing films for the theater. Eggleston also sends money to support Jelly and the child they secretly have together.

However, the logging strike has financially squeezed the town’s residents, so Eggleston’s revenues have gone down. He is having a hard time sending money to Jelly, so she has the idea of marrying a sailor for financial reasons, while still seeing Eggleston. Growing cold and disengaged, Eggleston finds himself “envying the geese their invisible confidants in the winnowing dark overhead” (462).