Sometimes a Great Notion Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 4 Summary

Chapter 4 Summary

The prologue to this chapter makes a poetic reference to knowing what you trust and trusting what you know.

The chapter proper begins with a narrative of how the people of the town talk about Viv differently from the way they talk about other women. They make sexual comments about all of them but her. Narration then recounts how Hank and Viv met, when Hank rode through her hometown on the motorcycle he bought with the money he got after being discharged from the army following his time in Korea. As the narrative poetically reveals how uneasy he was, first person narratives written from Hank's point of view compare his uneasiness then to his uneasiness in the present, referring specifically to his concerns about Lee.

Narration recounts how Viv and Hank were instantly attracted to each other, making love in the back of a pickup truck the night they met....
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