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29 pages 58 minutes read

Willa Cather

The Sculptor's Funeral

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1905

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Story Analysis

Analysis: “The Sculptor’s Funeral”

Within the context of literary Naturalism, “The Sculptor’s Funeral” is about the utilitarianism of life on the frontier and the degradation of the soul in a world of materialism without art. This idea illustrates the internal struggle of The Artist Against Society by narrating the tragic story of an artistic genius who grows up in what Laird describes as a “borderland between ruffianism and civilization” (335). The story presents Merrick’s inability to escape the impact of the frontier as he yearns for art and beauty but retains the longing for acceptance and home.

A work of short fiction, Willa Cather’s story depicts a homecoming, or the return after a period of exile. The structure of her story also demonstrates elements of the mystery genre by beginning the story with the end of the journey, as the sculptor’s body is returned to his hometown. Merrick’s former student, Henry Steavens, serves as the story’s focalizer, or the lens through which his story is framed.

The tone of the homecoming and return is set early in the story with the symbol of a palm leaf that adorns Merrick’s coffin. The palm leaf is the first symbol in a series of Christian allusions in the story. It supports the text’s description of the artist’s role as a pure but tortured figure and his suffering on the frontier, followed by his death, as a tale of anguish akin to a trial and crucifixion. In Christian tradition, the palm leaf is a symbol of both martyrdom and victory. The townspeople regard it with mild curiosity but otherwise ignore the proof of Merrick’s success as an artist. Their indifference sets the tone and reveals the conflict of the story: Merrick’s internal struggle to accept his rejection by a society that embraces material wealth instead of beauty.

The rising action of the story allows the development of the Christian motif but also highlights the materialism that underpins the disregard for Merrick’s particular brand of success. For example, the reaction of Merrick’s mother, Annie, to the casket is a dramatic display of grief that seems more performative than genuine, as she quickly ignores the body of her dead son. Likewise, the parlor where the men place the coffin is cold and uninviting but also filled with displays of materialism such as the “fat plush upholstery” and “a hanging lamp ornamented with jingling glass prisms” (330). These elements reveal a pattern of concern for appearances and symbols of middle-class conformity over emotional depth and sentimentality. They are a sign of the frontier materialism that is confirmed by the two main interactions between the townspeople and the banker, Mr. Phelps, later in the story. Aware of his status as the primary financier of the town, Merrick’s sister demonstrates an “obsequious solemnity” when speaking with Phelps. Later, the townspeople will begin their cruel eulogy of insults only after the mocking response of Mr. Phelps to the Grand Army man’s query about a will. After witnessing this, Steavens is appalled: The townspeople are incapable of understanding the success of Merrick because “the palm on the coffin [Merrick’s Victory] meant nothing to them” (334).

The materialism that is characteristic of the frontier townspeople also leads to greed and, ultimately, corruption. The townspeople are a foil of the artist; in other words, the contrasts between these characters highlight their contrasting traits. Laird represents the path toward moral compromise and conformity that Merrick might have chosen instead of exile. On some level, Steavens recognizes this, comparing Merrick to the finished work of a “porcelain vessel” and Laird to the potential creative possibilities of a “lump of potter’s clay” (332). The contrast between Merrick and Laird, who were educated together in the East and shared similar desires for greatness, lies in their diverging paths. Merrick accepts his exile and maintains his ideals. Laird, however, surrenders to the expectations of the townspeople, ensuring his acceptance and homecoming but at the cost of his ideals. While Merrick is unable to truly live in exile, Laird is unable to live with himself. After praising Merrick, condemning the greed and corruption of the townspeople, and admitting his private shame, the lawyer leaves, only to pass away shortly after the funeral. This character serves as a warning of the danger that the materialism and pragmatism of modern frontier life poses to the human spirit.

The story’s themes hinge upon what Cather describes as a “frontier warfare.” She describes this battle as “the yearning of a boy, cast ashore upon a desert of newness and ugliness and sordidness, for all that is chastened and old, and noble with traditions” (333). This represents the internal struggle of the artist on the frontier, which is inherently spiritual and shared by all the young men of Sand City who also aspire to greatness. Merrick was rebuked for his culture and refinement since these qualities would not guarantee the kind of material success the townspeople valued. Any desire to pursue the intellectual traditions that are inherent to the success the young men may seek is similarly rebuked; success in the town is measured in terms of financial stability and business acumen, as demonstrated by ownership of land and cattle. Merrick’s success as an artist is achieved slowly by building a reputation and is primarily spiritual rather than material. The townspeople juxtapose this trajectory with a soulless and pragmatic modernity that leads to greed and corruption.

Finally, the theme of Exile and Homecoming fits within these competing contexts and suggests the reason behind the tone of Cather’s story. Merrick is given voice only once in the short story, when a memory reveals his desire to return to Sand City. He explains that his home is “not a pleasant place to be lying while the world is moving and doing and bettering […] but it rather seems as though we ought to go back to the place we came from in the end” (334). His language is precise, referring to the town as the place he came from rather than as his home; he also contrasts the town’s stagnation with the progress and activity of the East, reinforcing his unsuitability to living there while he was pursuing art. He anticipates the townspeople’s harsh judgments of him at his funeral, revealing his bitterness at his lack of acceptance in his hometown. His successes as a sculptor are not a form of victory that the townspeople will accept or even have the capacity to recognize. Steavens decides that this internal struggle leads to Merrick’s slow destruction, noting that “the real tragedy of his master’s life […] [was] neither love nor wine” but the need to “hide [the yearning] in his heart from his very boyhood” (333).

“The Sculptor’s Funeral” presents a series of juxtapositions that highlight the frontier as a spiritual wasteland. Within this framework, three themes take shape: the struggles that pit The Artist Against Society, the corruption at the intersection of Success, Money, and Materialism, and the conflict between Exile and Homecoming. The deaths of Merrick and Laird demonstrate the slow degradation of the human spirit on the frontier.

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