The Sculptor's Funeral

“They bore [the casket] into a large, unheated room that smelled of dampness and disuse and furniture polish, and set it down under a hanging lamp ornamented with jingling glass prisms and before a ‘Rogers group’ of John Alden and Priscilla, wreathed with smilax.”

The setting is discordant: The casket is placed in a disused space that lacks heat but was freshly cleaned and includes typical décor of middle-class American homes in the era, marking the established and conventional nature of the family. The room includes popular sculptures that were mass-produced at that time: A Rogers group refers to small sculptures by US artist John Rogers that were common fixtures of middle-class homes in the late 19th century. John Alden and Priscilla Mullins sailed on the Mayflower and were one of the first couples to marry in what is now the US. Smilax is greenery. This scene contributes to the themes of The Artist Against Society and Success, Money, and Materialism.

“The sculptor’s splendid head seemed even more noble in its rigid stillness than in life.”

Several times in the story, Steavens treats Merrick’s body as if it were a work of art, using adjectives like “splendid” and “noble” to describe the body. This commemorates the artist by elevating the status of the body and adds to the artistic motif.

“He was ez gentle ez a child and the kindest of ‘em all—only we didn’t none of us ever onderstand him.”

The frontier speech is written in regional dialect, or authentic dialogue, which creates a dichotomy between the more educated characters, such as Steavens, and the townspeople. The dialect illustrates the barriers that isolated Merrick from the people around him. In this passage, his father laments the lack of understanding his son faced using dialect that associates himself more with the people of the town than with his own son.

“It was as though the strain of life had been so sharp and bitter that death could not at once wholly relax the tension and smooth the countenance into perfect peace—as though he were still guarding something precious and holy which might even yet be wrested from him.”

Simile is another figure of speech that compares one thing to another using like or as in the phrasing. Similes that use “as though” in the comparison create the illusion of a literal comparison from one thing to another, but Steavens is only projecting his perception of the sculptor’s life onto the face of Merrick.

“The Merricks took her out of the poor-house years ago; and if her loyalty would let her, I guess the poor old thing could tell tales that would curdle your blood. She’s the mulatto woman who was standing in here a while ago, with her apron to her eyes.”

Cather incorporated social realism, or realistic depictions of race and class from the period, into her fiction. These elements are often subtle rather than the focus of her stories. This passage foreshadows the corruption of the town and is part of the larger theme of Success, Money, and Materialism. “Mulatto” is an antiquated term for a person with a diverse racial background and is offensive today; its use in this passage evokes the additional challenges the woman faced due to her racial identity.

“He could not help wondering what link there could have been between the porcelain vessel and so sooty a lump of potter’s clay.”

Steavens compares Merrick to a polished work of art and Laird to the unfinished work of a simple potter. The comparison sets both characters apart from the bleak, utilitarian townspeople. Steavens sees the potential that Laird represents in his regard for Merrick, though this potential is ultimately wasted in Sand City.

“All this raw, biting ugliness had been the portion of the man whose tastes were refined beyond the limits of the reasonable—whose mind was an exhaustless gallery of beautiful impressions.”

The sentence contrasts the social realism of frontier life, a world that turns relentlessly with indifference to beauty, with the creative genius of the artist. The metaphor of the artist’s mind as a gallery illustrates the thematic conflict of the artist who is misunderstood and isolated by society.

“Whatever he touched, he revealed its holiest secret.”

An example of an allusion within an existing motif, this passage fits into the Christian motif and the allusion to Merrick as a Christ figure who is set apart from the townspeople. His artistic genius is compared with holiness, and creation is presented as a sacred act.

“And without, the frontier warfare; 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.”

Cather compares the struggle that Merrick faces as an artist growing up on the frontier to a violent battle between his noble soul, steeped in the greater traditions of art, and the early settlement of the frontier, which is modern, ugly, and corrupt. This metaphor fits within a larger motif of violence that further develops the theme of The Artist Against Society.

“The same misty group that had stood before the door of the express-car shuffled into the room. In the light of the kerosene lamp they separated and became individuals.”

The adjective and verbs in these sentences characterize the townspeople as lacking individuality; the “misty group” acquires distinct features only under the light of the lamp. This characterization contrasts with the descriptions of Merrick, who was rejected and exiled by the townspeople of the Sand City, to illustrate the tragedy of his childhood isolation from a group that is defined by conformity.

“Was it possible that these men did not understand, that the palm on the coffin meant nothing to them?”

The palm leaf is a Christian allusion to Palm Sunday and Christ’s celebratory entry to Jerusalem before the crucifixion. Palm leaves are common symbols on gravestones and caskets and are signs of peace and resurrection; they also marked the graves of martyrs in the early Christian church. This question contrasts the people’s religious beliefs with their indifference and casual cruelty, and the image establishes Merrick as a symbol of sacrifice or persecution.

“‘The townspeople will come in for a look at me; and after they have had their say, I shan’t have much to fear from the judgment of God. The wings of the Victory, in there’—with a weak gesture toward his studio—‘will not shelter me.’”

A flashback of a conversation between Steavens and Merrick before his death, this passage gives rare insight into the sculptor’s perspective. His artistic Victory is another allusion to Christianity, but in this case, religion is inadequate protection against the people of his hometown. He compares their condemnation with divine judgment. These lines relate to the themes Exile and Homecoming and The Artist Against Society.

“There was only one boy ever raised in this borderland between ruffianism and civilization who didn’t come to grief, and you hated Harvey Merrick more for winning out than you hated all the other boys who got under the wheels.”

Set within the context of literary Naturalism, this passage alludes to the shaping effect the frontier has upon the people of the town. Merrick’s artistic ability saves him and is presented here as a victory against the questionable morality of the townspeople, who despise him for managing to escape.