By Rebecca Richardson ||

The short story, “The Sculptor’s Funeral” by Willa Cather, follows the homecoming of a world-famous sculptor, Harvey Merrick, after his last wish to be buried in his hometown in rural Kansas. Harvey’s pupil, Steavens, accompanies Harvey’s casket to see through to his burial requests. Throughout the text, homosexual innuendo is prevalent within the relationship of Steavens and Harvey. Although the narration explicitly details Harvey as an atypical person, it implicitly suggests an abstruse affair between Steavens and Harvey. Cather also makes romantic and erotic references and allusions within the text that is distinct to the eye of an audience in the twenty-first century but could have been easily overlooked in the early twentieth century, when this short story was published. Willa Cather strategically implies this unsaid relationship through the careful repetitive use of diction and symbolism.

Cather’s diction in this narration causes the reader to question whether the human body itself is erotic or if their relationship was. As a sculptor, Harvey taught Steavens how to pay close attention to the intimate details of human expression and body language.  Still there is room to question whether Steavens had a more intimate relationship with Harvey than the average student. After Steavens discovers the oppressive childhood Harvey endured, the author’s use of diction indicates Steavens’ attentive study of Harvey’s smile, describing how “he comprehended well enough now the gentle bitterness of the smile that he had seen so often on his master’s lips” (Cather 332). While the identification of Steavens’ explicit relationship with Harvey as his “master” declares his submissive and committed devotion to honor Harvey’s legacy, the use of the words “lips” and “gentle” dance on the line between artistic and romantic or erotic observation. It indicates an admiration that goes beyond a pupil’s admiration for his mentor.

The contrast between the narration of female features and the repetition of specific male features underlines Steavens’ sexual orientation. When Steavens recalls the time Harvey returned from a trip to his hometown with a sculpture of a boy and an old woman, the narrator’s diction and syntax signify a dramatic contrast between the details of the old woman and the boy, “he brought with him a… suggestive bas-relief of a thin, faded old woman, sitting and sewing something pinned to her knee; while a full-lipped, full-blooded little urchin, his trousers sustained by a single gallows, stood beside her impatiently twitching her gown to call her attention to a butterfly he had caught” (Cather 332). The author forces a comparison by placing a semicolon between the two descriptions of the mother and the boy.  The narration in this part of the passage focuses solely on Steavens’ perspective.  Therefore, the lack of clarity in the mother’s features convey not only Harvey’s distant relationship with his mother, but Steavens’ absence of appeal for women. The narrator, again, focuses on the intimate facial feature of Harvey’s lips, as a boy in the sculpture, and characterizes it as “full-lipped.” The repetition of this detail affirms the previous display of romantic attraction and constructs the meaning behind the lips as a symbol of romantic intimacy. The loose fitting of the boy’s clothing in the bas-relief also transmits an erotic message because Steavens assumes the boy in the sculpture is Harvey. At this moment, the reader is tempted to overlook signs of Steavens’ and Harvey’s relationship because the narrator is discussing a boy and his mother, but the text quietly presents the recurring pattern of romance that the reader cannot ignore. 

As Steavens gathers the missing fragments of Harvey he never understood before visiting the Merrick home, the narrator continues to demonstrate Steavens’ submissive commitment and romantic attraction for Harvey through an allusion that references Arabian Nights. After speaking with Jim about Harvey’s shyness and his trauma suffered during his boyhood, the narrator presents Steavens’ inner thoughts about Harvey, admiring how “whatever he touched, he revealed its holiest secret; liberated it from enchantment and restored it to its pristine loveliness, like the Arabian prince who fought the enchantress, spell for spell” (Cather 333). The allusion to Arabian Nights translates Harvey’s unique way of seeing the authentic version of people, not just who they were pretending to be, all while cherishing their beauty and value as their most genuine self. This statement implicitly hints at Steavens’ romantic and submissive commitment to Harvey because he compares him to a prince, a romantic symbol for an authoritative figure. Furthermore, Cather poses the intimate details of a relationship in secret.  The careful word choice of “touch,” “holiest secret,” and “liberated” all offer an in-depth understanding for their pure romantic affection towards one another.

Willa Cather was a masterful author who eloquently and sophisticatedly wrote about the complexities of romance.  “The Sculptor’s Funeral” is a unique short story that resonates with the courage and sacrifice it takes to choose the road less traveled by. Its rich layers convey not only the story of the death of a talented and misunderstood artist, but the grief of a young man for his beloved partner.