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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page essay that critically analyzes Cather's short story, "The Sculptor's Funeral." The writer argues that this is a masterpiece of the short story writer's art. Within the space of a few thousand words, Cather reveals truths about human nature and the human condition. By the end of the story, the reader has a thorough knowledge of a protagonist that is deceased from the beginning of the narrative. Cather accomplishes this extraordinary feat through the manner in which she builds her narrative from all of the "building blocks" of story construction, i.e. plot, characterization, setting, tone, perspective, etc. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khwicasf.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
nature and the human condition. By the end of the story, the reader has a thorough knowledge of a protagonist that is deceased from the beginning of the narrative. Cather
accomplishes this extraordinary feat through the manner in which she builds her narrative from all of the "building blocks" of story construction, i.e. plot, characterization, setting, tone, perspective, etc.
The plot of the story builds slowly. A famous sculptor, Harvey Merrick, has passed away. His body is brought to his parents home in rural Kansas, accompanied by one of
his students, Henry Steavens. However, Cather does not immediately reveal this. Rather, she describes the setting, the desolate, yet beautiful nature of the Kansas countryside. Cather writes that the "line
of bluffs across the wide, white meadows south of the town made soft, smoke-colored curves against the clear sky" (Cather, 1998). Cather then focuses on the slump-shouldered men who wait
nervously for the train. In other words, she creates a tone of expectancy that has the reader wondering why these men have gathered and what is going on. The circumstances
are revealed slowly as Cather describes the arrival of the train, and the unloading of the casket, which is then taken to the family home. Steavens is taken aback, first
by the men on the train platform, and then by the overly dramatic grief of Merricks mother. The contrast between the nature of Merricks home and his own nature is
revealed because Cather primarily uses the perspective of Steavens, who is aware of Merrick as a sensitive, creative teacher. Steavens finds it difficult to connect the man he knew with
this environment. Cather writes, "Henry Steavens stared about him with the sickening conviction that there had been some horrible mistake and that he had somehow arrived at the wrong
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