Art and Alienation in Cather and Forster: A Comparative Study
This paper examines the thematic parallels between Willa Cather's short story "The Sculptor's Funeral" and E.M. Forster's essay "Art for Art's Sake," focusing on the tensions between artistic identity and small-town conformity. Through the figures of sculptor Harvey Merrick and the tortured lawyer Jim Laird, the paper explores how artists are alienated from their origins, how art is rarely accepted on its own terms, and how the paradox of fame versus genuine acceptance ultimately destroys those who understand art most deeply. Forster's theoretical framework illuminates the emotional and social dynamics at the heart of Cather's narrative.
- Introduction: Shaw, Cather, and Forster on the Purpose of Art: Shaw's epigraph frames the Cather–Forster comparison
- Small-Town Life vs. the Artistic Temperament: Sand City's conformity contrasts with Harvey's artistic life
- Jim Laird as the Tragic Witness to Artistic Worth: Laird alone understands Harvey's art and suffers for it
- The Artist as Outsider: Harvey Merrick's Paradox: Harvey's fame versus his hometown's rejection
- Going Home: Art, Death, and the Pull of Origins: Harvey's death and return symbolize the artist's tragic paradox
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper opens with a striking epigraph from George Bernard Shaw that creates an immediate contrast with Forster's position, framing the comparative argument before the analysis begins.
- Direct quotations from both Cather and Forster are woven naturally into the argument, allowing the two texts to speak to each other rather than being analyzed in isolation.
- The paper builds toward a clear thematic paradox — fame versus acceptance, and the artist who understands art versus the one who creates it — giving the essay a satisfying conceptual arc.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates comparative textual analysis, placing a work of fiction alongside a theoretical essay to show how each illuminates the other. By using Forster's concept of the artist as "outsider" as a lens for reading Cather's characters, the writer avoids simple summary and instead builds a layered interpretive argument. This approach — letting a non-fiction text theorize what a fiction text dramatizes — is a foundational technique in literary studies.
Structure breakdown
The essay moves from a provocative epigraph through character analysis (Laird and Merrick) to a broader thematic conclusion about homecoming and artistic identity. Each paragraph introduces a new facet of the central tension: first the social context, then character motivation, then the symbolic resonance of Harvey's return home. The conclusion ties both texts together through the idea of mutual destruction between the uncomprehending community and the artist who stays behind.
Introduction: Shaw, Cather, and Forster on the Purpose of Art
"Great art is never produced for its own sake. It is too difficult to be worth the effort" — George Bernard Shaw (1909).
George Bernard Shaw's dry outlook on art directly opposes the central argument of E.M. Forster's essay "Art for Art's Sake," yet his acerbic view of artistic effort may have more in common with Willa Cather's short story "The Sculptor's Funeral" than most readers would care to admit. Most people do not appreciate the effort that goes into continually creating art. Some can do it, some can dream of it, and some — like the townspeople of Sand City — can only find fault with anything they cannot do or do not understand.
Small-Town Life vs. the Artistic Temperament
Daily life in the small town of Sand City is ordered and ordinary, very different from the artistic life of a sculptor such as Harvey Merrick. Jim Laird, the tortured lawyer who stayed behind in Sand City, knows exactly why: the town's contemptuous and judgmental residents are too much for the artistic among them to bear. This is why Laird lashes out at them before the funeral. His own demons torture him alongside the ingrained pettiness and small-mindedness of the people who surround him.
This tension relates directly to Forster's essay when he writes, "No one can spend his or her life entirely in the creation or the appreciation of masterpieces" (Forster 578). Even Harvey Merrick cannot spend his entire life creating masterpieces, for a part of him — just like a part of us all — remains tethered to the small town where he grew up and where his parents still live. No matter how far we travel in life, there is always a piece of us grounded in our youth. Harvey's return home is a symbol of that persistent fragment of childhood that never fully leaves us. Forster calls the past a "series of disorders" (Forster 578), and this is certainly true of Harvey's life. His past may be disordered and dissonant, but it is still part of him, and it ultimately lures him home when he dies.
Jim Laird as the Tragic Witness to Artistic Worth
Laird understands that as much as art is created for art's sake, it is not always accepted on those terms. Harvey brought a measure of fame to the tiny town of Sand City, but its residents could only discuss his frailties; they could not accept him for what he was — different from them, yet one of them all the same. If Harvey created his art for art's sake, the only person who accepted Harvey for Harvey's sake was Laird, and that understanding tortured Laird to his death.
Works Cited
Cather, Willa. "The Sculptor's Funeral."
Forster, E.M. "Art for Art's Sake."
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