How the Early Works of Willa Cather Focus on the Struggling Artist

Willa Cather's short stories often focus on sensitive, alienated individuals and proceed to examine their varying degrees of success in conflict. In “The Sculptor’s Funeral”, “The Diamond Mine” and “A Death in the Desert”, Cather focuses on struggling artists and how they must make great sacrifices for their work. Each of the main characters faces these hardships in varying degrees due to their gender. While her novels remain at the center of her critical reputation, these three stories show how Cather also deserves recognition as an accomplished short story writer. In these stories the artists must make sacrifices for their art, and therefore are often regarded with a general suspicion and dislike by society.
In “A Sculptor’s Funeral” the body of a famous artist, Harvey Merrick, is brought back to his family upon his death. However, the family does not even have the decency to meet it at the train. The artist, Harvey, is portrayed as the hero of the story who left his unsupportive family in Kansas and went to the city to make his own life. The house and family do not seem to belong to Harvey, and show no trace of love or respect for him. When the neighbors arrive at the house they sit around and talk amongst each other in a friendly manner. After the family has gone to bed, the townspeople begin to degrade and complain about the dead Harvey. After awhile Harvey’s only friend, Jim, puts a stop to the discussion by reminding them of the boys in the town who were pressured to achieve great things and ended up dead. They are all afraid of Jim and listen while he tells of how much better Harvey was compared to the rest of them. The end is abrupt, but the picture has been painted of a young artist who struggled throughout his life. He was recognized as one of the best sculptors in the world, but his family never recognized him for anything but a failure. This theme again shows how the artist is often separated from society and misunderstood
The second story, “A Death in the Desert”, focuses on another death in a small Wyoming town. Everett Hilgarde is constantly being mistaken for his ten year older brother, Adriance. It would not be such a problem except that Adriance is a world famous composer and musician who is known and loved by everyone. In comparison Everett does not match up, even in his youth his mother blatantly preferred Adriance. As a result Everett has become slightly bitter and jealous of his brother. In Wyoming Everett happens upon an old pupil and friend of his brother, the beautiful Katharine Gaylord. Once a magnificent singer she is now bedridden with a sickness in her lungs. She longs for the good old days and goes so far as to request Everett’s company to ease her mind. Everett’s resemblance to Adriance soothes her and helps her believe her old love is with her. As weeks pass Katharine and Everett spend a lot of time together. Katharine reflects on her time in the spotlight and her unrequited love for Everett’s brother. Later it is understood that when Everett was younger he admired Katharine greatly and even went so far as to fall in love with her. The circle of unreturned love becomes a large part of the story and of the lives of these people. Although the reader is never introduced to Adriance, he is a familiar character because both Katharine and Everett revolve around him whether they want to or not. On the night of Adriance’s opening in Paris, Katharine becomes delusional and believes herself to be on the train to New York for one of her performances. Shortly thereafter she wakes only to call Everett by his brother’s name and then dies peacefully. Everett quickly prepares to leave Wyoming. While waiting for the train, a large German woman enthusiastically runs towards him and calls him Adriance. Similar to the beginning of the story Everett rudely tells the woman that he is Adriance’s brother, and with that he boards the train.
The final story “A Diamond Mine” is about a famous Opera singer, Cressida Garnet, who has everything in her life except love. Her fame and money bring false friends and an unsatisfied life. Cressida is heading towards her fourth marriage to a man who regards her as nothing more than a “diamond mine” of beauty, fame and wealth. Possibly the most telling event in the past was her love affair and marriage to a Bohemian named Blasius Bouchalka. He was an impoverished musician and composer with a history of bad luck and no prospects in New York. Upon his meeting of Cressida at a small restaurant he is described as being a wild, unpredictable and passionate man with an incredible talent for music. As he becomes a friend and later lover of Cressida he changes into a more laid back, normal man. Cressida surprises him one night by coming home unannounced and finds him with the maid in the bedroom. After a quick divorce, Blasius tells her he regrets what he did and swears it was only that night, and it is clear that his love and admiration for Cressida never changed. Blasius loved Cressida for her own sparkling personality and talent; he was never after her money, because he of all people knew what it was like to be poor and hungry. The story skips forward and tells of how Jerome used all of Cressida’s money on investments and stock market buys, she never cared for money except to make other people happy, but now must realize her mistake. One day on her way back from England she decides to take the grand sea monster the Titanic back home to New York. Sadly she never reaches her destination and dies with thousands of others. After her death the mad dash for her money begins as her family, friends, husband and son all fight for it. The narrator observes how these people regarded Cressida as a “natural source of wealth; a copper vein, a diamond mine”. The tragic story of this woman’s life is reflected in how hard an artist’s life can be, whether rich and famous or poor and unnoticed. The most significant aspect of Cressida was her diligence and tough exterior, because she did not crumble when others would have. Instead she held her head high and lived her life in the best way she could.
Out of the stories I read, I would recommend “A Diamond Mine” which shows that no amount of money or fame can buy happiness. It can be tricky to read because of the sequence of events, but the message is clear and the story really focuses on the relationships artists have with those around them. All three of these stories have sad endings that give a limited amount of closure to the reader; basically they stress defeat and death. However, Cather writes with a unique style and vast amount of knowledge on the subject of an artist’s life. Cather herself once said “Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is”. (HW)