The Sculptor’s Funeral

by

Willa Cather

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Standing apart from the rest of the group awaiting Harvey’s body, lawyer Jim Laird’s character bridges the divide between Steavens and the rest of the funeral attendees. Laird was educated with Harvey in the Eastern U.S. as a young man, but returned home to practice law instead of seeking his fortune elsewhere. Acting as a foil to Harvey, Laird represents the ruined potential of the young men who were stifled by their environment. Laird aspired to become “a great man,” but it was Harvey who actually achieved that status. A drunk and a “shyster,” Laird became what Sand City wanted him to be—someone they could make complicit in their crooked financial dealings. In his climactic tirade against the town’s defamation of Harvey, Laird expresses his disgust with the people of Sand City. His death concludes the story, as he passes away from a cold caught on the way “to defend one of Phelps’s sons who had got into trouble […] cutting government timber.”

Jim Laird Quotes in The Sculptor’s Funeral

The The Sculptor’s Funeral quotes below are all either spoken by Jim Laird or refer to Jim Laird. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Artist vs. Society Theme Icon
).
The Sculptor’s Funeral Quotes

The men on the siding stood first on one foot and then on the other, their hands thrust deep into their trousers pockets, their overcoats open, their shoulders screwed up with the cold […] There was but one of the company who looked as if he knew exactly why he was there, and he kept conspicuously apart.

Related Characters: Harvey Merrick, Jim Laird
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:

“Was he always a good deal of an oyster?” he asked abruptly. “He was terribly shy as a boy.”

“Yes, he was an oyster, since you put it so,” rejoined Steavens. “Although he could be very fond of people, he always gave one the impression of being detached. He disliked violent emotion; he was reflective and rather distrustful of himself—except, of course, as regarded his work. He was sure enough there. He distrusted men pretty thoroughly and women even more, yet somehow without believing ill of them. He was determined, indeed, to believe the best; but he seemed afraid to investigate.”

“A burnt dog dreads the fire,” said the lawyer grimly, and closed his eyes.

Related Characters: Henry Steavens (speaker), Jim Laird (speaker), Harvey Merrick
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:

“[…] you all hated Harvey Merrick more for winning out than you hated all the other boys who got under the wheels. […] Phelps, here, is fond of saying that he could buy and sell us all out any time he’s a mind to; but he knew Harve wouldn’t have given a tinker’s damn for his bank and all his cattlefarms put together […]

Brother Elder says Harve was too free with the hold man’s money—fell short in filial consideration, maybe. Well, we can all remember the very tone in which brother Elder swore his own father was a liar, in the county court […]

Harvey Merrick and I […] were dead in earnest, and we wanted you all to be proud of us some day. We meant to be great men. […] I came back here to practice, and I found you didn’t in the least want me to be a great man. You wanted me to be a shrewd lawyer—oh yes! Our veteran here wanted me to get him an increase of pension, because he had dyspepsia; Phelps wanted a new county survey that would put the widow Wilson’s little bottom farm inside his south line […]”

Related Characters: Jim Laird (speaker), Harvey Merrick
Page Number: 208-209
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Sculptor’s Funeral PDF

Jim Laird Quotes in The Sculptor’s Funeral

The The Sculptor’s Funeral quotes below are all either spoken by Jim Laird or refer to Jim Laird. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Artist vs. Society Theme Icon
).
The Sculptor’s Funeral Quotes

The men on the siding stood first on one foot and then on the other, their hands thrust deep into their trousers pockets, their overcoats open, their shoulders screwed up with the cold […] There was but one of the company who looked as if he knew exactly why he was there, and he kept conspicuously apart.

Related Characters: Harvey Merrick, Jim Laird
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 197
Explanation and Analysis:

“Was he always a good deal of an oyster?” he asked abruptly. “He was terribly shy as a boy.”

“Yes, he was an oyster, since you put it so,” rejoined Steavens. “Although he could be very fond of people, he always gave one the impression of being detached. He disliked violent emotion; he was reflective and rather distrustful of himself—except, of course, as regarded his work. He was sure enough there. He distrusted men pretty thoroughly and women even more, yet somehow without believing ill of them. He was determined, indeed, to believe the best; but he seemed afraid to investigate.”

“A burnt dog dreads the fire,” said the lawyer grimly, and closed his eyes.

Related Characters: Henry Steavens (speaker), Jim Laird (speaker), Harvey Merrick
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:

“[…] you all hated Harvey Merrick more for winning out than you hated all the other boys who got under the wheels. […] Phelps, here, is fond of saying that he could buy and sell us all out any time he’s a mind to; but he knew Harve wouldn’t have given a tinker’s damn for his bank and all his cattlefarms put together […]

Brother Elder says Harve was too free with the hold man’s money—fell short in filial consideration, maybe. Well, we can all remember the very tone in which brother Elder swore his own father was a liar, in the county court […]

Harvey Merrick and I […] were dead in earnest, and we wanted you all to be proud of us some day. We meant to be great men. […] I came back here to practice, and I found you didn’t in the least want me to be a great man. You wanted me to be a shrewd lawyer—oh yes! Our veteran here wanted me to get him an increase of pension, because he had dyspepsia; Phelps wanted a new county survey that would put the widow Wilson’s little bottom farm inside his south line […]”

Related Characters: Jim Laird (speaker), Harvey Merrick
Page Number: 208-209
Explanation and Analysis: