Willa Cather’s fiction consistently emphasizes the struggle between the artist and society, especially within settings such as the fictional town of Sand City in “The Sculptor’s Funeral.” In this story, the artist is presented as a sympathetic figure who is exalted almost to the point of sainthood through the palm leaf that adorns his casket and a series of allusions to Christianity. In contrast, Steavens, his friend and former student, is alternately shocked and horrified by the townspeople’s insensitivity and their inability to understand life in any nonpragmatic or nonmaterialistic way.

Since the story is told through an artist’s perspective, Merrick is presented as “splendid” and “noble,” even in death, in contrast to the locals’ mocking and insulting demeanors. Nevertheless, the impact of the townspeople upon Merrick is clear. Upon viewing the body, Steavens reflects, “It was as though the strain of life had been so sharp and bitter that death could not as once wholly relax the tension and smooth the countenance into perfect peace” (331). Further, it is “as though he were still guarding something precious and holy which might even yet be wrested from him” (331).