The title of Lee Smith’s novel The Devil’s
Dream functions in various ways, including the
following:
- It alludes to a famous country music
song in a novel in which country music is strongly
emphasized. - It alludes to the opinions of Moses Bailey, a
main character, who marries Kate Malone despite the fact that she comes from a
music-playing family and Moses considers country music the sound of the devil. At one
point for instance, Moses says to a son who is considering learning how to play the
fiddle,
“The fiddle is a instrument of the Devil, and
iffen you ever take it up you will have to leave home. Fer you won’t be my boy no more,
you’ll be the Devil’s
boy.”
- It alludes
to the attitudes of many people besides Moses who, during the nineteenth century, also
considered the fiddle to be “the devil’s box.” - It alludes
to Kate’s continuing love of country music despite her marriage to
Moses. - It alludes to a passage in the novel in which “The
Devil’s Dream” is listed as one of the specific songs Kate
knows. - It alludes to the tension between religion and
non-religious behavior, a tension that is a major theme of much of the
novel. - It is relevant to a novel in which show business,
associated by some people with the devil, is a major
focus. - It alludes to the emphasis on eroticism that
becomes more explicit in later sections of the book. Section four, for instance, opens
with these words from a twentieth-century country
song:
I've got a way with
women,
And an ace or two up my
sleeve,
I'm a five-card stud,
baby,
I'm all the man you'll ever
need.
- It alludes
to the opinion of one of the characters (Katie) that country music need not be
considered Satanic but might actually serve religious
purposes.
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