Thursday, December 25, 2014

What is the function of the title of Lee Smith’s novel The Devil’s Dream ?

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,

readability="8">

“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:

readability="15">

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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