In terms of categorizing Richard Matheson's short story "The Funeral," it is more a comedy than a horror. It uses classic and well known monsters to fill its' character line up which, for a short story, is a good way of describing a room full of monsters without having to spend too much time detailing them. However, the main character Morton Silkline takes the role of the lead character, starting off as what could be seen as an unlikable character. He is a mortician dealing with the dead, something people already struggle to deal with, he is a salesman, and he is good at his job.
The first impression of the character leaves the reader thinking this man, Morton the mortician, makes a living on people dying, and he makes a lot of money if he plays off grief and the monetary appearance of his guests. He sees death as a dollar sign but as he meets his next client and begins to realize something is particularly off about the guy, he shows his struggle to keep his salesman appearance through the outright strangeness that is scaring him.
Overall, the fact that the character does not really change is successful because of the humorous tone of the story. True, somewhere deep inside the man he has changed his view of the supernatural, but all-in-all he still remains the same manipulative salesman with a newly acquired clientele. Instead of feeling angry at Morton for being rewarded for his success as a salesman, the reader finds it laughable because of the predicament he has been put it. Another example of using humor to ease the horror of the situation is "Interview with the Vampire," and how the reporter is killed/turned by Lestat at the very end for having listened to Louis "whine" about his and their existence. Lestat turns the horror of the event into comedy by saying the same line he had said to Louis, as Louis had told the reporter, when he was given the "option" to be turned. Like Morton, the reporter does not really change his ways or grow in the story outside of extending his knowledge of the supernatural and his belief of it, and his predicament at the end is softened with Lestat's way of handling the situation. It leaves the reader with a "happy ending" to what is in actuality a horrific ending. While "The Funeral" does not end as grimly as "Interview with the Vampire," it does allow the reader to sympathize with the mortician and his greed.
Overall, the humor of the story was constant, which made the entire thing a joke. If Matheson had written the story without the humor, it would be interesting to see how eerie the final version would be, but it would also not satisfy the reader's need to feel for Morton. Therefore, the success of the story relies on it being classified more as comedy than as horror, but without the monsters it would not be a comedy.
I thought thew story was terrifyingly humorous. In a sense, could you imagine being a salesman and some creature you believe does not exist waltzes in and asks for a service?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think Silkline changes because from the experience with Ludwig, to the end, he changes in accepting his new clientele. The story ends with him speaking professionally to the next monster requesting a service.
For the eerie part, I think the story capitalizes on the various ideas of death, suicide, and connectivity. I mean, even monsters are connected in some way, just like humans. Human connectivity is terrifying enough, so imagine the accelerated boosts of monsters.
Do monsters contemplate suicide? This story had me thinking.
-Alexis
I agree with you Alexis in that Skyline did change. But it was interesting that what got him to accept the change (accepting the fact that monsters were real and all that) was something that was in him all along: greed.
DeleteI'm surprised that you say that Silkline is the main character, because despite the story being about his funeral home, I didn't feel he was a strong lead. I feel like he fell to the background of the story, and the text was more about Asper than about him. Yes, it was told from his POV, but the text wasn't really about him, it was about the monsters.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I did like that you pointed out that he is more a salesman than a comforting shoulder to cry on. I don't know if that is just his personality, or if he has become immune to it after years and years working there.
I would love to read a version of this where the humor is gone. I wonder if anyone has written a parody of it before. If not, one of us should do that.
I think you make a really good point that without the humor, the story would be unsatisfying to the reader because Morton is a really difficult character to sympathize with. I honestly don't think the story would work at all if it weren't a comedy, since our ability to laugh at Morton is really the only thing that makes him redeemable. If it were meant to be a scary and not-humorous story about a monster funeral, we'd need a new reason to stay compelled to keep reading from Morton's POV, because the way the character is right now definitely wouldn't make him an interesting protagonist to follow.
ReplyDelete– Rebecca
I didnt really consider Skyline the protagonist. I think that role goes to Ludwig. We just get it from Skyline's POV. At least, Ludwig was the character I sympathized with, and I was more concerned if he was going to get his goal of an acceptable funeral more than any goal skyline had (which was pretty much just getting rewarded).
ReplyDeleteHi Vincent!
ReplyDeleteThe comparison to Anne Rice was interesting. There is so much vampire fiction out there that I did not even think to compare "The Funeral" against any other well-known takes on vampires so good job. The way Matheson keeps Silkline as a static character is very much in line with the broad comedy of that era and now that I think more about it, the story could almost be called Anne Rice meets Seinfeld. Its a story about the mundane (nothing) day-to-day lives or rather night-to-night undead lives of the characters.