English
1301
25
March 2016
#DirtyWaysGetDevilsGate
Seven years at Hell’s gate for the
unclean child changes his ways forever.
The
Devil Loves Dirt
“Hell’s Gatekeeper” is quite a
departure from the other Bearskin tales.
New criticism will be used for the review of this cautionary story of
boy who did not want to get clean. He was very content to not wash. Those
around him begged for him to get clean, but it was no use. He simply did not
wish to be clean. He did not see the importance of being clean and so very
stubbornly rejected all attempts at encouraging him to get clean.
One could take this story at the
superficial level – a mother frustrated by a young child’s dislike of taking
baths concocts a tale about the dangers of being dirty and warns that the Devil
himself will come and snatch dirty children up and take them to Hell. Pretty
scary stuff just to get a child to take a bath! However, there is a more
meaningful purpose to this story.
The state of being dirty is repeated
several times in this short story. In this case, dirt is representative of
unrepentant sin. The story states that “when people are very dirty and go about
unwashed the evil one gains power over them.” This implies that the Devil loves
dirt because the dirtier a person becomes, the stronger the Devil gets. Since
the boy had remained steadfast that he would not become clean, he just got
dirtier and dirtier, while the Devil got stronger and stronger. One day, the
boy disappeared. It is no coincidence that the boy disappeared for seven years.
Seven years is significant because it is meant to call attention to the seven
deadly sins. The boy was made to serve one year for each of the seven deadly
sins. Seven is also a symbolic number in the Christian ideology and is considered
a number of completion because it is the number of days it took God to create
the universe according to the Bible.
When the boy reappeared, he was a
changed person He was haunted by his time as Hell’s Gatekeeper and shared with
others what he learned. He told people of the agony of watching multitudes of
people pass through the fiery gates to an eternity of damnation. He said that
he felt tremendously lucky and deeply grateful that he was only condemned to be
there for seven years. He was sure to tell this story to impressionable and
innocent young children. He had learned the importance of being a role model
who guided young people in the right direction. He knew that he must pass on
the warning to the next generation that it was imperative to stay clean to keep
the Devil away, which would render him powerless over them. He spoke of always
wanting to be clean. Taking a bath is representative not only of being clean,
but asking for forgiveness and therefore gaining a clean slate in one’s life. He
expressed that he had repented and just as if he had taken a bath, had become
clean and was resolved that “he did not want to become Hell's gatekeeper once
again.” He discovered his role in life to never
return as a gatekeeper and to spread the word of his experiences to keep others
from the same fate.
Elements of new criticism are found
throughout this version of Bearskin. The title is tied to the story because the
boy ends up serving as “Hell’s Gatekeeper”. Dirt is a recurring motif and cleanliness
is symbolic of redemption. The literary term bildungsroman applies to this
story, as it follows the boy’s journey from refusing to be clean to lamenting
that choice and learning from his mistake, to warning others not to make the
same bad choice he had made, to finally revealing that he is a changed person.
Works Cited
Ashliman, D.L. “Bearskin and other folktales of type 361.”
Univeristy of Pittsburgh, 24 October 2013. Web. 15 Feb 2016.
