The Devil Loves Dirt

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.