18 pages • 36 minutes read
Charles Harper WebbThe Death of Santa Claus
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: Charles Harper Webb’s Influences
In an interview with Nathan Moore for Heavy Feather Review, Webb discusses his influences (See: Further Reading & Resources). These include Allan Ginsberg and the Beat poets, who embraced what was “shocking, antisocial, dangerous” (Moore, Nathan. “‘What Things Are Made Of’: An Interview With Charles Harper Webb.” Heavy Feather Review, 2013). Webb notes that “[he] was in high school, playing in rock bands, and those poems felt very close to rock-and-roll” (N. Moore). He was then influenced by Edward Field, Sylvia Plath, and Ron Koertje’s work in the early 1960s.
Among his more contemporary influences, he counts poets such as “James Tate, Russell Edson, Thomas Lux, Tony Hoagland, and Dean Young” as favorites (N. Moore). Some of these poets fit into the Stand Up movement in poetry, in which Webb places himself. This type of poetry is often surreal and humorous. Webb discusses the use of humor with Moore, stating, “I love humor’s subversive quality. […] It seems to me, too, that humor speaks to many of the ‘post-modern issues’ that avant-garde poetry works so hard to address, but humor does it in a more readable and entertaining way” (N. Moore). Webb employs this comical tone in “The Death of Santa Claus” when his speaker mentions things like “doctors don’t make house / calls to the North Pole” (Lines 2-3). Webb also embraces the surreal, in which fact and fiction intermingle to heighten subconscious emotion. One idea popular with psychotherapists is that surreal images—like those found in dreams or wishes—often indicate how someone might feel in reality. Webb has his child speaker use the fantasy of Santa’s death in “The Death of Santa Claus” to discuss his feelings about finding out Santa isn’t real and the subsequent feelings of distress that it breeds.
Cultural Context: The American Santa Claus
The figure of Santa Claus has its roots in the historical figure of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children; the mythological figure of Odin; and the English tradition of Father Christmas. He first appeared prominently in American literature in 1809 in Washington Irving’s Knickerbocker’s History of New York, in which Irving’s narrator mentions a short, round, cheerful character who drops presents down chimneys (See: Further Reading & Resources). This image was expanded upon by Clement Clarke Moore in the famous 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also known as “’Twas The Night Before Christmas”), which added the named reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh and called Santa a “jolly old elf” (Moore, Clement Clarke. “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” 1983. Poetry Foundation. Line 45), with a “little round belly / That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly” (C. Moore, Lines 43-44) an image Webb’s speaker borrows when he mentions Santa falling on “his jelly belly” (Line 15).
Images of Santa in a red suit and hat were first rendered by illustrator Thomas Nast, who inspired the art of N. C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell, and J. C. Leyendecker, who solidified the image of Santa that remains popular today. The Coca-Cola company started using Haddon Sundblom’s advertising images of Santa drinking its product to great success in the 1930s. These images helped to spawn songs like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949) and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (1952). Further, in the decade that spanned from 1964 to 1974, the Rankin/Bass production team did several stop-motion animated Christmas specials for television that were widely popular with American audiences. These include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970), and The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974).
Webb borrows images from the Rankin/Bass productions in his poem. Rudolph’s nose light and the various reindeer are vividly portrayed in the 1964 special, but we also see Santa’s “toy factory” (Line 18), the elf community, and Mrs. Claus’s devotion to her husband. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970) serves as an origin story for Santa. We not only learn how Kris Kringle became Santa and how he met his wife, but also the remoteness of his factory’s locale—and oddly, how he grew much heavier in weight, both of which Webb’s speaker implies leads to his health problems. The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) deals with Santa’s depression as he realizes people, particularly children, have stopped believing in him. This special also details his adventures in “Southtown,” a warmer climate. Both elements appear in Webb’s poem.
