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Jude Miller
Dr. Epstein
Structure of the English Language
22 May 2008
‘You must have studied English’ Clause Structure in Donald Barthelme’s The Dead
Father
Deliberately evading the reader’s abilities of cognition, Donald Barthelme’s The
Dead Father is a postmodern interrogation of interpretive techniques. Appropriately
then, Barthelme’s indictment of the reader is apparent when one closely examines the
clause structure of the opening passage of the novel. Perpetually keeping the reader in
uncertain territory, Barthelme sparsely provides verb phrases, yet the few that are
provided do not allow the reader to locate any of the actions on a specific temporal plane.
By using only non-finite subordinate clauses, dynamic verbs with habitual or generic
meaning, and stative verbs in the simple present tense without any type of adverbial
clues, Barthelme disconnects the passage from any specific timeline, thereby
complicating the reader’s attempt to understand the text on a very basic level. This
indictment of the reader is further complicated by the level of ambiguity that is built into
even the part of speech of each phrase in the passage, since various phrases can function
as several different grammatical units at the same time. The grammatical structure of the
novel, however, is appropriately paradoxical when one takes into consideration that the
novel is about a father who is “[d]ead, but still with us, still with us, but dead.”
The novel presents the reader with a complicated mixture of clauses and phrases,
yet very few of these are simple independent clauses. For example, the opening passage
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has various noun phrases that are isolated from any other elements of a sentence. More
specifically, the first four words of the novel are “The Dead Father’s head,” a definite
article, compound possessive, and a noun. Since the structure of a typical English
sentence is a noun phrase followed by a verb phrase, Barthelme complicates the reader’s
attempts at cognition by providing a noun phrase that is not overtly connected to any verb
phrase. Since verbs describe situations while nouns describe the participants in those
situations, the reader is able to imagine a dead father, but incapable of positioning that
dead father in any type of action or state. Moreover, by beginning the noun phrase with a
definite article, “the,” the passage treats the Dead Father’s head as given or old
information. As such, the opening phrase of the novel (and indeed the very first word of
the novel) informs the reader that a patriarch’s condition of being deceased is old news.
Such an authorial decision speaks to the postmodern struggle with conventions and
frustration with a lack of newness. The passage assumes that the reader has already
acknowledged the death of a previously existing power structure which is metonymically
represented by the Dead Father’s head.
As the opening passage continues, the reader is provided with more noun phrases
that are unattached to any verb phrases. For example, “The eyes a two-valued blue, the
blues of the Gitanes cigarette pack,” is a combination of phrases, yet lacks any overt,
conjugated verb phrase. The phrase “[t]he eyes a two valued blue” is a nominative
absolute since it has a subject, “the eyes,” and only a partial predicate, “a two valued
blue.” A nominative absolute typically has descriptive functions modifying a main
clause, but this particular nominative absolute is simply connected to a noun phrase, “the
blues of the Gitanes cigarette pack,” thereby making it function as an adjective, which of
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course modifies the noun phrase. Once again, a verb phrase is noticeably absent from
this cluster of phrases; the narration provides the reader with a noun phrase, therefore a
participant, and even describes that participant with an adjective phrase, but does not
provide the reader with a verb phrase to place that participant in any specific situation. By
deliberately removing the Dead Father from any particular situation or temporal location,
Barthelme prosecutes the reader and challenges conventional means of understanding a
set of images. Without a location to place the Dead Father in, albeit it physical or
temporal, he is puzzlingly floating in the metaphorical ether and unanchored in space or
time.
The passage is ripe with not only individual noun phrases, like “[d]ecades of
staring,” but also adjective phrases, like “[b]road and noble,” and “[i]mposing, rugged, all
that.” This abundance of noun phrases and adjective phrases that are disconnected from
any overt verb phrase comprises a large part of the opening passage and appropriately so
when one considers that the passage’s description focuses primarily on the individual
parts of the Dead Father’s body without really discussing the body as a whole; the
passage itself then is primarily constructed of the individual parts of a sentence (i.e. noun
phrases, adjective phrases, subordinate clauses, etc.) without including the combination
of those parts: a sentence. Indeed, the passage’s fragmentation is evident not only in the
content, but also in the structure.
The indictment of the reader grows increasingly complex, however, when one
considers the second phrase of the passage: “The main thing is, his eyes are open.” At
face value, this appears to be a simple sentence with a noun phrase and a verb phrase.
Yet at a closer look this structure is slightly more complex. The phrase “his eyes are
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open” initially appears to be a noun complement in objective position with the
complementizer “that” removed. By this interpretation, the more direct reading would
look something like, “The main thing is [that] his eyes are open.” This authorial
decision, however, to remove the complementizer, coupled with the unusual insertion of
the comma between the linking verb, “is,” and the rest of the sentence, opens up an
alternate interpretation where “his eyes are open” wouldn’t be a subject complement, but
perhaps an independent clause. A case could easily be built to regard this section as an
independent clause by regarding the phrase that follows it, “staring up into the sky,” as a
reduced adverbial with the subject and a conjugated form of “to be” removed. The more
direct reading of such an interpretation would look something like “his eyes are open
[while they are] staring up into the sky.” Even the astute reader who is familiar with the
terminology and structure of English subordinate clauses can build a sound case for
various conflicting interpretations of even the parts of speech of the passage.
Barthelme’s construction of the passage opens up numerous interpretations of each
grammatical unit and allows the reader to understand each clause on a variety of levels.
Based on their understanding of English grammar (whether that understanding is wellinformed or simply based on intuitions) the reader is perfectly capable of logically
comprehending the same passage as both an independent clause and a subject
complement. By doing so, Barthelme not only creates a colorful and stimulating reading
experience, but engages in a Roland-Barthes-esque, Death-of-the-Author-type pursuit on
the grammatical level by forfeiting authorial power to the reader with regards to both
meaning and form.
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There is a very subtle comedy, however, to the diversity of interpretations of this
specific phrase. Since the part of speech of the phrase “his eyes are open” is unstable, the
explanation of the seemingly momentous “main thing” is still slightly unclear to the
reader. Is the main thing simply that his eyes are open? Or is it more associated with the
eyes’ condition of staring into the sky? While these two possible interpretations only
differ in very nuanced ways, the inherent grammatical ambiguity of the phrases
undermines the sense of urgency of the information itself.
The passage has very few straightforward, unambiguous independent clauses, and
as with the aforementioned example, the stability of those seemingly unproblematic
independent clauses is shaky at best. Comically, in a passage that provides a simple
physical description of the Dead Father, the most grammatically simplistic and
uncluttered sentences with a clear-cut, subject-predicate construction do not appear until
the end of the passage when the narrator declares, “We think it’s mackerel salad. It
appears to be mackerel salad. In the sagas, it is mackerel salad.” The topic of those
specific independent clauses isn’t the Dead Father, but the mackerel salad that is lodged
in his teeth. Information is imparted clearly and bluntly, but only when the topic is trivial.
Indeed, the passage’s indictment of the reader carries over into the morphological
aspects of the text as well. In the phrase “from the tip of his finely shaped delicately
nostriled nose to the ground,” both “finely shaped” and “delicately nostriled” are clearly
adjectival phrases that modify “nose” since they could take either comparative or
superlative forms (i.e. “more finely shaped” or “most delicately nostriled”). One could
further support the argument that these phrases function as adjectives by shifting them
from their attributive position to the predicative position (i.e. “his nose is finely shaped”
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or “his nose is delicately nostriled”). While one may find the part of speech of these two
phrases easily identifiable, their intended meaning is rather perplexing. In the case of
“shaped,” it is clear that the derivational suffix {-ed} has been added to the noun “shape”
to transform a noun into an adjective. Coupled with the qualifier “finely,” it is fairly
obvious that the phrase “finely shaped nose” means something to the effect of “a nose
that has been given a specific shape or formation in a careful manner.” When one applies
this same morphological model to the phrase “delicately nostriled nose,” however, there
is a slight breakdown in the meaning. By an analogous morphological pattern, the
approximate meaning of this phrase would presumably be something to the effect of “a
nose that has been given nostrils in an intricate or cautious manner.” While the
derivational suffix {-ed} is capable of transforming a noun into an adjective, Barthelme
cleverly manipulates the morphological rules of the English language by extending that
suffix to an unusual noun. The result is grammatically sound but literally nonsense.
The novel’s interrogation of the reader is further evident upon examination of the
verb tenses in the opening paragraph. While there are a number of verbs in the
paragraph, not a single one of them connects the passage to a specific temporal location;
every verb in the passage is either a stative verb in the simple present tense, a dynamic
verb with habitual or generic meaning, a passivized verb with the conjugated form of
“be” removed, or part of a non-finite subordinate clause and therefore simply
unconjugated or missing a conjugated auxiliary. What’s more is that there is a total
absence of adverbial phrases functioning as tense markers within the passage. By
keeping the passage unanchored to any specific timeframe, Barthelme challenges the
reader to conjure a mental image of participants without providing a temporal location to
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place those participants in; without that temporal anchor, Barthelme leaves his characters
metaphorically floating in the vast sea of literary space and time, and he thereby
challenges the reader to conceptualize the Dead Father, yet does not provide sufficient
clues regarding the Dead Father’s uncertain location.
The majority of the verbs in the passage are stative verbs in the simple present
tense (12 out of approximately 22). While these verbs would connect the passage to a
literary “now,” they also include a span of time both before and after that fictional
timeframe. Since the passage is bereft of any temporal indicators, like adverbials that
situate the passage on a specific timeline, the reader is completely incapable of
temporally locating the passage, thereby complicating the reader’s attempts of
comprehension. Consider the following examples: “[t]he main thing is, his eyes are
open.”;“[t]he brow is noble,”;“he’s dead, what else if not serene?”;“[t]he hair is gray but
a young gray.”;“it is possible to admire the hair for a long time.”;“[j]awline compares
favorably to a rock formation.”;“[h]e is not perfect, thank God for that.” ;“[w]e think it’s
mackerel salad. It appears to be mackerel salad. In the sagas, it is mackerel salad.” “Is,”
“are,” “compares,” and “appears” are all stative verbs in the simple present tense without
any kind of auxiliary or adverbial to function as a marker locating these states of being in
any one specific place in time. The reader is provided an environment that is temporally
limitless; into the second paragraph of the novel, the narration even addresses this
situation of endlessness: “No one can remember when he was not here in our city
positioned like a sleeper in a troubled sleep.” Perplexing as it is, the Dead Father’s state
of being dead extends somewhat infinitely into the past, yet as the narrator explains, the
circumstances of the time during which he was alive are all but forgotten. Indeed, the
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lack of grammatical cues to temporally position the Dead Father bolsters this notion that
the Dead Father has been dead in perpetuity, enigmatic as that notion is.
While the passage does include two dynamic verbs in the simple present tense,
both are used with either habitual or generic meaning. More specifically, in the phrase
“The head never moves,” “moves” is a dynamic verb in present tense, and it is used with
the generic meaning. Again, while this verb points to a specific “present,” it refers to an
indefinite span of time before and after it, therefore removing any temporal location to
provide the reader a foothold of understanding. What’s more is that “moves” is not just
simply used as a dynamic verb with generic meaning, but as a negation of that action in
general; if the true meaning of the dynamic verb in generic use would place the action on
a very indefinite timeline, the negation of that verb is doubly complex since it never
occurs at all.
The phrase “many do, on a Sunday or other holiday” is once again troubling to the
reader since “do” is a dynamic verb in simple present tense, but it is used in the habitual
sense. It even takes an adverbial, “on a Sunday or other holiday,” to verify its habitual
meaning. This again unmoors this situation from any specific place in time because this
admiration occurs indefinitely and continually.
The passage includes two passivized verb constructions with the “be+past
participle” form, but in both cases the conjugated form of “be” is absent. The reader is
once again challenged by their inability to locate those verbs on a specific time line. More
specifically, the phrase “figure obtained by triangulation” is both passivized and missing
a conjugated form of “be.” The reader could easily interpret this statement in the
passivized form with any combination of tense or aspect (i.e. simple present: “[this]
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figure is obtained,” simple past: “[this] figure was obtained,” present perfect: “[this]
figure has been obtained,” past perfect: “[this] figure had been obtained,” etc.)
A similar construction appears in the phrase “[t]he full red lips drawn back in a
slight rictus.” Once again, the conjugated form of “be” has been removed, and this
removal unhinges the passage from any specific temporal location since the reader could
easily interpret this statement in any one of the passivized tenses with any given aspect
(i.e. simple present: “The full red lips are drawn back,” simple past: “The full red lips
were drawn back,” present perfect: “The full red lips have been drawn back,” past
perfect: “The full red lips had been drawn back,” etc.)
The remaining verbs in the passage are part of non-finite subordinate clauses and
therefore carry no tense to locate the actions or states on a specific timeline. For example,
in the phrase “it is possible to admire the hair for a long time,” “to admire the hair” is
simply a subordinate clause with a non-finite, “to-infinitive” verb form. It therefore has
no tense and is not temporally grounded in any one specific timeframe. A similar
construction appears in the phrase “according to legend, this beige quartet to be found in
the center of the lower jaw.” The phrase “to be found” is again unconjugated since it is in
a non-finite subordinate clause with the “to-infinitive” form. The specificity of the
temporal location is further complicated by the inclusion of the adverbial detail
“according to legend,” which vaguely connects the phrase to some unidentifiable past.
The grandiose associations that are suggested by this adverbial phrase, however, do more
than simply connect the phrase to an undeterminable past, but they attach rather weighty
implications to a phrase that is simply describing the Dead Father’s dental health. Once
again, the mundane is treated with a comical level of importance.
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Several other types of non-finite subordinate clauses appear throughout the
passage as well. For example, in the phrase “[t]he full red lips drawn back in a slight
rictus, slight but not unpleasant rictus, disclosing a bit of mackerel salad lodged between
two of the stained four,” “disclosing a bit of mackerel salad” appears to be a reduced
adverbial modifying “rictus.” As a reduced adverbial, the subject and a conjugated form
of “to be” would be removed. Once again, the reader could easily interpret the tense of
that absent form of “to be” as either past, present, or future. The reconstructed full
adverbial could therefore be something to the effect of “the full red lips drawn back in a
slight rictus [while they (were/are/will be)] disclosing a bit of mackerel salad.” Yet the
reader is not provided sufficient clues in the text to support an argument for any one
specific tense.
In the phrase “a bit of mackerel salad lodged between two of the stained four,”
“lodged” is part of a reduced relative non-finite subordinate clause that modifies “salad.”
The repaired full version would be something to the effect of “a bit of mackerel salad
[that (is/ was/ had been)] lodged between two of the stained four.” Since the conjugated
form of “be” is not included, it is again leaves the passage disconnected from any specific
temporal location.
While it does not appear in the opening passage, the line “you must have studied
English” appears in The Dead Father approximately 20 times. The repetition of such a
phrase is both appropriate and hilarious considering the novel’s playfulness with the
grammar of English. Regardless of the depth of the reader’s understanding of the
minutiae of English grammar, their abilities of comprehension are relentlessly challenged
throughout.