I
was excited to read more of Clive Barker this week after how much I enjoyed
reading “Rawhead Rex.” Instead of baby-eating bogeymen, Barker’s short
story “The Yattering and Jack” from the collection Books of Blood Volumes One to Three centers on my all-time favorite
monsters: demons.
 |
| My reaction to finding out the story was about demons |
As
soon as it was clear the monster of the story was a demon, and even more
specifically a demon based on Christian tradition, I pretty much fan-girled. I
was raised Catholic, and even though my job doesn’t always allow for me to go
to church and say hi to Jesus, all the catechism, dogmas, and traditions stuck,
or are at least floating around somewhere in my brain. One of these many
traditions that always scared me was demon
possession. The first and so far only horror movie that truly scared me was The Exorcism of Emily Rose because
it was based on a true story. I’m still freaked out by 3 a.m. because
of it. Even though demons scare me, they fascinate me.
But
before I completely get off track with all my fan-girling (I can feel it coming
on), let’s swing back around to the Yattering. It’s a minor demon, a grunt, the
bottom of the totem pole. I love that there’s a hierarchy in Barker’s Hell—it’s
a parody of the angelic hierarchy in Heaven. As a minor demon, the
Yattering is sent by one of its superiors to collect the soul of gherkin
importer Jack J. Polo.
There’s
nothing remarkable about Jack. He is the living, breathing definition of
unflappable to the point of being boring. His mantra is Que sera, sera, and he likes to mutter
it to himself often. I caught myself wondering if he liked to sing the song to himself, too.
Yet as ordinary as he might be, his mother promised his
soul to Hell. She never upheld her end of the deal. As a result, Jack is to
be punished for his mother’s sins.
This
is where the Yattering comes in. In order to collect Jack’s soul, it must push
Jack into a state of pure fury. But there
are laws the Yattering must follow. I read these laws as the Hellish parody of the Ten Commandments. One of the most important
laws the Yattering must follow is never touch a victim. Because of this,
the Yattering must resort to actions most often associated with poltergeists. It also can’t leave the house, or else it will be bound “to the mercy
of humanity” (Barker, 46). After months of causing household mischief, Jack is
as unflappable as ever. The Yattering eventually does get a bit of a reaction
from Jack, but not the one it wanted. Jack knows he has a demon in the house
and he’s knows the demonic laws. He lures the Yattering out of the house and earns the
demon as a slave because it broke the law.
Now,
I wouldn’t call the Yattering scary. Of all the monsters I’ve read about so far
this term, it’s the most endearing. Just like he did in “Rawhead Rex,” Barker
head hops between characters, but most of the story is told from the Yattering’s
point of view. The reader clearly sees it’s frustration at not being able to
crack Jack, its fear of its superior, and its childlike excitement when it
finally says the word “Heaven.” If anything, the Yattering is almost like a
petulant child who just wants its way, but doesn’t get it because it
misbehaved, or in this case broke the demonic law (I love the irony of there being laws in Hell).
Even
though the monster in this story wasn’t as terrifying as some others, what made
the Yattering work as a monster was the details. I loved the details of Barker's Hell, such as the hierarchy and the law. How the Yattering behaves by wrecking Jack's house made me wonder if maybe I don't have my own Yattering floating around--weird sounds come out of my kitchen, and my overactive imagination jumps to the conclusion that my apartment's haunted. Even the Yattering’s name implies
something annoying: to yatter is to chatter incessantly, and having a demon chatter in my ear is not high on the things I want to experience. To top it off, a turkey launching itself out of the oven for no apparent reason would be
terrifying.
Maybe the Yattering isn’t as monstrous as some monsters, but it does have the creep factor working for it. Hands down, it's one of my new favorite beasties.
Works Cited
Barker, Clive. “The Yattering and Jack.” Books of Blood Volumes One to Three. New York: Berkley, 1998.
I was also fan-girling when I realized it was a demon. I didn't think of the hierarchy being a parody of the angelic hierarchy, or the rules as a parody of the Ten Commandments. That's a cool way to look at it!
ReplyDeleteI think you right away get the Heaven/Hell comparison right in the first line when the Yattering talks about the powers and instantly adds "long may they hold court; long may they shit light on the heads of the damned." It sounds so much like something you'd say when invoking the angels, though maybe the angels give us light from their hands or their eyes and hopefully not their butts.
ReplyDeleteOo, that cover for the story is weirdly both disturbing and adorable and greatly mirrors how I imagined this little demon. In fact, I really pictured him as Dobby from Harry Potter but with a little more nastiness. ;)
ReplyDeleteI also pictured him as a bright red Dobby with attitude. It kind of made me want a Yattering of my own, but only in his conquered state. There are enough little annoyances in life without an untamed Yattering around.
DeleteThe Yattering is kinda adorable. Jack should dress him in adorable outfits now that he's a slave. That's one way to break a demon's spirit.
ReplyDeleteEven if Jack didn't sing-along-with-Doris every time he said "Que sera sera," I heard him singing it every time he said it.
ReplyDelete