You Will Hear The Locust Sing Sparknotes

Joe Hill’s four part short tale, “You Will Hear the Locust Sing,” is a grotesque story of a victimized boy’s metamorphosis into otherworldly-humanoid insect. Francis Ray is a tormented teen from a broken home, and one day is dream finally became real. Francis is now an insect; just as the creatures from the Vincent Price horror movies he loves. The first reference for the inspiration of this tale is one of Price’s most famous movies The Fly (1958). “They had seen the Vincent Price picture The Fly together” (73). The movie is a story of a scientist, Andre Delambre, whose experiment goes horribly wrong causing him to turn into the Fly. This movie could have been inspiration for Francis’s name, because the scientist/fly brother’s name is Francois.

Another reference to the fly comes later in the story. Francis lives in a town called Calliphora, and the military installment near the town is called Camp Calliphora. After some research on where exactly Calliphora would be, I realized this is another clever reference to the infamous Price film. Calliphora is the name given to a genus of blow flies; Francis names off a specific blow fly in this genus at the end of section two; “bluebottle flies buzzed greedily around the pile of waste” (80).
Joe Hill may have well written the modern “Kafka-esk” tale of metamorphosis, though there are no actual references to the book Metamorphosis.

The basis of the tales is overarching and similar; both deal with a leading male character and his mysterious metamorphosis into an insect. Francis drives his family away with is repulsive appearance, as does Gregor in Metamorphosis. Even though Kafka is not physically referenced in the tale, Mickey Spillane, another famous novelist is mentioned. Personally, I was unable to find much of a link between the story and Spillane’s writing. The closest reference I could pull is the he is an inspiration to Joe Hill personally, seeing as Spillane is a novelist and a writer of comic

books.
The final reference is possibly grasping at straws; yet, I had an odd feeling of reminiscence to a musician’s autobiography and album.

Beginning with the album Antichrist Superstar by Marilyn Manson (1996); the album is based on a downtrodden character called the Worm, and his metamorphosis into a greater being who seeks his revenge on the people whom oppressed him. Specifically, the song’s "Cryptorchid,” “Deformography,” “Wormboy,” and “Man That You Fear” parallel parts of the story (quotes I am referring to will be at the end). Just as the album tells a metamorphosis story, Manson’s autobiography, The Long Road out of Hell, is sectioned as the metamorphosis of himself. There are a few parallels between the Francis character and Manson, besides being children of tough upbringings. Both of the fathers are ex military, specifically Army. Manson as a child was sent for testing for side effects his father’s work with Agent Orange, a pesticide. While Francis is under the impression he became a bug from the military’s nuclear near his home. In comparison with the Agent Orange, Francis mentions the liquid he discharges is carbolic acid; which is used in pesticides. Lastly, Francis mentions his father’s bible-thumping girlfriend who not only quotes the bible at Francis, but also keeps a photo album of Jesus in the clouds. One of the first stories Manson mentions of his upbringing is of his excessively religious grandmother who gives him a photo of Jesus in the clouds. Then, there

is the last line of the story, “as he rose above the school, he began to sing” (89). I was skeptical at first on these corresponding themes between Manson and Hill. Until, I happened upon a quote from Hill stating his admiration for Manson’s work. Joe Hill, like his father, is a master of references to other classic and modern works of art, music, cinema, and literature.