Category: A Rose For Emily

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is an amazing short fiction. This short story tells the story of a woman who fails to live up her high reputation and fitting in a community where almost everyone knows each other business. “A Rose for Emily,” tells the story about a lonely old woman name, Miss Emily Grierson, living a life void of all love and affection. William Faulkner uses certain techniques to create suspense and to explore some contemporary issues throughout the story. There are so many contemporary issues in this story like domestic violence, racism, and death. Through the short fiction “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner examines the contemporary issue of isolation through the character of Miss Emily Grierson and the traditional culture of the old South town.

Most of the time people isolate themselves from community due to certain events in their past life. In “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner uses one of the most effective elements to develop the contemporary issue is the use of symbolism. He portrays Emily’s father as a total control figure and dominance person. Emily’s father had control over her life, she had no saying on what happens in her life. “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such” (Faulkner 97). She is left alone because her father thinks that no man is good enough for his daughter. She was isolated from society because of her father. Even when her father dies no one came to see her if she is okay because she was so much isolated from the townspeople that even people have forgotten how she looks like. She isolates herself from everyone because she is used to living under her father influence which causes her to become so lonely. Most of the time, isolation from world can cause people to do some unspeakable acts just because of their loneliness.

An Author, William Faulkner, uses several elements such as the setting, plot, point of views, and emotion to develop the main idea. “A Rose for Emily,” short story does not follow the regular chronological order, the events in this story moves back and forth. Faulkner uses a non-chronological order technique to explore the issue and to build the suspense throughout the story. This story begins with at the end of Miss Emily’s life and told from an unknown person who most probably would be the voice of the town. The town people attend Miss Emily’s funeral not to show love or care her, but only to see the inside of her house. All these years she was so isolated from the society that no one has ever seen her house beside caretaker and no one has ever bother to see if she is okay or not. She was still isolated from townspeople even after her death.

Faulkner also symbolizes rose as an emotion like love, friendship and it portrays an endless beauty. Throughout the story, Emily Grierson remains locked up her whole life and never experienced love from anyone. She lives a life of loneliness, left only to dream of the love missing from her life. Miss Emily’s “Rose” lies only within the story’s title as when the rose dies it is still held in great reverence. The rose from the title symbolizes the absent of love. Since she was isolated from the world, she denied the reality of change. Emily was denied her rose, first by her father, then by the society, and then by Homer Barron.

In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, he successfully carries out the central idea throughout the story, the idea of being lonely and being isolated from society.

Work Cited

1. Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, edited by Edgar V. Robert and Robert Zweig, 6th ed., Pearson, 2015, pp.96-101.

Often in Literature, parents abuse their power against their children. Such abuse could lead their children to feel isolated and alienated. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird Bob Ewell abuses his children to an extent that they become isolated from the community. The purpose of this essay is to consider how perpetrators of isolation control their victims in To Kill A Mockingbird, Rose For Emily, and Gathering Blue. Bob Ewell, Mr. Grierson, and Jamison all use both physical and verbal abuse along with fear to alienate their victims.

It has been demonstrated that Bob Ewell from To Kill a Mockingbird was an abusive alcoholic who his children feared. He was not close to being a good father figure for his children did not even go to school. A perfect example of how much his children feared him would be the example in the court with Mayella, his daughter. In the court, Mayella Ewell was clearly lying to support her father’s accusation. It is suggested, “Bob Ewell was willing to make false and potentially deadly accusations and willing to eventually attack two innocent children”(R. Evans 103). This clearly proves how controlling Mr. Ewell can be, especially since Mayella was evidently scared to speak for herself. This is a perfect example to show how Mayella is isolated.

Bob Ewell was certainly the greatest perpetrator in the whole book of To Kill A Mockingbird. To commence, Bob Ewell is a major perpetrator throughout the course of the story, especially to his daughter Mayella.This can be shown by the fact that he seems to sexually abuse his daughter. It’s implied, “Bob Ewell manages to pervert Mayella so thoroughly by the trial that he almost turns her in some ways into a carbon copy of himself. Ewell may or may not sexually assault his daughter (although this possibility is strongly implied), but he clearly helps to corrupt her ethics” (R. Evans 104 ). This evidence can infer that Bob Ewell has such a tight grip on controlling his daughter

Not only was Bob Ewell cruel to his own children, he was cruel to other children and adults as well. The same way he tried to kill Scout and Jem on that dark night. It is voiced, “Bob develops from an obviously bad man (willing to abuse his own adolescent daughter and then put an innocent man’s life at risk) to something even worse: a lurking potentially murderous assailant who threatens and stalks utterly defenseless children” (R. Evans 106). One can only imagine what happens in his household behind closed doors with his own family. Bob Ewell was extremely abusive mentally and physically; however he didn’t reach his peak of abuse until he discovers that Mayella having an affair with a black man, Tom Robinson. ”Well, Mayella was raisin‘ this holy racket so I dropped m’load and run as fast as I could but I run into th’ fence, but when I got distangled I run up to th‘ window and I seen—” Mr. Ewell’s face grew scarlet. He stood up and pointed his finger at Tom Robinson. “—I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (H. Lee 92)

Bob Ewell shows no respect to anyone, nor does he care what anyone thinks. It is brought to our attention, “Miss Stephanie Crawford delights in telling Scout and Jem when Bob Ewell spits in Atticus’s face” (R. Best 545). Bob clearly is not affected by anything he says since he continues to act with his careless mentality. He is clearly not fit to have the role of a father figure. These examples show Bob Ewell is the main perpetrator of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Mr. Grierson is another parent who isolates his daughter from the community, Emily. For example, he does not let Emily have any relation with any guy. As said in the book, “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (W. Faulkner 1070). Every suitor that came for Emily, Mr. Grierson had rejected. This shows how controlling her father was and how he tries to isolate Emily. Him being overprotective scared away many young men who wanted a chance with his daughter. One can say Emily was actually cut off from the real world.

When the story began, Emily’s mother had already passed away, therefore Emily was already starting to isolate herself. However, when her father died one can really tell how much Mr. Grierson controlled her. When he died she had no order which one can infer due to her wanting to keep her father’s dead body. She had always been influenced by her fathers judgements but he was now gone. One believes that if not for Homer, Emily would’ve probably killed herself. The relationship between Emily and Homer definitely kept her sane.

Lastly, there is Jamison who appears to be a kind respectful father figure. While his first impression to Kira may have seemed pretty genuine, there was a lot more she did not know behind that man who she later discovered tried killing her father. However, Kira’s father was not the only person Jamison tried killing, he also sent Annabella to be killed. As one can see with his murder attempts he is clearly a violent man. Jamison was more of a tyrant than a father figure. It is most especially shown when we see he locks Jo in her room until she masters “The Ruin Song”.

After reading this story it is distinctly shown how cruel of a person Jamison actually is. After all, he does treat Jo, a young little girl like a prisoner. “ why was this small tyke locked in a room all alone? I will come back, she called softly through the door. Will you bring me mum? The little voice was so close to the keyhole” ( L. Lowry 61). He abused these children mentally to a great extent. Most of all, he took away their loved ones which can’t ever be replaced. He was a scary man who had no heart and did anything he could to benefit make himself look good. Luckily, Kira caught up and realized soon enough.

In conclusion, all these perpetrators share many of the same characteristics. They were all in fact abusive whether it was sexually, verbally and or physically. Each perpetrator were single and always seemed to isolate their daughter. Maybe they did this all to cope with the fact that they had no wife. “Though the narrative is seen through the eyes of a young person and reveals childlike naiveré and humor, it also demonstrates how perceptive and insightful a child’s viewpoint can be, indeed sometimes achieving more skillful and penetrating observations than those attained by adults” (R. Evans 111)

Works Cited

1. Best, Rebecca H. “ ‘Panopticism and the Use of ‘the Other’ in To Kill a Mockingbird.’”
2. Evans, Robert C, editor. “Unlikely Duos: Paired Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird.” Unlikely Duos: Paired Characters in To Kill a Mockingbird, 2018.
3. Fordham, Fred, and Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper, an Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2018.
4. Lowry, Lois. Gathering Blue. Houghton Mifflin, 2000.
5. Polk, Noel, and William Faulkner. A Rose for Emily. Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.

Often when one is brought up believing that their status in life is above others, one could resist change presuming it might compromise their higher standard in society. Miss Emily Grierson was born in a traditional era where families that had money lived in big elaborate homes (Faulkner 308). These families were considered self-made aristocrats and often thought themselves above the standards of their counterparts. Most often people that lived in the era that Miss Emily lived in only had a limited amount of association with others because they considered them beneath their standards of living. Her father illustrated this in the story, by keeping Miss Emily restricted from associating with other young people that she could have possibly developed a rapport. Her father strongly opposed male callers because they did not have the same conventional aristocratic heritage as their family thought to be (Faulkner 311).

True to her traditional way of living, Miss Emily seems to be content with living by her father’s rules and regulations. Therefore, she never tried to defy her father by trying to associate with other townspeople. However, the townspeople began to change from the old tradition as the years passed on, but Miss Emily was content remaining the same as her traditional upbringing. Yet, after the death of her father, Miss Grierson seems to be a depressed, lonely woman that was stuck in older modern traditional times, without any friends (Faulkner 312). When her father died, she showed her refusal to accept the transition by not accepting the fact that he had died. She even lived in the house with his deceased body for several days as she carried on her daily routine.

In my opinion, her father is responsible for many of the actions that she began to illustrate after his death. It appears that his strictness affected her ability to socialize with others, as well as accepting that the town was beginning to change. She demonstrated this by wearing the same traditional clothing, as well as doing no maintenance of any kind on her house as it began to deteriorate around her (Faulkner312). The isolation, and loneliness that Miss Emily was minimized to the insane person that she became after the neighbor town men had to forcibly remove her deceased father from the home. One can only presume that she was still clinging to the only person that she had anything in common with, which was her father. Therefore, she wanted life to go on as usual with just her and her father living in the usual traditional way. When she refuses to have her father’s body taken from the house this probably was her way of clinging to his presence within the home (Faulkner 311). One would think that after her father died that she would mingle with others in town as a means of escaping the loneliness of living without the presence of her father.

To illustrate that she did not want them to visit her, she often did not let them in when they came to call on her. She seems to be consoled by barricading herself in a large house that once was one of the luxurious homes in the area. Living in solitude seems to make her rapidly age along with her untidy home. With the passing of her father, it seemed all she had left was her father’s faithful manservant, who was left to care for her. She seems to give up on ever finding any sort of happiness. As the years passed, she remained in the same state physically and mentally, never concerning herself with what type of major changes were taking place in the town. For what seems like a decade the townspeople did not see her until she finally meets a man that did not mind being seen with her in front of the townspeople. She finally thought she had found happiness, only to be deceived by a man that was willing to keep company with her but would not consent to make her his wife. Miss Emily knew that she lived in an era where there would be a substantial amount of gossip if she was regularly seen around town with a gentleman without the intention of getting married to him (Faulkner 313).

For the first time since her father died, she came close to being happy (Faulkner 312). When she discovered Homer was not going to commit to marrying her, she slipped back into her same distorted state of mind, and way of thinking. After killing Homer, she lived with his decayed body as if he was still alive (Faulkner 316). If Miss Emily had sought medical attention after the death of her father, it is my opinion that she could have lived a happy life. Her life could also have been different if she had accepted the fact that the town was making significant changes, which older tradition was fading out, and new things were taking their place. Miss Emily’s life could have been so much better and healthier if she had accepted the change.

In William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, first-person narration is exercised in order to put emphasis on Emily Grierson, a hermit who has attracted the curiosity of the community and dominates the conversation and action of the city. The author uses an abundance of literary techniques in order to help project the story.

The first sentence of the story instantly informs the reader that “Miss Emily Grierson died.” Many of the events that ensue portray her earlier life, and are directed by the reader’s knowledge of her death. Through this, Faulkner does not take a direct approach in presenting the story but rather orchestrates time in order to expand the story through various decades; making this a story of development.

The seemingly biased narrator is a member of the same town as Emily, deeming them as one of the gossiping community members. Faulkner is able to portray this through the repetition of words such as “we” and “our.” By doing so, Faulkner is capable of constructing a character, without dialogue, who is close to Emily Grierson. By using these keywords, the narrator is able to express their thoughts and opinions, as well as those of the townspeople. This completely changes near the end of the fifth portion, when the narrator starts to address the townspeople as “they,” in reference to “the violent breaking down of the door.” This attempt to disconnect shows that the narrator may not agree with the acts of the townspeople. This low-key difference is swiftly altered back to “we,” but is used as a model to make clear that the narrator presented some kind of care for Emily Grierson.

Characterization also plays a crucial role in the growth of the story. Emily Grierson is seen through the eyes of the narrator, therefore all descriptions and facts about Miss. Grierson is biased. Although this story has many examples of symbolism, the example that is most dominant is the representation of the rose. In this, Emily Grierson is described as a rose, with plenty of thorns, and stuck inside all day to decay. It is shown through the text that Emily slowly starts to lose her sense of sanity. Going as far as to murder her husband and sleep next to his body. This is evidenced when Faulkner writes that “we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of ahead.”

In order to further progress the story, and build a connection with the reader, Faulkner uses foreshadowing to hint at the fact that Emily Grierson had been living with a dead man. The first example of foreshadowing is given in part two of the story when the house begins to have an awful odor “a short time after her sweetheart, the one we believed would marry her – had deserted her.’ This foreshadowing of Homer’s death is again shown in section three when Emily buys arsenic with no orthodox reason. This gives the reader key insight into the growth of the story and helps to develop the grotesque mood of the story. However, the actual mood of the story is not unraveled until the last section of the story, when the reader gains knowledge of the truth behind the disappearance of Homer Barron. The mood is primarily dark up to this point, but after “the breaking down [of] the door” the reader learns that “the man himself lay in bed.” After this resolution, the mood begins to change into a more and tragic one. One of the major themes of this story is the inability of Miss Grierson to allow change. It is evidenced through her unwillingness to pay taxes that Miss Grierson is stuck in the time period that Colonel Sartoris is in charge. This is also evidenced through her refusal to have a mailbox when postal delivery is first instituted. Through this, Faulkner is able to potently convey the deterioration of Miss Grierson. With the concoction of all of these elements, William Faulkner is able to progress the story in a manner that may not be chronological but still manages to make logical sense. The impact that this has on the reader is quite powerful, and without these devices, Faulkner would not have been able to smoothly capture the overall impact of this story.

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the story of an antique and lonely female caught in her very own timeframe. Her controlling father died some thirty years ago and he or she has by no means pretty determined her own ground. Her residence has to turn out to be the most hideous home on the once maximum pick-out street within the town. Previously stylish and white with scrolled balconies, it became now encroached with dust and decay. The people in Miss Emily’s city gossip about her and pity her misplaced soul. She soon starts a relationship with a younger man by the name of Homer Barron, who is a part of the construction business enterprise paving sidewalks on her street. They begin taking buggy rides together, and townspeople speak greater, and pity Miss Emily extra. Things exchange quickly though, as Miss Emily is visible much less with Homer, and is witnessed buying arsenic from the neighborhood drug store. Eventually no more is seen of Homer, and Miss Emily dies at age seventy-four. After Miss Emily’s loss of life the townspeople break down her upstairs room that had been sealed close for a few forty years. They find Homer’s dead decaying body, an imprint of another body beside it, and an unmarried grey strand of hair. “A Rose for Emily,” tells the tale of subculture versus nontraditional and vintage as opposed to new, which is delivered to light through the story’s plot, characters, and placing.

Right at the beginning of the story, it is clear that it is going to be approximately vintage as opposed to new. The author begins by means of describing Miss Emily’s residence, which become as soon as luxurious, is now vintage and dusty. “It became a big, squarish frame residence that had once been white an eyesore amongst eyesores” (Faulkner 146). The house itself stands for tradition, it has aged, and instead of moving together with the rebuilding of the South, it has stayed the same. As the tale starts to talk about Miss Emily’s past, it’s far clear that her family is well respected in the town. So an awful lot so that after she walks right into a room, human beings are expected to upward push in reverence of her. Miss Emily is the vintage female that everyone feels pity for. Her father, who sheltered her very an awful lot so, had as soon as contributed a huge amount of money to the very own, exonerating Miss Emily of any future tax payments. Again, the familiar theme of vintage as opposed to new arises when Miss Emily is requested to give a tax payment. She does not best refuse, however she does so in a manner that says she should no longer have even been asked the question. These “new” authorities need to understand better than to invite the “old” Miss Emily for one of these things. “I have no taxes in Jefferson (Faulkner 147). No further data is sought after because they realize that old trumps new. A similar occurrence arises when Miss Emily purchases rat poisoning; state regulation says that she has to supply the cause for her buying it, Miss Emily doesn’t, she truly can pay and leaves. The maximum dramatic act is Miss Emily killing her lover. Miss Emily is making an attempt so difficult to stay antique and stay how she is aware of how, and this in flip reasons her to homicide her lover. The most effective manner she knew how to maintain him with her, become to kill him. This changed into the way she turned into being raised. Miss Emily became raised by way of a controlling father, who did no longer allow her to exit the house, plenty less to date anyone. When he dies, she does not understand what to do. So plenty so that she maintains his body for a brief time. The global round her is changing and maturing, however, she is not. Faulkner makes use of a totally peculiar symbol of this in his starting paragraphs. “A small fat woman in black, with a skinny gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt” (Faulkner 147). Time is literally now not in eyesight for her. It has “vanished into her belt”, where she cannot see it. Miss Emily is lost, and the simplest way she knows the way to act is traditional. When she meets Homer Baron, he’s the whole lot that she knows that she needs to now not be doing. He is questionably gay, he’s a bachelor of a few sorts, and he is a simple creation worker. In courting him, she goes against the whole lot she has been taught; either to get back at her father for sheltering her a lot or because she is so ignorant of what she must be doing. As the tale unfolds, Homer starts spending less and less time with Miss Emily, and the run-up. Emily isn’t carried out with him though, and wishes nothing more than to marry him; she even is going as a way as to shop for a marriage outfit for him. However, Homer was not of the marrying kind and had no intentions of marrying her. The handiest way she knew to keep him along with her become to kill him, and so she did. “Then we observed that in the 2ndpillow become the indentation of a head. Long strand of iron-grey hair” (Faulkner 152). She lay next to Homer’s useless, decaying frame till she could not do so. She poisoned him, due to the fact for her, this was how she knew to stop time, and in flip, she could stay with Homer for so long as she wanted to.

Looking deeply into the putting of the story we see a large transition duration for the South in general, which would include Miss Emily and the townspeople. The time this occurred turned into someplace among the 1860s and the 1930s. Slavery had simply ended, the middle class became becoming more prominent, and society as an entire changed into becoming much less cliquish. The Grierson’s own family became one of excessive status, most probably with masses of money and plenty of slaves. After Miss Emily’s father dies, everything that they had believed in had become upside down. Slavery, which was very common, is now thought of as an evil, an atrocity. The townspeople seem to be transitioning very nicely, however, Miss Emily, with nobody to guide her, is not. Her father dies, her compass to lifestyles, the New South emerges, and she is left to figure out things for her personal. This turned into difficult for her and brought to her madness and bad feel of judgment. Miss Emily most effectively knew how to follow; she did not realize the way to lead. This is virtually visible in her relationship together with her father. Miss Emily a slender figure in white within the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his returned to her, clutching a horse (Faulkner 148). Her father surely managed her like a horse, and that is the manner she lives her life. When Homer comes along, she feels as if she has someone to steer her again, while he decides to leave her, she has to kill him. She kills him because she wishes a male determine in her lifestyle, and for her, this is the handiest manner to keep him around.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is filled with character, plot, and placing symbolism. They all appear to mention that Miss Emily is caught in time, with no way out. She poisons Homer Barron for many distinctive reasons. She wishes a male in her life to take the lead due to the fact her existence is become upside down, and she or he has no one to appear to. Was this act out of love or sheer selfishness? She changed into honestly mentally unstable, but she additionally had hundreds of strains on her with every human being around her gossiping and judging her every move. Maybe she did it for the surprise factor. Whatever the purpose may additionally be, she sincerely got to hold her ‘rose’, Homer Barron, forever.

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner and Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe explore the psychological criticism through avenues of agoraphobia, depression, and necrophilia. Both Poe and Faulkner use elements of gothic literature in their writing which revolved around the death of a loved one, isolation, and mental illness. In Emily’s case of losing a loved one, it’s her former servant, Homer that she poisoned and kept his corpse which she slept next to. As for Roderick, it’s his sister Madeline. When reading both stories it is evident that the characters suffer from these illnesses and use the dead as a coping mechanism.

While both characters have very similar backgrounds, when it comes to death, they have different views. The character of Roderick acknowledges his sister’s death, repenting and not going insane, while Emily is not capable of feeling regret and not in her right mind. Lady Madeline, the wife of Roderick by incest, falls ill and dies leaving Roderick as the family’s last devisee. Roderick places her in a grave. In his room, He later comes to find out she’s not dead. On the other hand, Emily figures out that Homer, her partner is either gay or not a person who has romantic relationships. She uses arsenic, and rat poison to kill him so that he won’t give her up. Therefore, because of illness, Roderick loses his lover, so he thinks, and Emily kills her lover, so she doesn’t have to be alone. Roderick has no interaction with the community and he doesn’t have any family. He also has little to do with nature; nature ceases to exist around his home. It’s surrounded by black water and rotting tree vehicles. Emily had refused to leave her home or maintain it leaving it vulnerable to damage.

Roderick Usher has a relationship with his own mind that is unnatural. His body and mind are at war with each other. He is very sensitive to light, unable to tolerate noise, and can only eat very bland food. A person in Roderick’s situation would end up going crazy with no support system. Emily’s relationships were very unhealthy. Her father dominated her, and she was not permitted to go out with anyone. She didn’t know what love was, so she clung to her father and held on to what she knew. She was searching for love when her father passed by and found Homer, all the time she wanted him there. This relationship was cruel as she killed him and slept with his body every night when she found out that he didn’t want her, and she didn’t feel abandoned. “After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.” (Faulkner,1) Telling us how she began to change after her father’s death.

With this questioning of sanity or need therefrom inside, we find that Roderick believes nothing of his condition meanwhile the reader is able to see what he is blind to, for example “the writer spoke of acute bodily illness–of a mental disorder which oppressed him.” (Poe,3). This separation of sanity experienced in Roderick Usher is also universally prevalent in Emily. Throughout the story, Emily battles with a life of seclusion and yearning for love from a companion. Her surrounding counterparts are a controlling father and their servant. Insanity is revealed in many instances in the story. One of the most profound and apparent signs of insanity begins with the relationship between her and her dad. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away.” (Faulker,14)

“Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick says, “I have no abhorrence of dangers, except in its absolute effect—in terror.” By this, he tries to explain himself as a man in fear and misunderstanding. This confirms the conclusion of repentance. Emily shows no shame by keeping the man she murdered and continuously sleeping with his corpse. She insists that she did nothing wrong and that he was wrong because he wanted to leave her. Nonetheless, Roderick feels devastated as he thinks that his sister has passed away and he feels surprised, guilty, and ashamed when he finds out that she is still alive. His sister was all he had, and he didn’t want her to abandon him just as Emily didn’t want Homer to leave her, but unlike Emily, Roderick wasn’t a killer.

There are a lot of similarities between Roderick and Emily, as well as a lot of differences between the two characters. Both had no sense of time, both were in extreme psychological situations, both had distorted romantic theories, both had very unhealthy marriages, and both resided in old gothic. The underlying meaning of these two tails had to do with death and mental illness and how they interact.

Introduction:

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” has captivated readers for decades with its haunting narrative and mysterious protagonist. One crucial aspect that contributes to the story’s allure is its unique point of view. Through a retrospective and collective perspective, the narrator unveils the enigmatic life of Emily Grierson, providing readers with a multi-layered understanding of her character and the town’s perception of her. This reflective essay delves into the significance of the point of view in “A Rose for Emily” and its impact on the story’s interpretation.

Body:

The Collective Voice:

The story unfolds through the collective voice of the town’s residents, who function as the narrators. This narrative technique creates a sense of unity and shared experience among the townspeople, giving the story a distinct small-town atmosphere. The collective voice acts as a character in itself, reflecting the community’s judgments, prejudices, and gossip surrounding Emily Grierson. This perspective allows readers to witness how society’s expectations and norms shape the perception of individuals, particularly those who deviate from societal conventions.

The Retrospective Narrative:

The retrospective narrative structure adds depth and complexity to the story. The narrators recount events from the past, spanning several decades of Emily’s life, which allows readers to piece together the fragments of her story and unravel the layers of mystery surrounding her. This retrospective approach creates a sense of anticipation and suspense as the true nature of Emily’s character and her actions gradually unfold.

Ambiguity and Subjectivity:

The point of view in “A Rose for Emily” is marked by ambiguity and subjectivity. The collective voice presents the story from the townspeople’s perspective, which is inherently biased and influenced by their own perceptions and assumptions. This subjectivity adds to the intrigue of the narrative, as readers are constantly challenged to question the reliability of the information presented. It prompts us to consider the limitations of relying solely on communal accounts when trying to understand the complexity of an individual’s life.

Empathy and Understanding:

Despite the town’s gossip and judgment, the point of view also invites readers to develop empathy and a nuanced understanding of Emily’s character. Through the collective voice, we witness the effects of isolation, loss, and societal pressure on Emily’s mental state and actions. This empathetic portrayal humanizes Emily, allowing readers to glimpse the vulnerability and tragedy behind her seemingly eccentric behavior. The retrospective narrative enables us to reflect on the consequences of societal neglect and the importance of compassion and empathy towards others.

Interpretive Freedom:

The enigmatic point of view in “A Rose for Emily” grants readers interpretive freedom. By presenting the story through the lens of the town’s residents, Faulkner encourages readers to question and analyze the events and motives in the narrative. The absence of a singular, omniscient narrator allows for multiple interpretations, fostering discussion and engaging readers in a deeper exploration of the themes of love, loss, decay, and the complexities of human nature.

Conclusion:

The point of view in “A Rose for Emily” is a masterful narrative device that adds depth and intrigue to the story. Through the collective voice and retrospective narrative structure, readers gain insight into the enigmatic life of Emily Grierson and the town’s perceptions of her. The ambiguity and subjectivity of the narrative prompt readers to question societal norms and biases, fostering empathy and understanding. Moreover, the point of view grants readers interpretive freedom, allowing for diverse and thought-provoking discussions. Faulkner’s masterful use of point of view in “A Rose for Emily” invites readers on a reflective journey through the complexities of human nature and the power of collective perception.

Introduction:

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a captivating short story that explores the life of Emily Grierson, a woman living in the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi. Through a non-linear narrative structure, Faulkner reveals the tragic events that shaped Emily’s life and the profound impact she had on the town’s inhabitants. This essay provides a comprehensive summary of the key elements and plot points in “A Rose for Emily.”

Summary:

The story opens with the funeral of Miss Emily Grierson, an eccentric and reclusive woman who has been an enigma to the townspeople for many years. The narrative then jumps back in time to Emily’s childhood, when her father, Mr. Grierson, was alive. He was a controlling figure who prohibited Emily from engaging in social activities and discouraged potential suitors.

As time passes, the townspeople become increasingly curious about Emily’s life and actions. Emily’s seclusion and the decaying Grierson mansion pique their interest. Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron, a Northern laborer, raises eyebrows and becomes a subject of gossip. The townspeople view this relationship as scandalous, as it challenges the social norms and values of the conservative Southern society.

However, the relationship with Homer does not have a happy ending. Homer disappears, and Emily is left alone once again. The townspeople assume that Emily will be devastated by the loss, but she remains stoic. As years pass, Emily withdraws further into her home, rarely seen by the outside world.

Upon Emily’s death, the townspeople enter her home and discover a shocking secret. In an upstairs bedroom, they find the decomposed corpse of Homer Barron, lying on a bed as if she had been sleeping next to him for decades. It becomes clear that Emily, unable to let go of her loved one, had poisoned him and preserved his body as a macabre act of possession.

In the final moments of the story, the townspeople find a gray hair on the pillow next to Homer’s corpse, suggesting that Emily had been sleeping beside him until her death.

Conclusion:

“A Rose for Emily” is a haunting and complex tale that explores the depths of human loneliness, obsession, and the consequences of denying the passage of time. Faulkner skillfully weaves together the elements of mystery, Southern Gothic atmosphere, and psychological depth to create a narrative that leaves readers contemplating the complexities of the human psyche.

Through the tragic story of Emily Grierson, Faulkner invites readers to reflect on the destructive power of isolation and the consequences of holding onto the past. “A Rose for Emily” is a poignant examination of the human condition, revealing the dark secrets that can lie beneath the surface of even the most seemingly ordinary lives.

‘Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner, is about a girl named Emily. She is not very social, and some would even call her crazy. She has been isolated from the world for the majority of her life. Her father isolated her from the world. Even after his death, she continued to isolate herself. Due to the isolation, she has been broken down to the point of insanity. She committed murder and has kept the body hidden. Even after she committed the murder, she continued to have sexual relations with the corpse. The story shows us that isolation can cause people to break. Due to being isolated from the world, Emily began to go crazy and killed her lover.

Although people did not know the Griersons well, the Griersons thought of themselves as superior. They completely disassociated themselves from the rest of the town ‘the Griersons held themselves a little too high’ (170-171). This shows us how they thought of themselves as superior and isolated themselves. Mr. Grierson never believed that any man was good enough for Emily, causing Emily to live with her father until his death. The Griersons very rarely talked to anyone outside of their small circle.

Emily was a lonely, isolated woman. She did not know how to act around people, and people did not know her. ‘After her father’s death, she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all’ (170). This is another strong example of isolation. She rarely went out when her father was alive, and once he passed away, she went out even less. She had to convince herself it was ok for her father’s body to be removed from the house. After years of isolation, she felt her father’s body was her only lifeline. Even though her father is dead, she continues to isolate herself. After years of isolation, Emily’s mental state deteriorates, causing her to murder Homer. After murdering Homer, she kept the body just as she wanted to keep her father’s body after his death. Keeping Homer and having a sexual relationship with the corpse gave Emily the love she craved. Her father’s years of isolation forced Emily to become the unstable woman she became. Both of these quotes support the theme of isolation and what it does to a person socially and mentally. Emily was unable to function in the real world while fearing abandonment. She only had her father until his death, and she was not going to let Homer leave her, so she murdered him. The first quote shows how the town views them and the second quote heavily supports the theme of isolation.

Emily’s father isolated her, and after he passed away, she continued to isolate herself.

Her isolation from the world caused her to become a shell of a woman. Lonely, peculiar, and crazy is how the townspeople viewed her. The outcome of Emily’s life is a perfect example of how isolation can cause someone to break. Although isolation caused Emily to become mentally ill, she could have helped herself. After the passing of her father, she could have sought help. Emily could have opened her heart and door to the townspeople, forming relationships. Instead, she continued to isolate herself.  

A Rose For Emily Diagnostic. The title holds a powerful significance for the story as it represents and foreshadows features of the main character Emily’s life story. A rose is frequently symbolized as love, therefore, maybe the rose can be linked to Emily’s love life or her aspiration for love. Nevertheless, Emily can be identified as a depiction of the thorniness of a rose due to her arrogant appearance and her isolating lifestyle. Additionally, like a thorny rose, she displays deceptiveness as she kills the only person who ever got close to her in Homer. All in all, the title signifies the dangerousness and sad life story of Emily.

The point of view of the story is told in first person, but not the typical first person. It’s not told by a particular person, it’s told by an unidentified town speaker from where Emily lived, revealing the feelings of the town. It’s almost as though the community itself is telling the story. Small towns generally have a collective awareness, this awareness could be seen as the narrator. As the town patron’s daughter, Miss Emily, in some form, belongs to the town. She is the focus of attention and examination. Her father thought he belonged to the town, so she did as well. As a consequence, she became part of the town. An indication of this is the description of how Miss Emily stopped coming out of the house. “That was two years after her father’s death and a short time after her sweetheart—the one we believed would marry her –had deserted her. After her father’s death, she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.”(Faulkner 2) The use of “we believed” and “people hardly saw her at all” demonstrates this collective awareness. This POV is important to the story because it produces tension. We don’t know exactly what will happen, as we never see the whole illustration.  It is like listening to a meaty story, you realize it will result entertainingly, but you’re not exactly sure how.

Emily is the stereotypical outsider, by staying tucked away, restricting and reducing the exposure of the community to her true identity. She uses her house as a separation from her and the town. “WHEN MISS Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house”(Faulkner 1) as nobody had seen her house due to her defiant personality. Emily implements her understanding of law and conduct in many scenarios, a couple of examples are refusing to pay her taxes and refusing to state her purpose for purchasing the poison. Ultimately, her defiance of the law takes on more dangerous aspects as she murders the man she refused to allow to abandon her. Emily is described as a hero by the author, but at the same time, she is pitied and often annoying, seeking to live life on her terms which leads her down a very dark path.

The author chooses to repeat the words “I have no taxes in Jefferson” because it reveals to the reader that Emily is extremely stubborn and selfish. This implies that Emily is closed-minded and is showing no signs of moving on, specifically moving on from her father’s death. As Emily states, ‘See Colonel Sartoris, I have no taxes in Jefferson'(Faulkner 2), she is stuck in the past. In the story,  Emily’s father was very protective and did not allow her to go out that much. She was left with little or no independence and could not grow independent She became so reliant on her father that she was unable to keep her life going without him. The author explains how for roughly ten years Colonel Sartoris was deceased. This shows that the only life Emily knew was the one when her father did everything for her. She wasn’t able to adapt to the change so she now has to pay taxes. The only solution she knew regarding the current issue was to show them out and not deal with it. This is an important part of the story because is the point in which the reader understands that Emily was unable to change because of her father’s death.

In the story, the dust is a suitable representation of the fading lives from within. It symbolizes the ancient presence of Emily in the town. When the aldermen come and try to obtain Emily’s yearly tax fee, the house smells like  “dust and disuse.” The home seems to be a place of stasis, where mistakes and perceptions stay forever untouched. In a sense, dust very much has a calming presence. The aldermen can not access Emily’s blurred connection to reality. The layers of dust further signify the aura of mist that masks Emily’s true motives and the mysteries that her house obtains. Specifically at the end of the story, the dust seems to have an oppressive influence, as it emerges from Homer’s dead body. Faulkner describes the dust as “patient and biding”, almost as if it has been begging to be cleaned. The dust seems significantly more disturbing here than earlier on in the story.

Excessive levels of isolation may be problematic for people and therefore could contribute to a dramatic downfall in hostile ways. This notion of isolation is very much part of the story. Firstly, Emily is isolated from the outside world by her father and most of society through her higher status, which inevitably leads to her anxiety-imposed isolation.