Preview

Araby In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
575 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Araby In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily
In the short story “Araby”, we meet a boy who's name is never mentions and he's basically going through the puberty stage of development. He's obsessed with his friends older sister but he has never spoken to her before. When describing her he says “Her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out into my bosom. I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused adoration”. He was so deeply in love with this girl everything else seemed to disappear. He was unhappy at home living …show more content…
As the years passed and she never got married because her father thought no one was good enough for her, rumors and gossip started to form about the family. Around the time the story takes place especially in the south, women were expected to get married and have children by their late teens and early twenties. The fact that Emily was in her thirties and still wasn’t married made her weird and an outsider to the people around her. After the death of her father Emily’s future was looking bright. She had a boyfriend and everyone thought they would be married soon but when he just disappeared; after Emily was seen buying the poison arsenic everyone had their own theory about what happened to him.Her neighbors stated that “After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all”. Was Emily truly crazy or was it her environment that caused her to do what she did? Her whole life Emily never had control of anything so just the thought of her boyfriend leaving her made her feel like she was losing control again. She knew that killing her boyfriend would cause her to be in control again and he would never leave her again.Because of the way she was treated by her father, Emily had some abandonment issue

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner skillfully depicts the changes of Emily, who becomes a victim of the transitional period from the old pre-war society to the new post-war society. The author depicts the process of how an aristocratic lady becomes a killer. The story revolves around the life of a troubled and stubborn woman named Emily. After the death of her father and the disappearance of her lover, Emily becomes increasingly isolated from the society. She persistently lives in her self-made shell so that she can preserve her past and protect herself from the changes of society. By using peculiar factors, overcast atmosphere, and the contrast of desolate and modern life, Faulkner exposes the isolation of a woman trapped in the past, her desire for a happy life, and the degradation of the South after the Civil War.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ms. Emily lived a reserved and quiet life, due to the fact that her father was extremely over-protective of her and "none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily." Due to the fact that Ms. Emily never had a chance to get close to a man, she stayed single up until the age of thirty. The townspeople "remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will."…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss Emily is first explained as a nice, sweet, and normal woman, though that all changed as her life went on. The death of her father was the flame that ignited all of this weirdness of Emily. After her father died, Miss Emily did not go out much probably because of grief over the loss of her father. “Because her father is the only man with whom she has had a close relationship, she denies his death and keeps his corpse in her house until she breaks down three days later when the doctors insist she let them take the body” (A1). This statement demonstrates her inability to let go of lost ones.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While many of the city members hardly see Emily, they are taking an interest in her recent adventure to the market. This is atypical, as Emily normally has her slave Tobe go to the market for her. She is taking a step out her home to get the one thing that brings the town to their wits. Emily is making headway to purchase Arsenic, rat poisoning, the best they have in town. Arbitrarily enough, the city assumes Emily will commit suicide due to her unwed life and not barring children. Most people her age, in the 30’s, have both. So, they support their illusion of committing suicide, not knowing the true use of the product. Due to Emily’s adventure, their vigilance increases. It’s noted that Emily’s family has a history of suicide. Remarkably, the city assumes that she is crazy and that her “craziness is possibly inherited”(456) from her late aunt Lady…

    • 2036 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Grierson suffered from a mental illness that should have had appropriate medical treatment. In the time that this story was set, medical intervention was not readily available as it is today. If Emily Grierson was treated for her mental illness when her father had passed and she kept the body, her husband may have never been murdered. Emily loved people to death. She was obsessed with people and did not want to lose them, so she killed them and kept their body, until her death. She was insane.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily’s father considered themselves superior than others in town. . He believed none of the young boys were suitable for Emily, and always chased them away. Her father robs her from many of life's necessities. She misses out on having friends, a boyfriend, being a normal woman and her ability to be happy. This gradually erodes Emily’s chances of ever being married. He controlled her completely until his death, and even continued to control her from beyond the grave .After he died, Emily couldn’t admit he was dead and kept the dead body for 3 days. . Not only does Emily want to hold on to her father's legacy and exemptions, but she wants to hold on to his body--out of fear and denial. She feels protected by the name and reputation he affords her. At the time, no one thought she was crazy. "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" (Faukner 159) . By separating her so severely from the rest of the town when he was alive, going as far as to make sure she didn't have any lovers or a husband created a lonely, loveless, isolated life.…

    • 864 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story, Araby, the young boy who lived on North Richmond Street spent his time waiting for the sight of his friend Mangan’s sister. He was stunned by her beauty and watched her from a distance secretly, “Every morning I lay on the floor in the front parlour watching her door. … When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. … This happened morning after morning”(lines 32-37). It is clear that the boy believes in “love at first sight,” but does not bother to do much about it. He has hardly ever spoken to the girl, but he is blinded by her looks. After being asked about going to Araby, he can no longer think straight as he waits for the day to come. For instance, “At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came between me and the page I strove to read”(lines 74-75). The epiphany however, occurs when the boy is at Araby and finds no interest in it at all, “I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the more real”(lines 154-155). That is when the young boy experiences his epiphany. He had finally realized that he only loved her beauty, and knew nothing of her. For example, “Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger”(lines 159-160). He had gone to an extent of begging to go to Araby and…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    She never really got over being under her father’s wing. Emily became a woman known throughout town as a mysterious and secretive old woman, who’s later is pity on by the town and others around her. But which before her father death he rejected men in her life that she loved. That drew the conclusion that she would never find a man beside her father .Over the…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story “A Rose for Emily” is a very queer narrative. Emily’s inability to have someone leave her again caused her to murder a man. In this story Emily loses her father to death; despite her negligence. She also finds a charming man named Homer Barron who she starts to fall in love with. She knows Homer will leave her and she cannot let that happen; so she poisons him and sleeps with his dead body for 10 years. She did these awful things because of her inability to let go of the past that crippled her and made her go crazy.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Araby vs. "A & P"

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The boy in Araby is secretly in love with his best friend's sister who lives in his We only know about the girl based on what the boy thinks of her "Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance"(Joyce 729) but not what the girl thinks of the boy. The boy is shy "watched her from our shadow peer up and down the street. Every morning I lay on the front parlous watching her door.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though he doesn’t go into specific details besides the change of her appearances. It is obvious Miss Emily was depressed from the death of her father, and this is what leads her to withdraw from society. Miss Emily avoids any contact with anyone outside her house, and she never leaves the walls of her house unless it is necessary. Miss Emily had few callers and those townspeople who were dare to visit her was not received. The behavior that Miss Emily express towards society is a symptom of schizophrenia. Miss Emily was doing everything and anything to avoid the society she lived in. Although her contact with others was limited, when she was forced to interact with others, she does everything to avoid it. The narrator reports one episode, when the town got mailboxes, “Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them” (Faulkner 2165). She reacts in such inappropriate way, yet another example of schizophrenia. Miss Emily refuses the metal numbers above her door because she just wants to go against society and do things her way. She could care less about the metal number, she just wants to have all control over her house and her things. In her mind, Miss Emily always has the last word and the law did not apply to her. One example on how Miss Emily believes that the law does not apply to her is when…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    James Joyce - Araby Essay

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages

    On its simplest level, "Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, it is a story about the world he lives in that is full of ideals and dreams. "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy's quest for the ideal where the quest ends in failure, but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. The protagonist of the story lives through a particular sort of experience which reformulates him into a different person. He faces up the harsh reality for which his previous experience has not prepared him. The story shows how the impact of the neighborhood and culture of Dublin influenced the boy’s life ideas, and how the circumstances the boy had to face up with made the him revalue his attitude towards his life.…

    • 1125 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Analysis of Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily In “A Rose for Emily," written by William Faulkner’s. The narrator of this story has chosen to tell us it out of chronological order. As you start this story you get the feeling that you can relate it to a move.…

    • 1877 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Her appearance, face and her features all suggest a sort of dullness and stillness in her life. "She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another..." (29). The description of Emily and the features of her face provided by the author demonstrate the dry and deadly character of Emily more clearly. Miss Emily is also a very unsocial and isolated person. The over protecting behavior of her father and too many restrictions put upon her by him, had a great influence and impact in shaping her personality. She lacks the elements of active social life and art of communication in her life. Emily has an extremely proud and self-important disposition because of her family status. "She carried her head high enough- even when we believed that she was fallen" (32). This sentence portrays her aristocratic behavior and high attitude. Her aristocratic behavior isolates her more from the society, leaving her alone with her gradual death, her sole…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Araby, the protagonist, who is also the narrator, is a young boy who becomes attracted to a friend’s sister. He begins the story by describing his environment as dark and bleak, and later on speaks of Mangan’s sister with her figure being “defined by the light from the half-opened door.” In a literary analysis, Donschikowski (2006) writes, “His youthful imagination sees her always surrounded with light; she is the contrast to his dark world” (p. 12). He thinks of her all the time, although he does not fully know her, as he “had never spoken to her, except for a few casual words.” Every morning, he tries to get a glimpse of her and follows her on the way out until they have to go their separate ways.…

    • 1766 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays