Character Analysis Emily Redo Copy

Larice Sullivan
English 1102-115
Professor McNamara
September 5, 2014
Character Analysis of Emily in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily
In the story A Rose for Emily, I think the main character Emily made fairly unjust choices. The one just choice she did make was to not pay her taxes because according to the previous Mayor, they were remitted. I feel like she was reasonable for not paying them because the town had made an arrangement with her and everyone in the town knew she didn’t pay taxes and the town took care of her, it was tradition and she was right to say “I have no taxes in Jefferson.”
Emily’s other actions were not wise or just. She quickly fell in love with a man and became attached to him. That is when the town became happy for her because in those times someone her age should have been wed. However, when the town and Miss Emily realized Homer wasn’t a marrying man and she reacted by poisoning him because she wanted to control him and didn’t want Homer to leave her. She did what she thought was right to make her happy but it only ended up being one of her unwise decisions
Emily’s motivation is having control over people in her life. When she was younger, her father had control over her and may have been abusive and when he died Emily was able to control him at that point, which is why she didn’t want to give up the dead corpse. I feel like she may have been Necrophilia and had a sexual attraction to dead bodies and wanted to control people, which she basically did in the house after he father died. She controlled her father when he died, she controlled Tobe who was like a dead man while he was a servant, and after she poisoned Homer, she controlled him.
Emily’s behavior greatly affected her servant Tobe. Tobe was obligated to Emily since he was a slave. Emily might have mentally enslaved Tobe as well, by convincing him that he didn’t belong in the outside world. He remained mute, kept to himself and remained in the house with her until she died. When Miss Emily died, he quickly departed and was free of her control.
The repeated use of the saying “Poor Emily” shows that the Emily got most of the towns’ people’s sympathy, which may have been what she wanted so she could control the town. She was “a tradition, a duty, and a care", they knew they had to care for her and she was always the talk of the town. She controlled their minds and gained their sympathy.
Emily is associated with a rose which is a symbol of love and portrays endless love and beauty, even when dead. This can be associated with Emily because when Homer was alive, she loved him and had the beautiful love she wanted. When he died, she still slept with him and loved him, she had he endless love since he would remain with until she died.
Emily was desperate for endless love, when she bought the poison, she didn’t say what she needed the poison for. If you read between the lines and try to interpret her reasons for needing the poison, you eventually come to realize she was going to use it to poison Homer because he wouldn’t marry her and love her like she wanted him to. So she quietly and secretly did what she had to get him to stay. Emily is a round character because she goes from being loveless and lonely to a sympathetic adorer. In her past she lost her loved ones. In the end she finds a way to keep the love of her life from disappearing like the rest. Even though Emily refuses recognize the changing world around her, she still changes and this makes her change drastic because she wants things to stay frozen in time.
Faulkner states that the "rose" was the story itself, the story is a salute to Emily. She never had a live of her own because it was at first controlled by her father. She reacted by taking control of her lover. Given her circumstances, this was the best ways he could do thing, in Faulkners opinion.