Emily as “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (part 1…
In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily” Mrs. Emily Grierson is the most prominent character, illustrated by the narrator. Strong willed and determined, Emily’s performance has been characterized as strong and peculiar. The narrator touches on the fact that Emily could be intellectually insecure. In this short story Emily seems to be trapped in her ways, never wanting to seek the opportunity to develop her sense of knowledge or progress to alter the way she cooperates with the townspeople. This is demonstrated through countless situations in the story, the most significant being her denial of having to pay taxes, as she simply believes she do not have any. Further occasions…
The story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner has potential to be written in many different genres. Story has many characters with interesting and unique qualities which gives a person who wants to rewrite the story options to make up new scenarios and conflicts between characters.…
Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in A Rose For Emily, was so obviously insane that the main question is not if she is insane, but how. Of all the factors that should be taken into account and all the various manifestations of insanity she could have presented, there are some particular aspects of her behavior hold more certainty than others. The fact that nearly all of her life was lived privately, unviewed by anyone who could speak of it, the only knowledge of her behavior comes from her rare interactions with the townspeople of Jefferson. Having lived with only a corpse for company for more than forty years, almost all of her behaviors that were seen by the public were erratic, at the least. With insanity exhibited by her great aunt…
The death of Miss Emily Grierson was known to everyone in the town because she was the oldest person there. The story says that “our whole town went to her funeral; the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house” (Faulkner 133-134). Emily Grierson, decided to isolate herself from everybody after the death of her father. This is where the theme of the story comes into place, which would be isolation. As the story says in section three, the townspeople said “Poor Emily. Her kinsfolk should come to her” (Faulkner 138). The story said that she had some family in Alabama but they disagreed over what was to be done with the estate and they had not talked sense. Faulkner, describes her has to not venture outside often until she met a Yankee named. They would spend afternoons on Sundays much to the dislike of the…
In this paper, the story of William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”, I will illustrate how Emily Grierson was living in the past. Firstly, in the beginning of the story, the author’s detailed characterization foreshadowed the irony at the ending of the story. Secondly, Emily’s whole life and faith was controlled and twisted by her father’s selfishness and when her father died, she refused to give up her father’s dead body. Thirdly, she ignored all the public notice and tax collection that was sent to her. Fourthly, she turned her affection and desire to possess Homer that leads him to his death. Finally, the story that started the end of Miss Emily Grierson life was unfolded and the author suggests that Emily’s…
Later in this gothic story Emily Grierson dies (ultimately where the story begins), “our whole town went to her funeral” (Faulkner, 52). Few people had seen the inside of her house in the last decade. Once they buried Emily they quickly opened the upstairs, “which no one had seen in forty years” (Faulkner, 58). When the door was opened they found Homer Barron lying on the bed, decaying. Surrounded in a room full of unworn, unused wedding memorabilia. On the bed beside him was an impression of where a body once laid. On the pillow adjacent to his, “we saw a long strand of iron-grey hair” (Faulkner, 59).…
Emily is the typical outcast. She is controlling while at the same time she restricting the town’s way in to her true personality by keeping it concealed. Emily’s house protects her from the thoughts of the people that live around her, and the mind…
Emily’s home not only shows literal signs of decay, but it also represents decay in Emily’s way of life. The home is first described in the story as being “a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street”(287). Her home is described to readers by members of the neighborhood who have been in observance of its condition over a period of time. In this first statement readers may think that the townspeople are proud of the historic home but then they go on to say that, “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of the neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps- an eyesore among eyesores” (287). This quote gives readers insight into how the neighborhood really views Emily’s house. It shows that the neighbors view the home as not only an object of the past, but also as a constant agitation and blemish in their community. The neighbors then continue to tell readers about its physical decay by saying that her leather furniture was cracked, the formerly elaborate metals were tarnished, and that the…
“Alive, miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”(391) The social class and her father fettered not only her behavior but also everything of herself. Without him she could not do anything except stay at home. She had been isolated from the outside world and the people whose social class was lower than theirs. “only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores.”(391) Her house was on behalf of her personality that she was noble, solitary and traditionally. Emily's decaying appearance matches not only the rotting exterior of the house, but the interior as well. Staying far away from people, gradually, she could not know how to get along with others. Being restricted by her family fame, Emily became much more autistic and did things unusual.…
Her father left her little money but a prestigious name, which meant that people in the town treated Emily differently. They did not make friends with her, not due to the fact that they did not like her, but because she came from a prestigious family. She would not pay for her taxes due to the loophole found by the town mayor. Essentially he had "invented the tale, to the effect that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to the town, which the town preferred this way of repaying" (Faulkner 29). The townspeople did not go reach out to her and support her. As if it was karma due to the fact that she did not treat the townspeople with respect, she even gained and became poor. The townspeople understood "that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will"(Faulkner 31). They did not hold it against her that she had trouble handling this situation. Emily is given the "respectful affection of a fallen monument"(Faulkner 28).…
“The Griersons have prospered and built a fine home on the most select street in Jefferson, Mississippi”.In the short story “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner tells a story of a tragedy about a lady who grows up in a rich and powerful family, and then ends up poor and trapped in her old ways There is more than one cause for Miss Emily’s tragedy.…
Emily’s house that is very similar to her is a structure of a memorial, the only remaining of a symbolic representation of the past. The house “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores (pg204). The house is an extension of Emily. It is a tradition but now it’s out of place because of the society that has changed around her. The house, like its owner, is an object of interest for them. They create their own interpretations of the inside of Emily’s torn down house.…
Miss Emily was a clear representation of the South. She gives us a personal aspect of the struggles the South encountered and the attempts the South made to be stable. We’re introduced to Miss Emily after her death. People viewed her as a powerless, secluded, lady who never interacted with anyone, and never left her house. She was the depiction of change. Miss Emily was a young beautiful girl with a father that protected her from anything. He controlled her life in any way he could. He was literally “a spraddled silhouette in the foreground” (Faulkner 1070). Furthermore, after her father's death Miss Emily was thirty and alone. She was in denial for three whole days that her father was not dead. This is the literal representation of the South and it’s loss of control and how they denied it to be true…
At the very beginning of the story, when the narrator is describing the house in which Ms Emily lived, we get our first glimpse of symbolism. The way Faulkner describes the house, then and now, actually represents Ms Emily's life. The paint and color of the house represents Ms Emily's conscience. Earlier, the house is clean and white, pure. As time goes on the house becomes decrepit, and sullied, much like Ms Emily's conscience. The "select street" that she lives on in the earlier years, which later becomes infected and surrounded by cotton gins and garages, represents her place in society. While her father was alive, and sometime after he had passed, Ms Emily was considered high class. Suitors were deemed unworthy to claim her. As more and more tragedy strikes her life, people no longer envy, but pity Ms Emily. When Faulkner describes her house as "lifting…