Grief & Gossip: Analysis of A Rose for Emily
Grief and Gossip
In William Faulkner’s work, A Rose for Emily, he speaks of a small town where a woman is presumed to be “mysterious” and “crazy.” Today, there are tragic stories of women who kill their husbands on the news and vice versa. Cases like these usually include fatal attraction, greed and adultery. By the end of these stories, these women are depicted as insane or psychotic that had a motive whether it was for money or for a lover. Like these women, it is suggested that Miss Grierson is a potentially psychotic for having a man’s body in her house for some time but there are justifiable reasons for her behavior. In Faulkner’s essay, themes of grief, gossip and abandonment contribute to the idea that Miss Grierson is a sane woman.
Generally, everyone deals with grief differently. Some people might deem it best to move and throw away everything regarding the reason for grief; others may want to stay in the same place and hoard everything for memorabilia until they have departed from this life. In the beginning of Faulkner’s essay, Miss Grierson was grieving when her father passed away. She was at first in denial of her own father’s death; she told everyone that he simply was not dead. One could say that thinking a thought like this is plain insane because the evidence was right in front of her. What people might not know is that this is one of the many stages of grief. It was normal for Miss Grierson, like any other person, to feel as though her father’s death had not happened. Another stage of grieving is isolation. The narrator acknowledges that “After her father’s death she went out very little;” Miss Grierson stayed home and only came out if she absolutely needed to. Being isolated and alone probably did not help her state of mind, but at that point in time she felt that was the easiest and most sufficient way to deal and cope with the passing of her father. Just like denial, isolation after a loss, especially the loss of an immediate family
In William Faulkner’s work, A Rose for Emily, he speaks of a small town where a woman is presumed to be “mysterious” and “crazy.” Today, there are tragic stories of women who kill their husbands on the news and vice versa. Cases like these usually include fatal attraction, greed and adultery. By the end of these stories, these women are depicted as insane or psychotic that had a motive whether it was for money or for a lover. Like these women, it is suggested that Miss Grierson is a potentially psychotic for having a man’s body in her house for some time but there are justifiable reasons for her behavior. In Faulkner’s essay, themes of grief, gossip and abandonment contribute to the idea that Miss Grierson is a sane woman.
Generally, everyone deals with grief differently. Some people might deem it best to move and throw away everything regarding the reason for grief; others may want to stay in the same place and hoard everything for memorabilia until they have departed from this life. In the beginning of Faulkner’s essay, Miss Grierson was grieving when her father passed away. She was at first in denial of her own father’s death; she told everyone that he simply was not dead. One could say that thinking a thought like this is plain insane because the evidence was right in front of her. What people might not know is that this is one of the many stages of grief. It was normal for Miss Grierson, like any other person, to feel as though her father’s death had not happened. Another stage of grieving is isolation. The narrator acknowledges that “After her father’s death she went out very little;” Miss Grierson stayed home and only came out if she absolutely needed to. Being isolated and alone probably did not help her state of mind, but at that point in time she felt that was the easiest and most sufficient way to deal and cope with the passing of her father. Just like denial, isolation after a loss, especially the loss of an immediate family