Preview

a rose for Emily by William Faulkner and Paul's case by Willa Cather

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
345 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
a rose for Emily by William Faulkner and Paul's case by Willa Cather
recia Quintero
02/19/2013
ENC-1102
Mrs.Fernandez
Misunderstood

In Willa Cather’s story, “Paul’s Case,” Paul suffered setbacks and dilemmas because he never knew his mother as she died around the time of his birth. Therefore, he is lacking that maternal guidance of emotional stability that every child needs to grow mentally. Paul is withdrawn from society, and he resorts to the arts and music to feel comfortable and free from his disassociation and sense of loneliness. In ‘A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily is limited from society for the majority of her life by her father, so after he has died, she longs for relations that ironically her longing destroys. The sadness and obsession radiated throughout the story portray the difficulty at hand.

While Paul lives in an ordinary active neighborhood, he does not really participate socially. For example, “on the last Sunday of November Paul sat all the afternoon on the lowest step of his stoop, staring into the street” (23). This represents lack of interest of his neighborhood. Paul is clearly out of place and isolated while, “the burghers of Cordelia Street always sat out on their front stoops and talked to their neighbors” (22). Paul does not want to comply to the lifestyle of Cordelia Street of which his father wants him to follow.

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.

Paul was constantly compared to a young man “whom it was his father’s...

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
  • Better Essays

    Paul's Case

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Paul’s distaste for conformity is shown throughout the story. It is seen in his observations of people and their routines, though primarily his distain is most overtly displayed through his hate for his home. Cordelia Streetis characterized as conformist in nature as all the houses and their residents are identical. Paul openly critiques the mundane nature of his home and his feeling of entrapment within it. “Paul never went up Cordelia Street without a shudder…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    While Paul lives in an ordinary active neighborhood, he does not really participate socially. For example, “on the last Sunday of November Paul sat all the afternoon on the lowest step of his stoop, staring into the street” (23). This represents lack of interest of his neighborhood. Paul is clearly out of place and isolated while, “the burghers of Cordelia Street always sat out on their front stoops and talked to their neighbors” (22). Paul does not want to comply to the lifestyle of Cordelia Street of which his father wants him to follow.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” carries a theme represented by a dying breed of that era, while using symbolism to represent tragedy, loneliness and some form of pride, the story also shows how far one will go to have the approval of others and the pursuit of happiness.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 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
  • 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

    As she is growing up, he will not let anybody near his precious and beautiful daughter, which leads the town to undertake the notion that “none of the young men are quite good enough” for lovely Miss Emily. Mr. Grierson is a controlling, looming presence, whom Emily becomes very attached too. He dies when Emily is nearly thirty, her only companion gone. Devastated and alone, she turns into an object of pity for the townspeople. When Emily’s father dies, Emily "clings to that which robbed her", continuing her reclusive isolation and living a cloistered life. She was alone for the very first time and her reaction to this situation was seclusion. Her strong bond to him is so severe that after his death, she denies he was dead, thus proving the point that Mr. Grierson has a lasting effect on Emily that contributes to her isolation. His influence was simply just too virulent and too furious to…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I Stand Here Ironing” Responses to questions: 1. The narrator is not a good mother because she does not care about Emily’s future. The narrator is the mother of Emily, Susan, and Ronnie. She says that the father of Emily left her “[…] before [Emily] was a year old” (paragraph 55).…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Miss Emily’s father plays a vital role in the development of her character that leads to her loneliness and isolation.…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    This strange incident hints at Miss Emily's strange relationship with death and her inability to let go—even when life has gone from her loved ones.…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay: a Rose for Emily

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages

    After the death of Emily’s father, the reader starts seeing how she cannot go through the stages of grief. Emily starts out with not showing grief over the death of her father. Then the reader sees Emily is unable to except that her father is dead. When the town people come to console Emily, “She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days…Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly” (Faulkner, 2012, p. 86). The reader can see Emily’s coping skills are not age appropriate or situational appropriate.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss Emily faces the biggest challenge in “A Rose For Emily” where the grief of losing someone consumes her life. In this story, Miss Emily is a big mystery to everyone in the town. Her idolized father had always stowed Emily away from the rest of the world in efforts to protect her and try to land her a perfect life. However, when his death came Miss Emily was in shock and is even left to pay off his taxes. When the ladies of the town came to her house to make arrangements, “Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face,” to suggest that she is not greatly affected by the loss of her father (Faulkner 469).…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the beginning the character Emily is portrayed as a cherished “fallen monument” that has left the town. The town holds her up as a respected figure that gets passed from generation to generation with the traits of being “dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” However, Emily is constantly confined throughout the story, first by her father and second by her community. Her relationship with her father is one that depicts the male dominated south, where her father maintains complete control over her life until his death. Because of this domination by her father, Emily seeps into physical isolation. The physical isolation then becomes a symbol for the slow disappearance of the previous culture Emily can’t seem to let go. Throughout…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rose for Emily

    • 629 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Miss Emily is first brought to life on page 85 where she is described as “a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain… leaning on an ebony cane”, the passage goes on to talk about her skeleton being small, and perhaps that’s why she looked obese, bloated, and that her eyes looked like “small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough”. Her voice is then said to be dry and cold. These words used to describe to Emily give one an impression that she is not a warm, welcoming, lady, but instead almost cold hearted and removed. The author continues to paint her this way as she is described only as a figure in a window and motionless in the shadows. The shadows and grim detail chosen to portray her bring mystery to Miss Emily as well as darkness.…

    • 629 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Rose for Emily

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As the story continues, Emily’s father dies and she refuses to admit that he is dead and was eventually forced to give up his body for burial. In the end, we find out that the corpse of Miss Emily’s lover was also found undisturbed after she had poisoned him in the belief that he was going to abandon her. The unwillingness to accept the death of her father and the actions of Miss Emily’s behavior leading to the shocking finding of her lover’s corpse all support Emily’s resistance to change, her sense of entitlement, and her need to feel in control of her immediate…

    • 355 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays