A rose for Emily

The characters in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner can relate to the characters in Plato’s “Myth of the Cave”. Both stories seem to not share any similarities at first glance, especially in regards to their settings and plots. However, the similarity of both stories lies within the characters. In both stories, the characters experience a sort of self-inflicted isolation. The state of unknowingly separating themselves from the outside world is a common trait shared between the prisoners and Emily. In Plato’s allegory, the prisoners are initially afraid to leave the cave for fear of what might lie beyond it. They truly believed that their lives as they consisted within cave to be the only reality. One can relate to this type of isolation. Plato was trying to show his audience how fear can sometimes lead us to conform to our current situations and never attempt to venture out of our comfort zone. Hence, because of isolation characters are preferred to stay in the underworld rather than venturing out to face reality. In Faulkner’s story, the main character, Emily, secludes herself in her house. The way she copes with reality is to create her own. In her home, she is secluded from the world and this makes her feel safe. Emily gets her sense of security through isolation. She refuses to leave her home; because she feels safe in the house and whatever she thinks is right inside, is her reality. The townspeople rarely saw Emily leaving her house and because of this she mostly described by her peers as a woman who was completely out of touch with reality. She gave them good reason for thinking that way. In order for Emily to maintain control of her property, she went to extremes. She managed to fool the authorities in the town by telling them a man named Colonel Sartoris who had been deceased for almost 10 years, made arrangements for Emily not to pay her house property taxes. Another incident was when Emily’s father passed away and she kept telling