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Murderous Mistress In William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner reenacts the life of a genteel Southern woman, Emily Grierson. Faulkner creates his own imaginary Mississippi county, Yoknapatawpha. Within this county, there lies the town of Jefferson, the setting for the story. Over the years, the Grierson family has declined in social standing because of their reputable standards, social isolation, and pretentious behavior. The fall of the Grierson family name comes about primarily because of their high moral standards. Since the Grierson family have had its roots well established since the town’s founding, they tend to firmly believe in their “Southern heritage” (Harris 171). This belief causes Emily’s father to strictly inspect anyone who shows an interest in his daughter. Mr. Grierson’s turns away any man whom he thinks to be inadequate because “none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily”(Beers and Odell 723). The townspeople begin to murmur when Emily turns thirty years of age and has still not married for they believe that surely she has not turned everyone down (Beers and Odell 723). After her father’s death, Emily locks herself inside of her own home. …show more content…
Miss Emily’s withdrawal is briefly interrupted when a Yankee, Homer Barron, begins working to repair the broken sidewalks of Jefferson. During her sudden reappearance, Emily is seen by the townspeople with Homer and think they are to be married--only to be surprised when Homer mysteriously disappears. After the supposed desertion of Homer, Emily becomes a recluse by closing the doors of her home forever (Beers and Odell 726). Emily secludes herself from the ever-changing outside world by “cooping herself up” in her own home (Harris 175). Although Emily isolates herself from the townspeople, she still retains her family's egocentric
William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily" is perhaps his most famous and most anthologized short story. From the moment it was first published in 1930, this story has been analyzed and criticized by both published critics and the causal reader. The well known Literary critic and author Harold Bloom suggest that the story is so captivating because of Faulkner’s use of literary techniques such as "sophisticated structure, with compelling characterization, and plot" (14). Through his creative ability to use such techniques he is able to weave an intriguing story full of symbolism, contrasts, and moral worth. The story is brief, yet it covers almost seventy five years in the life of a spinster named Emily Grierson. Faulkner develops the character Miss Emily and the events in her life to not only tell a rich and shocking story, but to also portray his view on the South’s plight after the Civil War. Miss Emily becomes the canvas in which he paints the customs and traditions of the Old South or antebellum era. The story “A Rose For Emily” becomes symbolic of the plight of the South as it struggles to face change with Miss Emily becoming the tragic heroin of the Old South.
Having been the only daughter of a noble family, Emily was overprotected by her father who had driven away all the young men wanting to be close to her. As a result of that, when she got to be thirty, she was still alone. It was Mr. Grierson who alienated his daughter from the normal life of a young woman. If she weren?t born in the Grierson, if she didn?t have an upper-class father, she could have many relationships with many young men in order to find herself an ideal lover. Then she might have a happy marriage life with a nice husband and children.
At first talking about the author can be essential to go through the topic. William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897. He became Famous from the set of novels that explore the South’s historical legacy, fraught and violent present. His works are usually rooted in his fictional city in the county of Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha. This setting which was the microcosm of the south he imaginarily knew it very well. He could look into as binoculars which he could go through the society and people. He was particularly interested in the moral implications in the history. It - “A ROSE for Emily”- was first published on April 30, 1930. This is the time of the high modernism with the rise of its elements. Faulkner once called it a “ghost story”. The story includes the tension between the US North and South, changing world order complexities, harsh social constraints for women. Shortly, this is a story of an unchangeable modern-time woman who draws the readers` attention into the portrait of aberrant psychology and necrophilia in the dank and dusty world of the protagonist, Emily Grierson (Azizmohammadi and Kohzadi 134).
The protagonist of this story is Miss Emily Grierson, an old maid spinster without family who becomes a “tradition” and a “sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 299). The story begins with the death of Miss Emily, so I will rearrange my analysis of the character to begin with what we first know about Miss Emily.
The narrator tells us the Griersons had always had always thought too highly of themselves and no doubt Miss Emily shared this opinion with her belated family. After her father's death she was the last of the Griersons. Therefore the responsibility of upholding the family name now lay with Miss Emily. Although her father left her with nothing but the house, Miss Emily did her best to keep up her appearan...
The short story, A Rose for Emily, took place in the southern town of Jefferson sometime in the beginning of the twentieth century. One could say that Miss Emily lived and died under certain circumstances that could compare to how the Confederacy lived and died as a result of the Civil War. Miss Emily could represent an extended metaphor for the Old South and its traditions and customs. Faulkner wrote her character and her appearance, the town, her relationship with the world, and even her home, to reflect the social background of the Old South, as defined as the time period between the Colonial Era and Reconstruction.
When her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for Miss Emily. The lines from the story 'She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days,' (Charter 171) conveys the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though, this was a sad moment for Emily, but she was liberated from the control of her father. Instead of going on with her life, her life halted after death of her father. Miss Emily found love in a guy named Homer Barron, who came as a contractor for paving the sidewalks in town. Miss Emily was seen in buggy on Sunday afternoons with Homer Barron. The whole town thought they would get married. One could know this by the sentences in the story ?She will marry him,? ?She will persuade him yet,? (Charter 173).
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line. William Faulkner introduces us to a number of characters but the most involved being Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Tobe, and the ladies of the town; who are not named individually. Emily Grierson was once a beautiful and wealthy upper class young women who lived with her father, who has since died, on the towns,
In “ A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the complex tale of a woman who is battered by time and unable to move through life after the loss of each significant male figure in her life. Unlike Disney Stories, there is no prince charming to rescue fallen princess, and her assumed misery becomes the subject of everyone in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the townspeople gossip about her and develop various scenarios to account for her behaviors and the unknown details of her life, Emily Grierson serves as a scapegoat for the lower classes to validate their lives. In telling this story, Faulkner decides to take an unusual approach; he utilizes a narrator to convey the details of a first-person tale, by examining chronology, the role of the narrator and the interpretations of “A Rose for Emily”, it can be seen that this story is impossible to tell without a narrator.
Emily had a servant so that she did not have to leave the house, where she could remain in solitary. The front door was never opened to the house, and the servant came in through the side door. Even her servant would not talk to anyone or share information about Miss Emily. When visitors did come to Emily’s door, she became frantic and nervous as if she did not know what business was. The death of Emily’s father brought about no signs of grief, and she told the community that he was not dead. She would not accept the fact that she had been abandoned because of her overwhelming fear. Emily’s future husband deserted her shortly after her father’s death. These two tragic events propelled her fear of abandonment forward, as she hired her servant and did not leave the house again shortly after. She also worked from home so that she never had a reason to leave. Emily did not have any family in the area to console in because her father had run them off after a falling out previously. She also cut her hair short to remind her of a time when she was younger and had not been deserted. Even though people did not live for miles of Emily Grierson, citizens began
Miss Emily's relationship with the town was damaged and unable to be fixed. She had connections to older generations that live in her town but, the new generation has not learned to like her as she hardly left her house, rarely making appearances. Miss Emily was not afraid to speak her mind when approached, even to the authority figures. “‘See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson!”’ (Faulkner 1). Miss Emily was very independent and was not a force to be messed with from being alone for so long,
In many of Faulkner’s stories, he tells about an imaginary county in Mississippi named Yoknapatawpha. He uses this county as the setting for his story “Barn Burning” and it is also thought that the town of Jefferson from “A Rose for Emily” is located in Yoknapatawpha County. The story of a boy’s struggle between being loyal to his family or to his community makes “Barn Burning” exciting and dramatic, but a sense of awkwardness and unpleasantness arrives from the story of how the fictional town of Jefferson discovers that its long time resident, Emily Grierson, has been sleeping with the corpse of her long-dead friend with whom she has had a relationship with.
In Faulkner’s tale “A Rose for Emily” there are many historical elements throughout the story; Faulkner uses them to give an authentic feel to the story and to add to the setting. A recurring theme that I found was reference to the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. The setting of the South after their demise in the Civil War adds character to the story and to the characters. The attitudes people had and the way people treated Emily with respect was a tradition of the “Old South” that is presented throughout this tale.
Emily continuously defies the social expectations of the south. Her fellow townspeople also find her peculiar before they even know what she does to people. Some of the women in town say horrible things about Emily because of certain things she does, like buying poison. The women say she is a disgrace and a bad example for young people. This statement proves whether she is aware of it, or not, that she is also a victim to her town, as well as a victim to her corrupt mind, and a victim of slander from her town’s members. It isn’t just townspeople expecting more of her, however. Her family judges her for who she chooses as a potential husband. Emily loves Homer but everyone else sees him and says “Poor Emily,” showing how she is victimized by many people.
Faulkner lives the majority of his life looking back and remembering the past, similar to Emily’s lifestyle in “A Rose for Emily”. Tracey Matthews, author of “Introduction to Faulkner, William (1897-1962)”, writes that “many of Faulkner’s novels and short stories are set in Yoknapatawha County, a fictional area reflecting the geographical and cultural background of his native Mississippi” (104). Never forgetting his home state of Mississippi, Faulkner loves to create fictional characters that live in a made up town in the south. This short story about insecurity and longing bring alive Faulkner’s passion for writing about obsessions. The author embraces modernistic literature in “A Rose for Emily” by exhibiting a changing community leaving many traditions as a thing of the