Insanity in a Rose for Emily
William Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi, who was praised for his novels and short stories, many whom take place in Yoknapatawpha County, fictitious setting based on where he spent most of his childhood, Lafayette County. Faulkner, regarded as one of the most vital writers of the Southern literature of the United States, was somewhat unheard of until being given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. He too received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for two other of his works. In 1931, he published his first short story, A Rose for Emily, in a national magazine.
The central plot of the story is very much about Emily’s stubborn attitude towards change. Before the Civil War, her father, who was from a wealthy and well known family, made a generous contribution to the Southern town, and as a gesture of gratitude, the mayor at that time sanctioned them from paying taxes. Even after her father’s death, she believed that this privilege was still granted. Overall, it was difficult for her to let go of the past and make way for the future, which was very common in the southern people of this time. Her unyielding behavior is also evident when she refuses to accept the death of her father, whom she was very attached to. He was very strict with his daughter, thus becoming the only man in her life, up until Homer Barron, who was Emily’s lover for quite some time. The town use to make up stories of their relationship, not really certain of what was, in truth, happening between them. In fact, they use to make up their own assumptions of Emily, making her out to have a spotless image, which was later conflicted when they finally got a bona fide view of her life. Nevertheless, later in...
... middle of paper ...
...proves that Emily was insane. It takes a mentally unhinged person to murder someone, but to actually keep the body for personal contentment is just excessively deranged.
In conclusion, Emily is presented as a very complex character that is exceedingly misunderstood by the people around her. She is unable to accept change in her life, causing her to live an isolated lifestyle that kept the townspeople intrigued by the little they knew of her, making them create their own naïve suppositions of who she was. Obviously, Emily had deep issues within herself that led her to act irrationally, but she kept it in the privacy of her own home. Clearly she understood that the things she did where not commonsensical, that there was something wrong with her, thus, she managed to keep all her monsters hidden in the closet, or in this case, the bedroom on the second floor.
Woman from town came over to visit and give there condolansis to her but shockingly Emily only said he was not dead. (pg98). This was a major point of the story were change is seen as a real problem for Emily. She kept her dad’s dead body in her home for three days teeling herself and everyone else that he was still alive. Eventally force had to be taken by the police and the body was put in a grave. It is not normal for someone to act like this but also her dad was all she ever knew. He ran off men and his own family, so when he died she went into a deep state of denial and refused to accept the fact she had lost the only person she loved.
...y feels she needs to kill in an attempt to keep control over her world. As George Orwell once said, “We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it” (Goodreads). Emily’s power came from the control she eventually achieved; she had no intentions of giving it up.
Without bluntly saying it, Faulkner, in several instances, hints that Emily has gone mad. At a few points in the story, the narrator mentions Emily's Great Aunt Wyatt, who "had gone completely crazy at last" (paragraph 25). This is the narrator's insinuation that insa...
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a southern gothic story first published in 1930. The story of Emily Grierson’s life parallels the struggle the South faced when breaking away from its antebellum past into modernity. The story is narrated collectively by the citizens of Jefferson—a seemingly average small southern town. The narrator tells the story of Emily Grierson—the town reclusive eccentric who died before accepting the changes brought forth from the post-civil war south. Emily Grierson is seen as a hereditary obligation by the town’s citizens. She is the object of discussion to the point of fanaticism. She is a relic of the old south who lives in a once grand manor that is now the eyesore of town. Like the house, Emily has gone from a young pretty maiden of the south with numerous suitors, to being a spinster—last seen ten years before. Emily has lost her domineering father, her last suitor and her old way of life. Her failure to change has caused isolation which has evolved into a macabre grasp at normalcy. This has left Emily’s life to succumb to decay—both literally and figuratively. The theme of the story is the fear of change can cause the human spirit to decay.
The evidence of Emily’s obsession with corpses implies that she is not mentally well as
William Faulkner (1897-1962) was a southern writer; he spent most of his time in Oxford, Mississippi. "A Rose For Emily" was a vehicle for him to write about the South and the old ways of the South. He was a well respected writer. In 1950 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. faulkner uses symbolism to make his message stronger. Faulkner uses symbolism as a way to repersent the qualities of the character, places and events in his work.
Emily Grierson, the only remaining member of the upper class Grierson family refuses to leave the past behind her even as the next generation begins to take over. Miss Emily becomes so caught up in the way things were in the old South that she refuses to pay her taxes forcing the Board of Aldermen to pay her a visit. Upon entering her home the men realize that her house is still heavily furnished with old leather furniture. Another indication that Emily is clinging to the past by refusing to throw away the furniture even though it is ragged and useless. “Page 1: They could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs...” Holding on to these possessions reminds Emily of the way things used to be before her father passed away. The narrator also gives the reader it's first clue that maybe Miss Emily isn't mentally stable “ Page 2: See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.” Emily replied to the men in regards to her non paid taxes even though Colonel Sartoris had been dead for over ten years. But why did Colonel Sartoris make up the false statement that Emily's father had loaned the town money in the first place? “ Page 1: Colonel...
It was hard for her mother to have a baby at a young age herself and try to make ends meet was not easy. She needed to lean on others for help, which she thought at the time was right thing to do, but got caught up on her new family. This is why Emily had so much resentment towards her mother. This story is a great example of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. The story does great job showing the mother’s anguish over her daughter, and a depressed teen that needed her mother and is struggling to overcome a very unhappy childhood.
This story takes place throughout the Reconstruction Era from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s in Jefferson, Mississippi. Emily was raised in the period before the Civil War. Her father who was the only person in her life with the exception of a former lover who soon left her as well raised her. The plot of this story is mainly about Miss Emily’s attitude about change. While growing up Emily was raised in a comfortable environment because her father possessed a lot of money. Considering that her father was a very wealthy person who occasionally loaned the town money Emily had everything a child could want. This caused Emily to be very spoiled and selfish and she never knew the value of a dollar until her father left her with nothing but a run down home that started to decay after a period of time. She began to ignore the surrounding decay of the house and her appearance. These lies continued as she denied her father’s death, refused to pay taxes, ignores town gossip about her being a fallen woman, and does not tell the druggist why she purchased rat poison. Her life, like the decaying house suffered from a lack of genuine love and care. Her physical appearance is brought about by years of neglect.
In his short story, “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner gives us a picture of female identity from a male point of view, showing compassion and forgiveness for his central character. Intriguingly, the writer uses the word “rose” in the title even though a rose does not exist in any part of his story; it has highly symbolic implications. Usually, the rose symbolizes love but in this case, it expresses a sympathetic attitude of society towards Emily. In reference to this story, Faulkner, in his interviews never admitted that the roses symbolized love. The story also focuses on the psychological exploration of the interior female world. Faulkner depicts the alienation of one repressed and isolated female in the South of the United States after the Civil War. Many themes might be explored in this short story, but a special interest is the focus on struggling to find love and the social interaction of a repressed female. The repression and isolation in the old Southern society causes degradation and dehumanization of Emily’s personality.
"Emily is exempted from the general indictment because she is a real lady-that is, eccentric, slightly crazy, obsolete, a ‘stubborn and coquettish decay,’ absurd but indulged; ‘dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse’; indeed, anything and everything but human" (Fetterley 195). In order to be a woman in the South, one must be of a certain character. Any form of decay cannot tarnish this role or character unless you wish to retreat from the consistent status presented to you. Emily was a true incarnation representing the scale that originates in classism. Her character, however, engulfed the women and led the innocence to death in life itself. This immortal figure was a constant shadow hanging over an area of confusion and tradition. A tradition, which allowed Emily to fall deeper into the abyss of retreat and unconsciousness until reality was seen as a complete dream, filled with foolishness.
Miss Emily is a woman who had the whole town wondering what she was doing, but did not allow anyone the pleasure of finding out. Once the men that she cared about in life deserted her, either by death or by simply leaving her, she hid out and did not allow anyone to get close to her. Miss Emily was indeed afraid to confront the reality that Backman discusses. Since she did not want to accept the fact that the people she cared about were gone, she hid in her house and did not go out. She was the perfect example of a woman alienated by a society controlled by men who make trouble for her instead of helping her.
Emily’s isolation is evident because after the men that cared about her deserted her, either by death or simply leaving her, she hid from society and didn’t allow anyone to get close to her. Miss Emily is afraid to confront reality. She seems to live in a sort of fantasy world where death has no meaning. Emily refuses to accept or recognize the death of her father, and the fact that the world around her is changing.
William Faulkner used indirect characterization to portray Miss Emily as a stubborn, overly attached, and introverted women through the serious of events that happened throughout her lifetime. The author cleverly achieves this by mentioning her father’s death, Homer’s disappearance, the town’s taxes, and Emily’s reactions to all of these events. Emily’s reactions are what allowed the readers to portray her characteristics, as Faulkner would want her to be
...er. Upstairs in her bedroom, lie Homer’s decomposed body wearing remnants of the suit she had purchased for him many years ago. The indentation of a head on the pillow case and the strand of gray hair next to the body, gives us the impression that Emily laid there before her death. These clues give the reader a second and final rectification that Emily had necrophilia.