“A Rose for Emily" is a story about physical and emotional isolation. In this story, it provides the readers with how humans can become isolated from family, the community in which they live, by tradition, the law, the past, and by their own actions and choices within life. The story focuses mainly on isolation and people who isolate others. There are many characters in the story that have a significant role to play. Emily, Mr. Grierson (Emily’s father), Tobe (Emily’s servant), and Colonel Sartoris play a significant role to the story’s purpose of demonstrating isolation and its effects. Emily is considered an outside, because she is limiting the town’ involvement in her life. The house that safeguards Emily from the world proposes the mind …show more content…
Tobe was the only connection that Emily has to the outside world. Tobe cares for and tends to Emily’s needs for many years. After Emily’s death, he walks out the back door and never returns (Faulkner). In "A Rose for Emily”, Tobe takes the strongest part of human suffering. Tobe is a "old man-servant – a combined gardener and cook", and he is black (Faulkner). During this time in history, people still believed in black and white separation. Tobe contributed his entire life to the attention of Miss Emily. Tobe, guarded her privacy from the snooping eyes and ears of the town. Tobe is what helps Miss Emily survives, even eating at times was all because of Tobe. Assumption by the reader, that Tobe was the person that informed the town when Miss Emily died. Besides the fact, Tobe keeps Emily alive and well, the reader is not provided with any more information about Tobe. His involvement in the murder of Homer Barron and the horrific vigil that Emily keeps at Homer Barron's bedside is never mentioned. Even though he most likely knew about the corpse in the upstairs bedroom(rose). Tobe splits town immediately after Emily's death. The reasons for his actions was a fulfillment of his duty towards Emily or to avoid being questioned about Emily’s …show more content…
After the death of Emily’s father, Colonel Sartoris pardons Emily of any tax responsibilities. His benevolent kindness is not noticed by the town leaders. Initially, the Colonel is the person who thought of the arrangement to release Emily of her tax responsibilities when her father died, which was a nice thing to do. But, the Colonel is also the guy who "fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron" (Faulkner). The Colonel was not nice regarding this racist statement. Discrimination and prejudice was normal when it came to turn-of-the-century Southern political figures, and the narration of "A Rose for Emily" does not cross-examine the Colonel's
This passage displays a tone of the men’s respect and sense of protection toward Emily, which is very different from the other women’s reaction to her death. It also shows the reader that Emily was honorable in the eyes of the men of the town. We have seen this need to protect women throughout history, but in recent years there has been a great decline and it is sad.
For years Miss Emily was rarely seen out of her house. She did not linger around town or participate in any communal activities. She was the definition of a home-body. Her father was a huge part of her life. She had never...
Isolation dominated the seventy four-year life of Emily Grierson in 'A Rose for Emily' by William Faulkner. Never in this story did she live in harmony with anyone one short time. Even when she died at age seventy four, people in Jefferson town rushed into her house not because they wanted to say goodbye forever to her, but because they wanted to discover her mystic house. Many people agreed that it was the aristocratic status that made Emily?s life so isolated. And if Emily weren?t born in the aristocratic Grierson, her life couldn?t be alienated far away from the others around her.
The first indication Faulkner gives the reader as to Miss Emily?s instability is towards the end of the first section which describes how several members of the Board of Alderman call upon Miss Emily in an effort to collect her taxes. Faulkner points out earlier in the same section that ten years ago in 1894, Colonel Sartoris, the Mayor of Jefferson at the time, remitted Miss Emily?s taxes following the death of her father. The board members are admitted to the Grierson home where, after listening to the reason for their visit, Miss Emily first suggests that they ?. . .gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves? (89). It is only moments later, after a brief exchange with these city authorities, that Miss Emily further advises them to ?See Colonel Sartoris? (Faulkner 89). The narrator then adds that the colonel has been dead almost ten years, which is Faulkner?s first clue to readers that Miss Emily is perhaps a bit delusional or confused.
After being reclusive for decades, Miss Emily dies in her dusty house at age 74 (305). After her burial, they force entry into the “room in that region above the stairs which no one had seen in forty years” (306). They find the “bridal suite” and remains of Homer laying “in the attitude of embrace” along with evidence that Miss Emily had also been in that bed with him (306). Readers believe that Emily kills Homer with the arsenic. In her mind, she is not going to allow him to leave her. She prefers to have him dead in her house, rather than gone
Additionally, it is through this stereotype that the town perpetuates Miss Emily as someone with little control. The belief in Miss Emily’s passive personality, appears to be supported through the contrasting behavioral stereotype of “male-dominance” in her father. For instance, while alive, Mr. Grierson governed Miss Emily’s decisions, specifically that of who she would marry, so as to place her “in the background” and consequently, promote Miss Emily in a subservient role (Faulkner 1350). However, in the same way that a stereotype is an oversimplified, unrealistic image, the full depth and truth of Miss Emily’s identity is similarly reduced (OED 1). For instance, despite evidence that Miss Emily is not regimented to the female stereotype, as seen through observations of her hair like that of an “attractive man,” and the fact that she is Head of the Grierson house (a classically male role), while conversely, her male servant, Tobe, does the cooking and cleaning (a classically female position), the town continues to see her as “poor Emily,” someone weak and meant to pity (Faulkner 1352. 1350. 1351). It is not until the end of the text when the murder of Homer Baron is revealed, that the town becomes aware of Miss Emily’s true propensity to control and are forced to re-contextualize their understanding of her (Faulkner 1353). Likewise, by continuing to see Miss Emily through the impressions projected by her father, rather than the elements of contradiction provided, the town solidifies self-deception so as to be inadvertently
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).
As time went on pieces from Emily started to drift away and also the home that she confined herself to. The town grew a great deal of sympathy towards Emily, although she never hears it. She was slightly aware of the faint whispers that began when her presence was near. Gossip and whispers may have been the cause of her hideous behavior. The town couldn’t wait to pity Ms. Emily because of the way she looked down on people because she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and she never thought she would be alone the way her father left her.
Miss Emily’s isolation is able to benefit her as well. She has the entire town believing she is a frail and weak woman, but she is very strong indeed. Everyone is convinced that she could not even hurt a fly, but instead she is capable a horrible crime, murder. Miss Emily’s actions range from eccentric to absurd. After the death of her father, and the estrangement from the Yankee, Homer Barron, she becomes reclusive and introverted. The reader can find that Miss Emily did what was necessary to keep her secret from the town. “Already we knew that there was one room in that region above stairs which no one had seen in forty years” (247).
At the beginning of the story when her father died, it was mentioned that “[Emily] told [the ladies in town] that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (626). Faulkner reveals Emily’s dependency on her father through the death of her father. As shown in this part of the story, Emily was very attached to her father and was not able to accept that fact that he was no longer around. She couldn’t let go of the only man that loved her and had been with her for all those years. While this may seem like a normal reaction for any person who has ever lost a loved one, Faulkner emphasizes Emily’s dependence and attachment even further through Homer Barron. After her father’s death, Emily met a man name Homer, whom she fell in love with. While Homer showed interest in Emily at the beginning he became uninterested later on. “Homer himself had remarked—he liked men” (627) which had caused Emily to become devastated and desperate. In order to keep Homer by her side, Emily decided to poison Homer and keep him in a bedroom in her home. It was clear that she was overly attached to Homer and was not able to lose another man that she
Emily ultimately resists social conformity when she passes away. Between the time when Homer disappeared and Miss. Emily’s death, she never left her house. The community would only see her negro servant enter and leave the house. During this time Miss. Emily fell ill and soon pasted away. She died in the downstairs bedroom that was filled with dust and mold. When her cousins came to host her funeral, they noticed the upstairs in her house was boarded shut and had not been seen by anyone expect Miss. Emily in forty years. They waited until after her funeral before they opened the upstairs. They were shocked when they found a dead mans body lying in the upstairs bedroom. Faulkner said, “What as left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt” (Faulkner, 7). They soon realized the dead body belonged to Homer Barron. After a closer look they noticed the pillow next to his still had the indention of a head, and they “saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner, 7). By seeing this gray hair, they realize Miss. Emily killed Homer, and had been sleeping with him every night. Miss. Emily killed Homer to trap him from leaving her, like she expected him to do. This was Miss. Emily’s was of ultimately resisting
Throughout the story, the reader is told about her overbearing father, her reluctance to change her ways for the town of Jefferson, and her new love interest Homer Barron. With hints of foreshadowing and learning about Miss Emily’s past problems with letting her deceased father go, the reader finds the story ending at her funeral with the discovery of the body of Homer Barron kept in her house. Miss Emily did not want to lose her new love, so she poisons him and keeps his body around, letting her maintain a relationship with him even though he has passed on. Characters:.. Emily Grierson – A young southern belle who adored her father and became a shut in after his passing.
In conclusion, this tale, especially through its use of Emily, the rhetorical, perfect, but still strong, symbol, tells us more about ourselves and our lives than a similar story with true, individual characters could. By using these ultimate examples, each reader is able to see the truth behind them and, therefore, learn a bit about life and the actions which people take. Although Emily is a symbol, she still exhibits a marvelous quality of strength, regardless of her lack of individuality.
Emily was kept confined from all that surrounded her. Her father had given the town folks a large amount of money which caused Emily and her father to feel superior to others. “Grierson’s held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner). Emily’s attitude had developed as a stuck-up and stubborn girl and her father was to blame for this attitude. Emily was a normal girl with aspirations of growing up and finding a mate that she could soon marry and start a family, but this was all impossible because of her father. The father believed that, “none of the younger man were quite good enough for Miss Emily,” because of this Miss Emily was alone. Emily was in her father’s shadow for a very long time. She lived her li...
A Rose For Emily portrays two important conflicts, which are encountered by the reader. There are different conflicting situations that can be seen in Faulkner’s story. The most notable conflicts are man vs. man, and man vs. himself conflicts. The man vs. himself conflict is the most prominent in the story, than the man. vs. man conflict. The conflicts are well displayed by the protagonist where she struggles with her personal desires against the society. Emily lived a life of isolation whereby her father secluded her from the rest of the world. She struggled with everything in her life first her narcissistic father, the isolation from the rest of the society, her father’s death, and now her lover who wants to run away from her. Seeing that her life was falling apart, she robs Homer her life just like her father robbed her teenage life, and later own she dies too. A Rose For Emily reveals conflicts one can have within himself, the people around him, and the environment. Emily’s life was a li...