Set in the Reconstruction Era, when the South was forced to give up control of their power to the North after the Civil War, William Faulkner’s famous short story, A Rose for Emily, focuses on the human struggle for control, through the life of a southern aristocrat, Miss Emily Grierson. The town watches Miss Emily as she matures from a young girl to a mysterious old recluse. Miss Emily’s struggle can be described in a three part process where Miss Emily has no control of her world, then gains control, and is then finally faced with losing that control. The reader follows Miss Emily’s story from the town’s perspective and later discovers what length Miss Emily is willing to go to in order to maintain her control.
As a younger girl, Miss Emily has no control over her world. Instead, every aspect of Miss Emily’s life is controlled by her father. When describing a portrait of the two together, the narrator states, “Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground; his back to [Miss Emily] and clutching a horsewhip,” in order to give a description of the control Miss Emily’s father has over her (Faulkner 3). Miss Emily’s father stands in the front of the picture while Miss Emily remains behind him, which shows that Miss Emily’s father is clearly the dominant figure in their relationship. Dr. Xie Qun of the Zhongnan University of Economic and Law also suggests, “His turned back suggested his disregard for Emily’s emotional welfare” (Qun 67). The unblemished white color of Miss Emily’s dress conveys the idea that she is an innocent child. The dark “spraddled silhouette” that is being cast by Miss Emily’s father hangs over Miss Emily which suggests that Miss Emily is c...
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...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.
Works Cited
Dilworth, Thomas. "A Romance To Kill For: Homicidal Complicity In Faulkner's 'A Rose For Emily'." Studies In Short Fiction 36.3 (1999): 251. MAS Complete. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
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Owell, George. "“We Know That No One Ever Seizes Power with the Intention of Relinquishing It.”." Goodreads. Goodreads Inc, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
Qun, Xie. "Canadian Social Science." Analysis of the Changing Portraits in "A Rose for Emily" 3.2 (2007): 66-69. Print.
6. West, Ray B., Jr. "Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'." William Faulkner: Four Decades of Criticism. Ed. Linda Welshimer Wagner. Michigan State University Press, 1973. 192-198. Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1988. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 July 2011.
Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Taken from Abcarian and Koltz, "Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience." St. Martins Press. 1998.
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Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature and Its Writers. 6th ed. Boston, New York:
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 549-51. Print.
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...
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.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. 2nd
Faulkner, William. “A Rose For Emily.” An Introduction to Fiction. 10th ed. Eds: X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New Yorkk: Pearson Longman, 2007. 29-34.
Three key elements link William Faulkner's two short stories "A Rose for Emily" and "Dry September": sex, death, and women (King 203). Staging his two stories against a backdrop of stereotypical characters and a southern code of honor, Faulkner deliberately withholds important details, fragments chronological times, and fuses the past with the present to imply the character's act and motivation.
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.
Up to the very end of Miss Emily’s life, her father was in the foreground watching and controlling, and Miss Emily unrelentingly held on to the past. She went as far as keeping a loved one’s body locked upstairs in her home for years. While admiring her loved one’s body from up close and afar, she managed to maintain a death grip on the past.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter 5th ed. Ed. R.V.Cassill. New York: W.W. Norton & Comp., 1995.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose For Emily." The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Ed. Michael Meyer. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. 91-99. Print.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact 4th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 81 - 88.