Isolation in A Rose for Emily

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Isolation in A Rose for Emily

The year is 1852, Emily Grierson has just been born into the small town of Jefferson. A town she will soon discover has distinct hierarchial differences and social classes that are to be followed by everyone in her community. However this same community and the values which it holds will eventually be a key factor in determining Miss Emily's madness. "A Rose for Emily", tells the story of a woman who fails to live up to her high reputation and fitting in a community where almost everyone knows each others business. William Faulkner lets the reader into the life of Emily Grierson from two different key perspectives, man and woman. The men represent respectful affection towards Emily, while the women are just plain curious and enjoy gossiping behind her back. In this story Faulkner reveals how a community's actions, or in this case, lack of action can contribute to one's madness.

Faulkner opens "A Rose for Emily" with a lengthy fifty-six-word single sentence that shows the community's reaction to her death and describes the scene through gender differences. Although both men and women attend the funeral, they do so for very distinct reasons. Faulkner writes, "When Miss Emily died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant- a combined gardener and cook- had seen in at least ten years" (p.52-53). With this initial passage we see what motivates the townspeople to attend Emily's funeral. Although the men attend the funeral to show a sort of respectful affection, the reader gets the feeling that the men have attended because th...

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It is safe to say that there are a large number of factors that help contribute to Miss Emily's madness. Her father's over controlling relationship, is not a healthy one and does not really prepare her for dealing with relationships in the future. However, when her father dies she does not receive the support she deserves from the community, simply because of her high patriarchal status. She is not regarded as a real person, who has feelings just like anyone else, instead she is put on a pedestal that she can not live up to and like an old fallen monument she leaves the people of Jefferson behind, without having a friend or someone that even cared about her. Maybe if someone would have come to her in her time of need she could have received the help she desperately needed and maybe she might have lead a fulfilling, normal and enjoyable

life.

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