Southern Gothic Genre In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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“ A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is apart of the southern gothic genre because both the protagonist and her father fear abandonment throughout the story and go to drastic measure to keep this fear from becoming a reality. This classifies “A Rose for Emily” as being southern gothic literature because these types of stories typically ignore societal constraints which allow the characters use drastic measures to accomplish their goals. Emily Grierson’s father was terrified of his daughter abandoning him. Although he was not as extreme in his methods as Emily, he did ensure that she would never leave him. Faulkner writes that “[The townspeople] remembered all the young men her father had driven away” (716). By driving every possible match …show more content…

She began by showing fear that her would abandon her when she bought arsenic. Miss Emily said, “I want the best you have. I don’t care what kind” (Faulkner 717). This implies that even if she was not externally showing it, she was feeling frantic and had not fully thought through the plan but felt it was necessary to have something that would keep Homer with her forever. She then began to show signs that she was devolving by buying gifts that were typically for a wedding. It is said that the townspeople “learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver; with the letters H.B on each piece . . . she had bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing” (Faulkner 718). They incorrectly deduced that Homer and Emily were married, although that is probably what Emily wanted to happen so he could not abandon her. However, at this point, he is probably already dead because he is found in bed and she bought him a nightshirt. Emily’s breaking point probably came because Homer would not marry her as he he admitted that “he was not a marrying man” (Faulkner). Emily saw this as a sign that he would eventually abandon her, so she took away his ability to do

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