A Rose For Emily Death Essay

What role does the death of a loved one play in the evolution of a person’s character?

William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” portrays how death evolved an individual’s

character causing it to decay. The story has been weaved through past and present linking

instances to the very idea of protagonist’s decaying self. The short story narrates a story about an

unmarried woman named Emily who loses her father. Losing someone you love can be very

traumatic and unsettling hence explaining the alienation and isolation of Emily from the rest of

the world. The deep and emotional attachment to the only thing that contains the presence of the

lost loved one can be seen as a part of the individual making it hard to separate the

That is Emily’s house. The town’s attitude towards Emily begins to

negatively change as well. Initially, Emily’s family is well respected and admired. They are a

higher class family that live in a rich neighbourhood. Following the death of Emily’s father, her

taxes are remitted and the town feels bad for Emily. She herself, is a well respected woman with

a great reputation in the town. As previously described as Emily starts to decay, so does the

town’s views of her. It starts with the sheriff not recognizing that Colonel Sartoris remitted

Emily’s taxes, and yet she keeps receiving tax notices. When Emily tries to explain this to the

authorities, they make no effort to understand what she is saying. Emily was seen as “a sort of

hereditary obligation upon the town”. In other words, Emily was seen as a burden rather than a

contributing member. For this reason, some of the town members struggle to sympathize with

her. The town decaying represents the elimination of the old fashioned way of thinking that

Emily’s father and her house represents, and the birth of a new generation. The clinging link