A Good Man is Hard to Find and A Rose For Emily: Old Habits Die Hard A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor, and A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner, are two stories that reveal how the internal character and values of two individuals have long term consequences for themselves and those around them. Both O’Connor’s and Faulkner’s stories take place in the Southern United States during times when society was changing from what it once was in the South. The main characters inability to adapt to societal changes and overcome pride and personal biases, results in internal and external conflicts for themselves and others. Unfortunately, these conflicts, coupled with their arrogance, also lead to isolation and loss for them both. In …show more content…
Ever since she was a child, Emily and her family have always looked upon themselves as “a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner 302). Both women are trapped products of a by gone era, yet both refuse to move past old, arrogant attitudes and biases. Regrettably, for both of them, this character trait follows them until the end of their lives. Even though the grandmother strains to bring herself down to the Misfit’s level at the end, it is only in an attempt to save herself. Emily, on the other hand, does the opposite, and makes no attempt at all to associate herself on the same level as the townsfolk of Jefferson. Eventually though, she dies alone and destitute as …show more content…
In both stories, these women thought of themselves as respectable women of high reputation and honor. However, their views and attitudes showed their true pride and contributed to the struggles and conflicts that they found within their lives and with those around them. In both women’s lives, the environment and culture around them had changed and progressed into something that neither of them had completely accepted. The former traditions and attitudes of the South that were firmly ingrained into both of them is expressed when the Grandmother states, “In my time...people did right” (O'Connor 407). This pretentious attitude by the Grandmother contributed to her relational conflicts within her own family, whereas Emily’s likeminded attitude about the past can be seen when she continually insists that, “I have no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner 300). Her rationale for claiming such things was based on her insistence that the town authorities “see Colonel Sartoris,” the man who had tolerated Emily and even dismissed her tax debts in the past (Faulkner 300). Yet, Colonel Sartoris has also been dead for over ten years. This overall mindset, much like the grandmother’s, contributed to Emily’s ongoing conflicts with and isolation from the residents of
She is portrayed throughout the story as a hermit, only being seen outside her home a handful of times. In the beginning of the story, Miss Emily refuses to pay her taxes as she denies she has any taxes to pay. “ ‘See Colonel Sartoris.’ (Colonel Sartoris has been dead almost ten years.) ‘I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!’ The Negro appeared. ‘Show these gentlemen out.’ (Faulkner 31)” She believes that she is responsible for no taxes, as the Colonel stated that her father had lent money to the town years ago; however the townspeople still arrive at her home to collect the taxes. She tells them to ask the Colonel, though he has been dead for almost ten years. She refuses to acknowledge the reality around
Though, the ironies of the Grandmother arise from her own perceptions of her society, while Emily’s arise from the way she is perceived by her own society. Emily’s discord with change is because she does not understand social norms. The Grandmas resentment to change is because she is biased in her memories of the past, thinking that people valued the things that she values more in the past. Emily lived as the last legacy of her family, and with her death so did the antiquated virtues of the Grierson’s prime. It In the moment’s before the Grandmother’s death, she feels genuine compassion for the first time in her life: She finds grace. Portraying the overarching theme of death through unique circumstance and notions, both stories encompass death with chiefly the same
The end of the American Civil War also signified the end of the Old South's era of greatness. The south is depicted in many stories of Faulkner as a region where "the reality and myth are difficult to separate"(Unger 54). Many southern people refused to accept that their conditions had changed, even though they had bitterly realized that the old days were gone. They kept and cherished the precious memories, and in a fatal and pathetic attempt to maintain the glory of the South people tend to cling to old values, customs, and the faded, but glorified representatives of the past. Miss Emily was one of those selected representatives. The people in the southern small-town, where the story takes place, put her on a throne instead of throwing her in jail where she actually belonged. The folks in town, unconsciously manipulated by their strong nostalgia, became the accomplices of the obscene and insane Miss Emily.
In the end the greatest downfall is the grandmother trying to save her own life through shallow
William Faulkner and Flannery O’ Conner both have mischievous and morbid characteristics. In Flannery O’Conner’s story, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, the main focus is that the grandma is old fashioned and uses this to her advantage in telling stories and trying not to get killed. In William Faulkner’s story, A Rose for Emily, it focuses on Emily who is also old fashioned but can’t get with the present time and keeps holding onto the past. Both have morbid endings because of their lack of letting go on past events, and use their archaic habits in different ways. In A Rose for Emily, Emily shows multiple signs of not liking change by denying her father’s death, not leaving the house and in A Good Man Is Hard to Find; the grandmother portrays the right way of being a lady, and her jokes associating with the plantation and the Negro child.
On the one hand, all aristocratic, well bread southern ladies are married but on the other, Miss Emily believes she will relinquish what control of her life that she has gained by her father’s death. It is as if she is in a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation that the town and generation after generation has trapped her. She wasn’t going to have another lover walk out her life, so she poisoned Homer Barron before he had the chance to leave as no well bread southern woman is divorced. Faulkner used the evolving town to isolate Miss Emily as she portrays the aristocratic south, unable to move beyond the antebellum past to reach the future until
William Faulkner used indirect characterization to portray Miss Emily as a stubborn, overly attached, and introverted women through the serious of events that happened throughout her lifetime. The author cleverly achieves this by mentioning her father’s death, Homer’s disappearance, the town’s taxes, and Emily’s reactions to all of these events. Emily’s reactions are what allowed the readers to portray her characteristics, as Faulkner would want her to be
“But it can’t be read in these terms because the Old South and the new order are merely a part of the flavor and tone of the story, not poles of conflict” (O'Connor 528). Miss Emily’s relationship with the Old South makes her a part of the town’s nostalgia; it was not her being a “lady”, which caused her to be treated differently by the town’s board when she refused to accept her taxes; presumably even ladies paid their taxes in the Old South (O’Connor
One of the most notable literary elements in William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily” are the themes. There are many important themes, but the most prominent is the theme of tradition vs. change. Throughout the story, Miss Emily clings to the traditions and values of the Old South, and maintains the mindset of an aristocratic southern belle who is apprehensive to accept societal changes. The other older people in the town also share her old-fashioned attitude. Meanwhile, the younger generation of townspeople are somewhat progressive and have more contemporary attitudes.
After her father's death, the new south era occurred which was the time period after the civil war. This created the south to adopt more northern ways of living, but Emily wouldn't even pay her taxes to follow them. It says that in 1894 is when she refused to pay them so that gives the reader an idea of the time frame. This proves that Emily still honored her family's tradition of the old south. This explains the cultural diversity from the transition of the old south going into the new south and how it was hard for the people of the south to change.
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...