Compare and Contrast Essay
The women in William Faulkner 's "A Rose for Emily" and Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's "The Yellow Wallpaper" are impelled to insanity because they are confined by the dominating male figures in their lives. The men in both stories use gender and social status as means of controlling these women. Isolation is also utilized by both men as a method of control which plays a major role in the mental instability of these women. The stories both take place in an era when women were seen as weak fragile individuals who were not able to think for themselves. Both women withdraw into their own individual worlds as a strategy of escaping the reality of the world they actually live in. In addition, these women rebel as a method of obtaining some sense of control over their lives. Although both women are detached from the world around them the consequence of
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Emily demonstrates this by refusing to follow suit with her immediate community. Emily 's refusal to have numbers placed on her house as well as pay her taxes are both indicative of her abnegation to comply with society as well as choices imposed on her by others. Similarly in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the woman who has been instructed to do nothing but rest and avoid any form of stimulation continues to write in secret, “And I know John would think it absurd. But I must say what I feel and think in some way—it is such a relief” (66), using that as a means of rebelling against her husband who believes he knows what is best for her and her fragile state. When she states, “And I 've pulled off most of the paper, so you can 't put me back!” this clearly demonstrates that she doesn 't need anybody to help her. That she is in control and does not have to comply with the limits placed on her by her husband or anybody else who believes they know better than she what is in her best
In the short stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Yellow Wallpaper”” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the protagonists experience mental illness, loneliness, feelings of being in control of their lives, and feelings of being insane. Both main characters struggle against male domination and control. The two stories take place in the late 1800’s - early 1900’s, a time where men’s place in society was superior to that of women. Each story was written from a different perspective and life experiences. “A Rose for Emily” was written by a man and told in third personal narration, while “The Yellow Wallpaper” was written by a female and told in first person.
“To jump out of the window would be admirable exercise, but the bars are too strong even to try,” (Gilman). There are an extraordinary number of stories written about women that go insane for certain reasons. Two of those stories are, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Both stories are about women who are driven insane by situations that are happening in their lives; both women turn to isolation for different reasons. Both A Rose for Emily by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner show similarities and differences in dysfunctional lives.
It is unhealthy for any human being to have a restraint on their mind or life. Naturally, a person will become unstable living under such circumstances. People need to express their imagination and live freely in order to remain mentally stable. There are ways to restrain people who need help without controlling and taking away every aspect of their life. Where the female “madness” starts is different with every woman, but there is no doubt that there are certain factors and conditions that develop and escalate the insanity. Jane and Emily in the short stories, “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, both prove to be victims of abuse from the male authority
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily uses setting, characterization, and figurative language to show us how old money is selfish and responsible with their money and how new money is selfless, but uses their money unwisely.
William Faulkner and Charlotte Gilman are two well known writers for intriguing novels of the 1800’s. Their two eccentric pieces, "A Rose for Emily" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" are equally alluring. These authors and their works have been well recognized, but also critized. The criticism focuses on the society that is portrayed in these novels. The modern readers of today’s society are resentful to this dramatic society. These two novels are full of tradition, rebellion and the oppression over women’s rights. Both of these novels share the misery of the culture, but there is some distinction between the two. "A Rose for Emily" is a social commentary while "The Yellow Wallpaper" is an informative novel about the writer herself. The authors outlook focus on the gloomy structure in society during that time frame and therefore, create down hearted, reckless characters that offer stimulation for women of all generations.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner both main characters are portrayed as irrational and are isolated from reality. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” murders an elderly man, as he is fearful of the man’s eye. Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily” lives secluded from society, until she marries a man, Homer. She ultimately kills Homer in his bed and leaves his body to decompose for many years. Both the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” deny reality so vehemently that they isolate themselves from reality. Their isolation and denial of reality cause both to commit murder.
When one faces a traumatic experience, his or true nature often reveals itself. Trauma forces its sufferers to cope. How one copes is directly linked to his or her personality. Some will push any painful feelings away, while others will hold onto pleasant memories. Both of these coping mechanisms can be observed in Katherine Anne Porter’s “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” In “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” and “A Rose for Emily,” the two protagonists’ prominent characteristics distinctly affect the way they cope with trauma and influence the short stories’ outcomes.To begin, Granny Weatherall is a prideful control freak. In contrast, Miss Emily is delusional and stubborn.
The story "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, is a story about control. In the late 1800's, women were looked upon as having no effect on society other than bearing children and keeping house. It was difficult for women to express themselves in a world dominated by males. The men held the jobs, the men held the knowledge, the men held the key to the lock known as society - or so they thought. The narrator in "The Wallpaper" is under this kind of control from her husband, John. Although most readers believe this story is about a woman who goes insane, it is actually about a woman’s quest for control of her life.
Emily’s isolation is evident because after the men that cared about her deserted her, either by death or simply leaving her, she hid from society and didn’t allow anyone to get close to her. Miss Emily is afraid to confront reality. She seems to live in a sort of fantasy world where death has no meaning. Emily refuses to accept or recognize the death of her father, and the fact that the world around her is changing.
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” are two short stories that incorporate multiple similarities and differences. Both stories’ main characters are females who are isolated from the world by male figures and are eventually driven to insanity. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” the unidentified narrator moves to a secluded area with her husband and sister-in-law in hopes to overcome her illness. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily’s father keeps Emily sheltered from the world and when he dies, she is left with nothing. Both stories have many similarities and differences pertaining to the setting, characterization, symbolism, and their isolation from the world by dominant male figures, which leads them to insanity.
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” and Sherwood Anderson’s “Hands,” both authors present main characters who isolate themselves after they are treated as objects of desire. In Faulkner’s work, Miss Emily is an outsider because she is dehumanized after becoming a victim of incest. Similarly, in Anderson’s work, Wing Biddlebadum is also dehumanized when he is beaten up by the town’s people after being accused of child molestation. In this way, both characters are outsiders in their haven because they are deprived of humane treatment.
In “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, Emily Geierson is a woman that faces many difficulties throughout her lifetime. Emily Geierson was once a cheerful and bright lady who turned mysterious and dark through a serious of tragic events. The lost of the two men, whom she loved, left Emily devastated and in denial. Faulkner used these difficulties to define Emily’s fascinating character that is revealed throughout the short story. William Faulkner uses characterization in “A Rose for Emily”, to illustrate Miss Emily as a stubborn, overly attached, and introverted woman.
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...
The theme of "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner is that people should let go of the past, moving on with the present so that they can prepare to welcome their future. Emily was the proof of a person who always lived on the shadow of the past; she clung into it and was afraid of changing. The first evident that shows to the readers right on the description of Grierson's house "it was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street." The society was changing every minutes but still, Emily's house was still remained like a symbol of seventieth century. The second evident show in the first flashback of the story, the event that Miss Emily declined to pay taxes. In her mind, her family was a powerful family and they didn't have to pay any taxes in the town of Jefferson. She even didn't believe the sheriff in front of her is the "real" sheriff, so that she talked to him as talk to the Colonel who has died for almost ten years "See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson." Third evident was the fact that Miss Emily had kept her father's death body inside the house and didn't allow burying him. She has lived under his control for so long, now all of sudden he left her, she was left all by herself, she felt lost and alone, so that she wants to keep him with her in order to think he's still living with her and continued controlling her life. The fourth evident and also the most interesting of this story, the discovery of Homer Barron's skeleton in the secret room. The arrangement inside the room showing obviously that Miss Emily has slept with the death body day by day, until all remained later was just a skeleton, she's still sleeping with it, clutching on it every night. The action of killing Homer Barron can be understood that Miss Emily was afraid that he would leave her, afraid of letting him go, so she decided to kill him, so that she doesn't have to afraid of losing him, of changing, Homer Barron would still stay with her forever.
In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along.