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Brandon Mays
Ms. Gilliam
English 112
October 20, 2014
LOVE
In William Falkner’s “A Rose for Emily” he tells a story of love and tragedy. A story of how love is affected by several aspects of a persons’ life. In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” it is also a story of love and tragedy. This story has more of a religious feeling to it and offers a view of love in an abusive relationship. The main characters in each story are very different but similar in some ways. They both wanted love in different ways and love for them changes over time. They are unique stories and very symbolic overall. Love can be defined in many different ways, as a strong emotion or affection for someone or an object. Loves definition really depends on the person feeling
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Sykes treats Delia as a sulky teenage boy would treat his mother. With no respect for her, along with emotional, mental, and physical abuse. He still expects her to take care of him like a teenager. Sykes also openly cheats on Delia in public with a less attractive over weight woman. He could find bigger women attractive because he associates bigger women with a maternal figure. He also states in the story that he hates skinny women during an argument with Delia. “Gawd! How ah hates skinny wimmen!”(Hurston 733). Sykes is also dependent on Delia financially because he gambles away his money. This helps fuel his anger and resentment towards her. Enough to even want to kill her because he knows Delia will not leave the house she has worked so hard paying for easily. The men in town even gossip about the abuse Sykes does and type of man they think he is. “There’s plenty of men dat takes a wife lak dey do a joint uh surgar-cane. Its round, juicy, an’ sweet when dey gets it. But dey squeeze an’ grind, squeeze an’ grind wring tell dey wring every drop uh pleasure dat’s in ‘em out. When dey’s satisfied dat dey is wrung dry, dey treats ‘em jes lak dey do a cane-chew. Dey throws em away” (Hurston 734). Any man is capable of treating Delia as Sykes treats her. Even though the men in town gossip about the miss treatment, none of them mention ever helping Delia. Delia is starting …show more content…
The story takes place post-Civil War when things are starting to change. Her father turns down every suitor for Emily to marry as he sees them as not good enough for his daughter. This takes away Emily’s childhood, she is never able to experience any real kind of relationship or any other love besides her fathers. The reads are left to believe that maybe her father is abusive and or uncaring. Also that her mother may be dead or generally not in the picture at all. There is a lot of mystery left to the readers to assume on their own. The story is told from the perspective of the town and it never really mentions any certain person or narrator. It starts out with Emily’s’ funeral, “When miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women out of curiosity to see the inside of her house , which no one save an old man-servant—a combined gardener—had seen in at least ten years” (Falkner 714). It starts with Emily’s death and then goes back in time to her father keeping her secluded, up until his death. The town felt sorry for her after her father’s passing, she was left with nothing but a house, a servant and no man to marry. It took her 3 days to give up her father’s dead body, unable to come to terms with his death. “The day after his death the ladies prepared
In “A Rose for Emily” Miss Emily Grierson faces the struggle of living a life in the shadow of her father. The earliest is instance is alluded on page 120, where she is a figure in the background with father “in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip.” While this story is set in the time of horse and buggy, his domineering image and the whip bring to mind a girl who was under constant threat of a beating. Her father also isolated her by chasing off any suitors as not being good enough for her (Faulkner, 123). Her father had a fallout with family over her great aunt’s estate so she is left her isolated from her any of her kin (Faulkner, 125). When her father dies it is his death seems to be the stress that pushes her over the edge. For three days she denied to those that came to offer their condolences that he was dead before she finally broke down (Faulkner, 124). For whatever the reason she falls in love for a foreman named Homer Barron who comes to town to pave the sidewalks. They are seen together and she buys him ...
Besides physical and emotional abuse Delia had to put up with mental abuse from her husband. At one time, Sykes put a snake into a soap box to scare Delia. Knowing that Delia had an enormous fear of snakes, not to mention anything as small as an earthworm. Other mental and emotional abuse was that Sykes ran another woman in town, making it known to Delia and everyone else in town. He made it no secret when he was going to see Bertha, his mistress. The only thing Delia ever said about his affair was, 'that ole snaggle-toothed black woman you runnin' with ain't comin' heah to pile up on mah sweat and blood.
In the beginning of the story, the narrator referred to her as a “fallen monument” and states that the deceased Emily Grierson was to be buried together with the “Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson”(Faulkner 99). This gives the story a united description of Emily’s character and shows how well she was respected in her community even after her demise. In addition, the narrator continues by showing the mystery the deceased woman had created when she disappeared from the light of society. “From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years…” (Faulkner 103).When a rose that is in the center of attention disappears, everyone who’s seen it becomes curious about its disappearance. This was the exact same case with Ms. Emily. The people of the town were saddened as none of them knew the correct information on the deceased
2 Delia Jones is a Negro woman who washes clothes for the white folks in her community. [Topic sentence does not cover the paragraph -- the paragraph includes characterization of Sykes.] She is a very hard worker, and she takes great pride in her work. She has built the house that her [she] and Skyes [Sp] reside in, and she has planted all the trees around the premises. Delia also is a Christian, who attends service regularly on Sundays before she starts her laundry for the week. Skyes, [Sp] on the other hand, is a dominant black man who has control of the house. After years of abuse Delia is afraid to push his temper, she wouldn't dare kick him out, or she would get beaten. [CS - 1] She would rather live her life trying to avoid his rude comments, and keeping her mouth shut when he is around. Delia is a very fragile lady, with very slim and w...
largely inferior to men at the time when this story was written. The story revolves around a couple Delia and Sykes, who have been unhappily married for 15 long years. It focuses on the turning point in Delia’s life when her husband wants her to go away from his life but eventually falls in his own trap and dies.
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.
The protagonist of this story is Miss Emily Grierson, an old maid spinster without family who becomes a “tradition” and a “sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 299). The story begins with the death of Miss Emily, so I will rearrange my analysis of the character to begin with what we first know about Miss Emily.
...ng point, ‘“Mah cup is done run ovah,”’ again, another metaphorical illustration of how tired she is of being physically mistreated and mentally abused by Sykes, thus, her rage is channeled towards protecting herself and the property she has assumed through her dedication as a washwoman. Hurston makes this ever so clear as Delia shouts at Sykes, ‘“Don't think Ah'm gointuh be run 'way fum mah house neither.”’ Sykes has been unfaithful to Delia for a while now and she has finally taken the final straw. Hurston empowers Delia, through writing, “Delia said this with no signs of fear and Sykes departed from the house, threatening her, but made not the slightest move to carry out any of them.” This is an important step for Delia towards independence. Delia is no longer afraid of Sykes, however she has one more fear to overcome before she is completely free of oppression.
This story takes place throughout the Reconstruction Era from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s in Jefferson, Mississippi. Emily was raised in the period before the Civil War. Her father who was the only person in her life with the exception of a former lover who soon left her as well raised her. The plot of this story is mainly about Miss Emily’s attitude about change. While growing up Emily was raised in a comfortable environment because her father possessed a lot of money. Considering that her father was a very wealthy person who occasionally loaned the town money Emily had everything a child could want. This caused Emily to be very spoiled and selfish and she never knew the value of a dollar until her father left her with nothing but a run down home that started to decay after a period of time. She began to ignore the surrounding decay of the house and her appearance. These lies continued as she denied her father’s death, refused to pay taxes, ignores town gossip about her being a fallen woman, and does not tell the druggist why she purchased rat poison. Her life, like the decaying house suffered from a lack of genuine love and care. Her physical appearance is brought about by years of neglect.
Sykes had a mistress named Bertha who he spoiled all the time, but the people in town always wondered why he never paid attention to Delia. Walter Thomas, one of the men from the store, said, “Ah 'd uh married huh mahself if he hadnter beat me to it.” (Hurston) All the men in town were jealous of Sykes because of Delia. But Sykes, on the other hand, didn 't see what he had right in front of him. The plotting of Delia 's death was all done by Sykes. He went out of his way to get a rattlesnake and place it in the clothes hamper with the lid on, hoping it would strike her while washing clothes. When Delia saw the snake, she scurried outside and hid in the barn until Sykes arrived home. Delia calmly stated, “Ah done de bes ' ah could. If things aint right, Gawd knows it aint mah fault.” (Hurston) After the freak accident of Sykes being struck by the rattlesnake and suffering a long and painful death, Delia, hearing all the screaming and moaning coming from inside her “broken” home, sat under a Chinaberry tree that was in the front yard. She felt a sense of relief after she heard Sykes crying for her help and her knowing that she could not do anything to help. Her fear of their relationship and of him that went on for 15 years, was finally over and she felt as if she achieved her
When her father passed away, it was a devastating loss for Miss Emily. The lines from the story 'She told them her father was not dead. She did that for three days,' (Charter 171) conveys the message that she tried to hold on to him, even after his death. Even though, this was a sad moment for Emily, but she was liberated from the control of her father. Instead of going on with her life, her life halted after death of her father. Miss Emily found love in a guy named Homer Barron, who came as a contractor for paving the sidewalks in town. Miss Emily was seen in buggy on Sunday afternoons with Homer Barron. The whole town thought they would get married. One could know this by the sentences in the story ?She will marry him,? ?She will persuade him yet,? (Charter 173).
“A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line. William Faulkner introduces us to a number of characters but the most involved being Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Tobe, and the ladies of the town; who are not named individually. Emily Grierson was once a beautiful and wealthy upper class young women who lived with her father, who has since died, on the towns,
The story takes place years after the Civil War; the main character is Emily an aristocratic woman who has hardships and trouble all throughout her life. Emily’s family believed that they were better than everyone else and he believed that no man was good enough for his daughter. After her father’s death, Emily began to rebel and do things she knew her father would not have allowed. She dates a Northerner day laborer and kills him, so that he could not leave her. Emily is very stuck up and believed she was better than others. The town people put up with Emily out of respect for her family and she got away with more than she should of.
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.