Conflict Among Social Relationships with Miss Emily

“A Rose for Emily” is an essay written by William Faulkner in 1931. The story takes place around the late 19th and early 20th century; therefore, during this period in history, there were certain social customs that women had to follow, such as marriage. Women had to obey the laws and rules created by men. Similarity, this story reflects the relationships among the main character, Emily Grierson, a lady from a wealthy, well-respected and proud family, with her father and with the society in her community. Emily’s controlling father, the town people’s gossips, and Homer - her suitor’s rejection drive her insane.
“A Rose for Emily” is mainly about Emily Grierson and her life; the story is told by an unknown member of the town. He/she speaks for the whole town by using “we” and seems to know Miss Emily really well. Miss Emily is a mysterious woman who changes from a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a sparingly secretive and crazy old woman. She is lonely and depressed after her father’s death, and becomes an object of pity of the town’s people. Later in life, she eventually poisons her potential suitor, Homer, seals his corpse into an upstairs room, and sleeps next to it for 40 years.
Emily has lived in a lonely life because of her father who tries to keep her by his side and overly protects her. “Strongly influenced by her despotic father, Emily is eccentric and stubborn; isolated by his father, Emily cannot properly handle her relationship with others” (Fang 20). Therefore, when her father died, she has to deal with not only the lost of the love one, but also the lost of his protection. Emily clings to her dad after he dies; she is unwilling to let the townspeople bury him. Emily shows that she cannot face the reality of being a...

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...hood. She never has her own life, and never controls her fate. She just lives in the world according to the norms and standards formed by tradition and society” (Fang, 21). Miss Emily is a person who never got a chance to really do anything in her life. Either her father or the community controls her for the whole life that explain for the mental illness in Miss Emily.

Works Cited

Fang, Du. "Who Makes a Devil out of a Fair Lady? --An Analysis of the Social Causes of Emily's Tragedy in A Rose for Emily." Canadian Social Science 3.4 (2007): 18-24. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Portable 10th ed. Ed. Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2011. 308-315. Print.
Mclntyre, Lisa J. The Practical Skeptic: Core Concepts in Sociology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Print.