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Anna Raedeke Rough Draft September 20, 2015 Period 1 In the three short stories “A Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O'Connor all touch on the human condition. The human condition in each of these stories is love, while isolation is a recurring theme. In each story, a main character experiences isolation, by force or by choice, which changes their view on society and is shown using symbolism. “A Rose for Emily” is the story of a woman named Emily, who has isolated herself from her community because she doesn’t conform to societal norms. Throughout the story, she breaks society's rules in numerous ways; by not paying taxes, keeping her
dead father in her home until the townspeople who have tired of the smell come to bury him, and holing herself up in her house for years at a time. Many people speculated that she was crazy, and when she bought rat poison, she was going to kill herself, but as I discovered later, she killed her husband and not rats. I think she was mentally ill and wanted to hold onto the past, which was motivated by love - she wanted to keep her father, and her husband with her at home. When Emily died, the townspeople discovered her secret. At the end of the story you learn that what has been inferred all along is true, Emily had long ago killed her husband and slept by his side as he rotted. This is shown these quotes: “we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner) and “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust. Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head.”(Faulkner) These show symbolism - the gray hair, rotted corpse, and dust indicate the length of time that has passed. Since Emily did follow the norms of society, she was inevitably isolated from her community. “The Yellow Wallpaper”, is about a young married woman who is put in isolation because she is mentally ill. Her husband who is a doctor, moves her to a mansion to be away from people other than her husband and sister in-law. She is not allowed to work, write, or do anything that could make her state worse. John, her husband, I believe does this out of love because he seems to truly love her and wants what’s best for her. This is shown by the quote, “you really are better, dear, whether you can see it or not. I am a doctor, dear, and I know. You are gaining flesh and color, your appetite is better, I feel really much easier about you." (Gillman). The quote shows that John the narrator's husband is only doing this to help her with her state of mind. With this came isolation. She was placed in an area where she could not talk to anyone except for family. In all isolation can change a person. In the beginning of the story she was calm and collected but by the end she was crawling around on the floor pulling off wallpaper.
In these two stories “A Rose for Emily’’ by William Faulkner, and “Good Country People’’ by Flannery O’Connor, there is controversy between two women, Emily and Hulga. The protagonists, Emily and Hulga, deal with many things as in being from a small town and being unattractive. Emily and Hulga’s town show some sympathy throughout the stories. I believe they are sympathized for because, they struggle for love, then finally find love, and then lose love.
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.
A common theme of southern gothic writer’s such as William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connell is the disparities of social norms and social stratification; this is apparent in both A Good Man is hard to find and A Rose for Emily. Both portray interplay across generations which manifest itself as resistance of change in previous generations. The grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find and Emily in A Rose for Emily are largely parallel to one another in respect to the themes of the stories. Through subservient motifs as privilege, nostalgia, and irony the overarching theme of death is effectually portrayed in both A Good Man is Hard to Find and A Rose for Emily.
“A Rose for Emily” begins with the foreshadowing of Emilys funeral. The story then takes the reader to explain what had occurred over the years leading to Emily’s death. Emily Grierson had become the last member of an aristocratic southern family who had been raisd by her widowed father. Growing up< Emilys
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.
The “A Rose for Emily”. Literature: Prentice Hall Pocket Reader. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2005. 1-9.
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.
William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily tells a story of a young woman who is violated by her father’s strict mentality. After being the only man in her life Emily’s father dies and she finds it hard to let go. Like her father Emily possesses a stubborn outlook towards life, and she refused to change. While having this attitude about life Emily practically secluded herself from society for the remainder of her life. She was alone for the very first time and her reaction to this situation was solitude.
In the stories “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, talk about how two women are experiencing the same emotional situations they have to endure. Both of these stories express the emotional and physical trials the characters have to endure on an everyday basis. In the story “The Yellow Wallpaper” it shows a woman who is oppressed and is suffering from depression and loneliness. In “A Rose for Emily” it is showing the struggle of maintaining a tradition and struggling with depression. Both of the stories resemble uncontrollable changes and the struggles of acceptance the characters face during those changes.
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 “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.
In "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, Miss Emily poisons her lover, Homer Baron, and keeps his corpse on her bed for several years. She did this as she was afraid of losing him and being left with nothing. In Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Wright murders her husband, Mr. Wright, after he snaps her pet bird's neck. After many years of abuse, Mr. Wright snapping the bird's neck was the last straw for Ms. Wright. These women do not commit acts of civil disobedience but instead acts of rebellion, rebellion against both their husbands and society. In my opinion, Mrs. Wright took the strongest stand because she broke herself free from the oppression of her abusive husband, although through the use of murder, even if it was just for a few hours.
Gothic Literature is full of different elements, and all Gothic Literature stories have a lot of similarities and some differences. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is about ten guests who are brought together to a mysterious island just for all of them to get murdered by one of the guests who thought the people brought to the island that committed crimes did not get enough punishment. However, in “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner, it is a completely different plot. Since Emily’s father’s death, she has changed from a happy women to a sad and depressed one. As a result, her sadness led her to murdering the only other man who loved her just as much as her father did. Similarly, the novel and story both involve murder and suspicion
“A Rose for Emily” is a short gothic story by an American renowned author, William Faulkner. His book was first published in the forum on 30th April, 1930. In his book, Faulkner vividly describes the life of people in southern America. The second book “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” is a story which first appeared in avon book of writing in 1953 and written by Flannery O’Connor. This book was later edited by Phillip Rahv and William Phillips. Even though these two books were written by two different authors, these books contain some similarities and contrasts. The use of the southern settings in both these books involves some similarities and differences.
The short story by William Faulkner called “A Rose for Emily” is a thrilling piece of literary work, that shows many of the basic gothic elements. There is mysterious events, confusing aspects, and eroticism in this short story. “A Rose for Emily” shows the development of a crooked women’s life, written by the generations living around her, and has action to show Faulkner’s purpose in writing this story.