Similarities Between A Rose For Emily And The Great Gatsby

William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald are both successful internationally recognized authors most noted for their works A Rose for Emily and The Great Gatsby respectably. Unparalled authors, both use their works to express the themes of love, death, and scandal to depict tragedy and social downfall. Through the use many literary elements, Faulkner and Fitzgerald both express a theme of isolation as a result of the inability to let go of past loves. In William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily and F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby both main characters Emily and Jay Gatsby switch roles from being lively romantics to the obsessive former lover. Jay Gatsby an American made millionaire from humble beginnings spends the better half of his adult life

and fortune throwing elaborate parties for his past youth summer fling debutant Daisy Buchanan hoping that they will again one day cross paths. When that day comes at the help of his new neighbor and friend, Nick Carraway the cousin of Daisy, he assists Gatsby by bringing her to one of his extravagant parties where they unite to form a scandalous love affair. Similarly, in A Rose for Emily Miss Emily also comes from a wealthy family. Described as the town shut-in, Suspicions arise when Miss Emily’s suitor is seen coming into her house only to never be seen again. However, several decades later at the death of Miss Emily authorities find the remains of her former lover and traces of her hair on the bed in the attic. In both cases, through a combination of love denial and obsession, both Jay Gatsby and Miss Emily find themselves in a downward spiral of scandalous affairs, and tragic endings. Through the use of character development, Faulkner and Fitzgerald both demonstrate how when focusing on the past instead of the present, often leads to isolation, obsession and a life of internal and external solitude.
Miss Emily is initially viewed by the town as a revered remnant of the once prominent southern aristocracy yet strange curiosity, but several of her actions indicate she has an unhealthy relationship with the past, that illustrate the beginning of her isolation and downfall.

Upon the passing of her father and the sudden mysterious disappearance of her short-term lover Homer Barron, it took her three days to accept her father’s passing, such that when the ladies of the neighborhood came to comfort her, she informed them that her father “was not dead.” (Faulkner 630) Because of her denial of her father’s death, Miss Emily rarely became seen by those other than her servant. The townspeople describe her seclusion as “...she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.” (Faulkner 310) In article Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery in A Rose for Emily written by Aubrey Binder, she highlights these effects “When Emily’s father dies, the physical presence of his influence dies with him, but the effects of his actions remain to wreak havoc on Emily’s future.” (6) With nearly thirty years passing and an amounting unpaid tax bill, the newest generation of towns people did not favor Emily’s peculiar arrangement with the former mayor. In addition to her mounting tax bill, neighbors began complaining of the odor exuding from Miss Emily’s estate. In order to protect her reputation, men of authority repeatedly went in the night to sprinkle

lime around the base of her home to combat the stench. (Faulkner 309-311) Through the series of misfortunes placed upon Miss Emily, it demonstrates her lack of ability to adapt to her changing situations. These events are ultimately the beginning of her refusal to accept her present standings and her ultimate demise.
Like Miss Emily, Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby starts with a wealthy Gatsby whose mysterious yet questionable background entrances the public through his elaborate parties yet evades the public at the same time. Once a common nobody turned successful bootlegger and gangster, it is because of his wealth, and scandalous speculation that causes his tragic end. At the beginning of The Great Gatsby, Gatsby throws an extravagant party inviting his ambitious wide-eyed neighbor Nick Carraway in the hopes of cementing a plan to attract his former evasive love, and conveniently enough Nicks cousin Daisy into his company. While at the party, Nick is perplexed as to who this “Gatsby” really is. He’s met with remarks that "he killed someone," others say he was a "German spy during the war," or that he was the Kaiser’s assassin.” (Luhrmann 0:26:42) Through his elaborate expenditures and parties it demonstrates Gatsby’s inability and refusal to move on from the past that he so cherishes. Obsessed at the idea of a life with Daisy, through Gatsby’s elaborate actions he is able to entice Daisy into a secret rekindling of their past romance. With the revival of their love, and Gatsby’s obsession to provide Daisy with the life she deserves that eventually sends Gatsby even further into the entanglement of lies and self-made affliction. Upon Daisy’s husband Tom Buchanan finding out about their affair, on the way home, Gatsby and Daisy are involved in a hit and run accident were Tom’s mistress is killed. This action in addition to the persuasion and further encouragement made by Daisy’s husband that spurs murderous rage in Myrtles husband who then seeks out vengeance on Mr. Gatsby.
Through Miss Emily’s fear of being alone, her actions result in her harshest form of obsession seen when she mysteriously purchases arsenic.

Upon Miss Emily’s purchase of the poison, it shows her steep transition into obsession of the past. To the public eye it was incredibly out of character in which they believed she was preparing to kill herself after not being able to marry Homer Barron. However, when she fails to prove them right, the disappearance of Homer did not take the public by surprise until the sudden self-seclusion of Miss Emily herself. “Now and then we would see her at a window for a moment, as the men did when they sprinkled the lime, but for almost six months she did not appear on the streets.” (Faulkner 314) It is because of her self-inflicted isolation that Miss Emily dies all alone in a diminished and dilapidated home where “the house is an essence of her crypt, enclosing in its walls all the signs of death, dust, shadows, foul odors, not to mention a corpse that rots into a skeleton.” (Harris 174) Miss Emily’s death signifies her self-inflicted solitude, and her complete and final result of internal and external

isolation.
Through Gatsby’s unshakable obsession of recreating the past and his fear of being alone
Although both have very different endings, both share a consequence of their obsession of the past, both Gatsby and Miss Emily Consequently suffer the upmost form of isolation, the finality of a lonely death. Gatsby who is shot dead while waiting on Daisy by the husband of Tom’s mistress for his supposed role in her death and affair. It is then because of his tragic and sudden death that Gatsby fails to ever win back Daisy fully. His failure to win back Daisy is especially seen in the article Donne’s Compass at the Death Scene in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby written by Thomas Delworth where he states “No longer lovers, Daisy and Gatsby are no longer joined, as a compass is at the top… Her disloyalty to him “makes” him “end where” he “begun”-nowhere, with nothing…” (57) Plastered as a murderer and cheater, only Nick Carraway attends Gatsby’s funeral. “I rang, I wrote, I implored. But not a single one of the sparkling hundreds that enjoyed his hospitality attended the funeral. And from Daisy not even a single flower.” (Luhrmann 2:05:09-27) In contrast however, Miss Emily’s funeral was attended by many, “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral.” (Faulkner 308) Upon her death, investigation into the upstairs attic resulted in the finding of the murdered remains of Homer Barron that further highlighted the extent to which Miss Emily relied on her obsession of the past “The man himself lay in the bed. For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin. …Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” (Faulkner 315-316) Although thirty years had passed, this imagery insinuates Miss Emily’s refusal to separate from the ones she loves even after death “The Image of Homer Barron’s decayed body and Miss Emily’s iron gray hair on the pillow create a morbid tableau of her inability to accept that death had claimed him, a fact which she could not overcome until it had claimed her as well.” (Caldwell 3)
Not only did Gatsby die all alone, apart from his friend Nick Carraway who aided him in the revival of his love affair with Daisy, similarly, Miss Emily Died isolated except for her servant. However, in contrast to Gatsby, her funeral was attended by many. Although Gatsby was the one murdered by vengeance in result for his undeniable love, Miss Emily, however, murdered in order to stay loved. Although Gatsby and Miss Emily had contrasting motives and very different endings, their similar failures and overwhelming obsession of the past that ultimately leads to their lonely separation of the ones they love and their ultimate tragic demise.
Overall, through William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s thorough use of character development, they prove that when focused on the past, the refusal to accept the present often leads to the negative effects of isolation and ostracization to the outside world. Although highly romanticized, through Miss Emily and Gatsby’s inability to move on from the past, they inadvertently sabotage their future, and any true shot of the happiness and full life they so sought and dreamt for.