Similarities Between A Rose For Emily And Their Eyes Were Watching God

Love, loss, death, and suffering are just a few of the many themes within one or both of the stories Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. While each is distinctive in its own way, they still have several similarities, both between the main characters and the themes throughout the works. Class tensions and female roles are two significant themes in these works, which are exhibited through the lives and experiences of the leading female characters, Janie Mae Crawford and Emily Grierson, respectively. Even though the two stories are different, they still embody similar themes, which is important because the leading ladies are so unlike each other on the surface.
In understanding these two

characters, it is essential to understand some of the things who make them who they are. There are countless ways in which the two leading ladies from these stories differ. Emily Grierson is a white female who is well off, with a fairly respectable family reputation. Her father was wealthy, and by giving the town a considerable sum of money, got out of paying taxes. When he dies, Emily hides his body from the townspeople and denies his death before finally handing over the body. She falls in love with a contractor, Homer Barron. Eventually he is seen going into her house and is never seen again. Janie Mae Crawford is a half white, half black woman, born when her white father raped her black mother. She was raised by her grandmother, and is living in a time where blacks were still not treated the same as whites. She was viewed as being black and grew up poor. Janie had three husbands through the course of the novel, Logan, Jody, and Teacake. Miss Emily did not have to worry about money, but Janie did not have this luxury. For this reason, her grandmother set her up with a wealthy man to marry, because she wanted her to be taken care of.
In both of the stories, class tensions are a very prevalent theme. Class tensions cause conflict in both of the stories. According to Neckerman, “people associate more with others like them, both because they prefer it and because structural arrangements…tend to bring like people together”(Neckerman). When each woman becomes involved with a man in a different class than her, the townspeople notice, and disapprove. Everyone will always talk about each other behind their backs. It seems as though no matter what they do, there will always be something they find wrong with them. Janie is a strong female role, and even though Emily is not as strong as Janie, the townspeople are not happy with them. Some of the reasons are the same, and some of them are not. For both, at some point in their lives, they are considered well off. Emily was always considered this, but Janie was only considered this when she marries Jody, who becomes the mayor of the town. Then, both begin to be involved with men whom the townspeople believe to be below them. For Emily, Homer Barron is considered to be below her because he is just a contractor. When the people see her spending time with him they begin to talk. They are not happy. They do not think he is up to her standards, because he is a mere contractor. This relationship creates tension in the community. In the case of Janie, class conflicts come into play after her second husband dies, and when she meets Teacake. He is younger than her, and the townspeople only think he wants to be involved with her for her money. He is a drifter, and Janie is the widow of the mayor. Janie is considered to be in a place of superiority, and Teacake is not important. They are considered to be in different classes, so it is frowned upon. The townspeople do not like the decisions they are making. In both cases, they talk about the women and sneer and judge them for what they are doing and who they are involving themselves with. They think they are degrading their powerful names and that they could do better. This is what they say about both of them. Why can’t we all just get along? More likely than not, that will never happen.
Another prevalent theme in both of these novels is female roles, or female gender roles. This is shown by how both of these women are expected to act a certain way, and be someone who they are not. They fall into stereotypes, which “appear to be resistant to change, persisting even in the face of disconfirming evidence” (Levy). When they do not fill this picture of the ideal woman, in the view of the townspeople, they are criticized. Janie had not always been as strong as she was at the end of the novel. Throughout the course of it, she was able to develop as a character, become stronger, and find herself. She finally was able to know what she wants and be happy and at peace with herself. This person, however, does not fit the stereotype that the townspeople believe she should be. She is supposed to do as she is told and not make a fuss, but she at times becomes fed up with how things are. This is exemplified when she and Jody get in a fight at the store, and she embarrasses him. She breaks the stereotype despite what everyone is thinking about her. And this, coincidentally, is the only way she will be happy. Emily, on the other hand, does not necessarily end up happy. She too breaks stereotypes on how women should act (according to the community which they were in), but not essentially with much thought on the matter. It seems she does it solely because she wants to do it. Emily was expected to act a certain way because of her father being the important man he was. When she meets Homer, she begins to spend a lot of time with him, going on Sunday strolls almost every week. He is of working class and the townspeople think he doesn’t seem to be ‘good enough’ for who she is. When they see them together, they talk about them.
In both writings, the people in town don’t really know or understand anything about the two women.

In the case of A Rose for Emily, it is because she is rarely out of her house. The only time the townspeople see her is when she is out for a brief period on Sundays with Homer. Then in the case of Their Eyes Were Watching God, it is because barely anyone really cared to get to know Janie, and instead they talked and gossiped about her. In both cases, all they people knew of the women was what they saw. Despite what everyone was saying about them, they don’t really care about what the townspeople think of them, which is a big way in which they are similar. Emily isolates herself from everyone except for her servant for a good part of the story, and has her own reality where things happen how she wants them to. She refuses to pay her taxes, and she murders Homer to keep him with her. In her world, this is okay, and in her world, she is all that matters. Janie is more a part of the community, but still not what they people would see as ideal. In both stories, the women are talked about and judged harshly. The town talks about them and thinks they are disgracing themselves, either in how they are presenting themselves, what they do, how they act, or the men they are involved with. In the case of Janie, she is more concerned with what is going on in her own life than what other people think about her. She grows as a person through the course of the story due to all of the experiences she had to go through, and the same cannot be said for Emily. Janie is able to find herself, and realize who she is as a person. She breaks away from what she is ‘supposed’ to be and learns a great deal from all of her

experiences.
There are many ways in which both of these stories are similar, and also ways in which they differ. It is important to understand significant parts of each story in order to see how they can be compared. Differences in the characters account for why certain things in the stories happen as they do. Though themes in both are the same, the reasons are not. Both leading character has distinct reasons for doing what she did. Although despite the many glaring ways the two women are different, they still have a decent amount of ways in which they are similar. Some of these are as general as both having lost someone important to them, and death is very prevalent in both stories. For example, each woman faces death in their families, Janie losing her grandmother and Emily losing her father. In addition, each one ends up killing the man she loves, even though their reasoning for doing so was not the same. Janie is forced to shoot Tea Cake because he had contracted an illness from the bite of a rabid dog, and it was causing him to not be able to think clearly and in turn threatening to shoot Janie. She did it because it was what needed to be done, and because she knew she had to do it. Emily, on the other hand, kills the man she loves because she wants him to be near her forever. This being said, Janie does this because if she didn’t she would die, while Emily does it because she is selfish and unable to cope with the idea of being away from the man she loves.
Each story is affected by illness, and it is the driving force for major events that happen. This in turn affects major themes in the stories. Illness could also be considered a common theme in both. Although in one story, the illness is mental, while the other is physical. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Janie was not the one with the illness, but rather Tea Cake, which inevitably causes him to die. Meanwhile, in A Rose for Emily, Emily is the one with the (mental) illness, which is to blame for much of her odd behavior, causes her to murder Homer, and then leave his body to decay up in the attic. Both times Emily is confronted with the death of someone she loves; she has a difficult time in accepting it and moving on. She keeps the body not only once, but twice. The first is that of her father, which she keeps for three days before reluctantly giving it up after neighbors complained about the smell coming from her house. And the second is the body of Homer, after she kills him.
Each character has her own struggles and perils throughout the course of the story which are unique to her situation and life. Though at first it may seem they have nothing in common, they actually have much more in common than would be thought. Though this is true, Janie and Emily still have very different lives and personalities, as well as struggles and hardships they have to deal with. They have some experiences that are similar, as well as those which are different. Both of these stories have many themes which are unique to them, but they also share similar themes. Class tensions and female gender roles are two which are very prevalent throughout the course of both stories. They are shown in similar ways in both; however the stories are very different. It is important to note why they differ in order to understand how they are similar, and why the stories happen the ways they do.