Rose For Emily By Faulkner In the story, "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner, Miss Emily Griersons struggle with her family, her town, and herself makes her do things that are out of the "norm." Her struggle makes her act inhuman and deranged.
Emily is a living a very sheltered life. Miss Emily struggles, in this story, with herself and the society around her. Emily Grierson became very heartless in the eyes of the reader and even a little demented all because of her sheltered lifestyle, closed environment and, conflict with the townspeople. She knew that the people of her town were talking about her. However, she ultimately let their gossip influence her life.
Some think that Emilys actions were based on the townspeoples attitudes toward her.Others may say that her father shaped her actions. However, Emilys father, the townspeople, and even Emily herself shaped her motives. They were the driving forces behind Emilys action. This struggle between "an individual and the society that attempts to restrict her" (Brooks & Warren 158) would be unbearable for Miss Emily. This is what ultimately leads to her downfall.
Through imagery and conflict, the reader can witness how all of this is true. As Faulkner begins this story, the reader quickly learns that this piece is going to be about death and dying. Not so much as physical death, although physical death is also apparent, but spiritual, mental, and social decay. The physical death is opened to the reader in the first line of this short story. The storyteller informs the reader by saying, "when Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to the funeral.
." Just by this line the reader wonders if the town was sad to see Miss Emily past away, or were they glad.Later in the story, the reader finds out that the townspeople were glad. However, not for the reason that one might imply. Because the first line of the book deals with death and dying, does it make "A Rose for Emily" a story of horror? Brooke and Warren writes, "we have a decaying mansion in which the protagonist, shut out from the world, grows into something monstrous, and becomes as divorced from the human as some fungus growing in the dark on a damp wall.
" (Brooks & Warren 158) This is what makes this piece a horror story. Webster New World says that horror means, "the strong feeling caused by something frightful or shocking." At the end of "A Rose for Emily," the reader finds out that Miss Emily is performing a very deviant action. The reader and the townspeople are very much shocked by this act.This piece is truly "a story of horror.
" (Brook & Warren 158). What made Emily killed Homer? To answer this, the reader must first expose Emilys character to view. Emilys grew up around her father. Her life was hard. Emilys father was a very strict man.
If compared to todays strict father, he would be the type of father that would show off his gun collection to a guy before taking his daughter out. However, in the case of Miss Emilys father, he did not let anyone see her. The narrator in the story says Emilys father "ran off all the men that came for Emily." The reader sees how Emilys father is detrimental to Miss Emilys well being. Because her father blocked her from the outside world, Emily became dependent.
Emily became addicted to her father.If her father told her to jump, Emily probably would respond by saying how high. Emilys father was like a depressant drug. This drug made Emily feel safe at all times.
The reader also witnesses Emilys father characteristics in a work of art. The portrait hung "by the back-flung front door." The narrator of the story describes Miss Emily in the picture as "a slender figure in white in the background." It continues to say her father was "a spraddle silhouette in the foreground." The reader can see how Faulkner uses the portrait to symbolize how Emilys father shielded her.
The narrator goes on to say that, " [her fathers] back to her and clutching a horse whip." The picture depicts how Emilys father is in command. It shows how he ruled her. Her father was the dictator in their relationship.
Emilys white garment represents how pure and innocent she was. Emily was like a child that is in the first stages on its life.The reader can not help but wonder what happened to Emilys mother. Faulkner does not answer this question.
Something must have happen to her while Emily was still young. Something had to happen to make Emilys father act the way he did toward Emily. The absence of her mother affected her slightly.The reader can only speculate exactly how much it affected her. However, the reader could clearly see that Emilys father made her live sheltered and away from everyone. Emily never had a worry.
She grew up thinking that in her older years there would always be someone there to make sure she had the necessities of life. Miss Emily knew that without her father she was nothing.Because of this, losing him never crossed her mind. In actually, when Emilys father pasted, Emily lost her best friend, her mother, her brother, and her father. This is what Emily's father represented to her.
Emily had nothing else to live for. When her father died, it was no wonder why Miss Emily was confused.However, surprisingly, Emily did not deal with her fathers death like most people. She took it hard, but it left a different kind of impression of her.
Her grief was not like a normal persons grief. Nevertheless, she still grieved. When the storyteller describes Miss Emily, ..
with no trace of grief on her face," and when she tells the townspeople that "her father [is] not dead, the reader knows that Emily is having a serious problem dealing with her fathers pasting. This also makes the reader wonder if Emily is crazy or if she is just taking the lost of her fathe ...
