Analysis Of A Rose For Emily

One of the largest cultural revolutions in history occurred after the American Civil War, completely changing the lives of those who lived in the southern United States. Despite the improvements to society these revolutions bring, some people will reject these changes by clinging to their outdated ideologies. In his short story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner focuses on the life and death of Miss Emily Grierson, an aging woman who loathes all forms of change. Throughout the story, Faulkner presents Miss Grierson as the last person to embrace the antebellum culture through her rejection of posantbellum changes, references to antebellum society, and description of the town’s thoughts and feelings toward Miss Grierson. Each time Miss Grierson faces changes, she refuses to accept them, reinforcing the idea that she rejects modern ideas and retraction from reality. When the city asks Miss Grierson to pay taxes, she quickly dismisses the city’s patient pleas by telling the council at her house, “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson” (section I, paragraph 12). She commands the council to see a deceased mayor, reinforcing Miss Grierson’s detachment from the present. Later, Miss Grierson solely refuses to allow the post office to “fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox” when the town receives free mail service. Since she is accustomed to the antebellum society and cannot adjust to postbellum improvements, she rejects the new mail system. After

As a result of the towns gossiping, Miss. Emily Grierson felt betrayed by Homer Barron, her sweetheart, and would ultimately commit a horrendous act because of the strong emotions the gossip caused. “We had said,

A Rose for Emily begins with and ends with the death of Miss Emily Grierson, who was certainly a strong, strange character, and described as a monument to the people of her town and a character analysis on her can go in any number of directions. She had to overcome many difficulties in every step of her life. Therefore, every step of her life presents her characteristics in different parts of the story, but yet leaves the readers pondering…Who is Miss Emily Grierson? In the beginning of the story, it is said that Miss Emily is a traditional person, “a duty, a care and a sort of hereditary obligation around her town dating back from the day in 1894”. Her character of being traditional goes back to the teaching of “china painting” lessons which

A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner exemplifies Emily Griersons personal trials and tribulations she faced from her young adulthood to the end of her life. Composed in 1931, Faulkner wrote about the old South traditions that Miss Emily followed extensively until the day she died. Throughout this short story the audience follows Miss Emily’s journey of constantly battling the emotional difficulties of being caught up in the time-period of the Civil War, and all the hardships that followed her. After losing her father, Emily lives in a permeant state of denial. This caused her to make unhealthy, rash decisions. “After her father’s death she went out very little…”. (Faulkner, 1993. pg. 207) Miss Emily is characterized by the reader as an old style southern girl, who is caught up in a town on forcing her to move on from her past. Afraid to live the rest of her life without any loved ones, Emily then murders her boyfriend Homer Barron. After losing her father, Emily decides that the only rational thing to do is keep Homers corpse upstairs in a room. In doing so, Emily wishes to feel a sense of comfort and peace when she lays next to him each night. Unable to accept the fact that the world is constantly changing around her, Miss Emily chooses to ultimately seclude herself. Eventually, disconnecting from everyone she remains locked inside her fetid mansion for years. “When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray”. (Faulkner, 1993. pg. 210)

At the beginning of the story, the reader learns that Miss Emily “is portrayed as ’a fallen monument,’… because she has shown herself susceptible to death (and decay) after all” (West 264). The house can also be perceived as a “fallen monument”(Faulkner 81) as the narrator

“A Rose for Emily” follows the townspeople’s observation of Emily and her family after her death. The townspeople gather in her house for her funeral and share stories of her life. Her house is very much like herself. The readers learn about Emily through the townspeople, which is only so much because of her closed off nature. Emily, just like her house, can be seen by everyone, but what is happening on the interior is unknown. She never exits her home and no one, except her servant who comes and goes every day, visits the home. The town, fill with nosy people, only attended the funeral in order to get a glimpse into Emily’s secretive life. They explore her house, trying to uncover the truth as to what her life was truly like. In the

Her house reeked of a horrible smell. Miss Emily faces many issues by her community. The whole town gossips about her and talk down on her. "Poor Emily," as they attend her father’s funeral and none of her family members are there. “...the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.” She lived in a big house all alone with no one, but her slave. After all the pity the town felt for Miss Emily, they started to complain about her.

William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” which is a story about an old pauper whose life is turned upside down after the death of her father. Faulkner uses a lot of symbolism in this story to give a glimpse into the mysterious life of Miss Emily Grierson. Things such as the rose itself, which is a symbol of love for which she is searching for throughout the story. Another one being her hair which is a symbol of the rise and decline of her sexual maturity. And last, the Grierson home is a symbol of her state of mind and mental stability. These symbols enforce the key theme of the story which is the power of death and the hold it takes on the lives of many. Emily’s behaviors and stubborn way of thinking and living are important to the story, showing how death can take hold of a person’s life and consume it completely.

When her father died, the town began to see Miss Emily less and less. Her once beautiful home had gone to the gutters, becoming encroached with decay and dust. She soon becomes the town’s mystery and the topic of everyone’s conversations. Miss Emily begins to date a young bachelor, Homer Barron. He is part of the construction company paving sidewalks on her street. They begin spending a lot of time together, and the town takes pity on Miss Emily. Things quickly take a turn for the

People are subject to decay and death – these are inevitable aspects of life. In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily epitomizes these concepts as she attempts to hold on to the past. Emily is among the last of the Griersons – an aristocratic older family that had lost their influence after the Civil War. She is exposed to the fast changing perspectives and ideals of her town, Jefferson, and she refuses to relent as she continues to uphold her traditional southern values and social status. Emily progressively decays because she chains herself to the past and because of her uncompromising attitude towards the modernization of her environment. She then meets Homer Barron, a potential suitor from the North. However, Emily resorts to the extremes to keep him by her side and poisons him. Her intransigence encompasses her struggle to remain relevant during Jefferson’s development. Emily Grierson’s insistence on living in the past and her refusal to change establish her as the embodiment of decay through the descriptions of her house, her stubbornness, her appearance, and the poisoning of Homer Barron.

The summer following Emily’s father’s death the town decided to start construction on the sidewalks to repave them. Along with the construction company was a Northerner, a Yankee named Homer Barron. Homer is described as, “…big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face”. Homer became popular around the town as well as with Miss Emily. They were seen more and more together and the ladies of the town grew old with it. Argiro states that, “Their dates cause gossip to erupt everywhere…” (par.4). Emily at this point was vulnerable because of her loss and loneliness; she was destined to fall hopelessly in love. Emily’s character expresses her unstable and irrational side by purchasing

The narrator of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” pays close attention to the details of Emily’s house. He described her dwelling to, “…smell of dust and disuse—a close dank smell” (Faulkner 1). Furthermore, he called her house “an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner 1). The author’s vivid description of Miss Grierson’s house after the death of her father mirrors her appearance during this time. She too had a ghastly appearance, “…like a body long submerged in motionless water…” (Faulkner 1). During this time, Emily began to mentally deplete, having lost the main person in her life. As a result, her world halted and she began to take less pride in her appearances. She left her house to age miserably just as she did. In The Telltale Hair: A Critical Study of William Faulkner 's a Rose for Emily, by Terry Heller, the author points out how Emily’s appearance is tied to her house as the story progresses. He states, “First she is small and spare, then pleasingly plump. Three words later she is bloated and by the end of the passage she has been transformed from a little old lady into a bloated corpse as decayed as her house” (Heller 90). Emily’s failure to care for herself and her surroundings led to her being hated by many of the townsfolk. They judged her because of her clack of cleanliness and her neglect for taking care of her house.

Her home, a once magnificent and stunning plantation, gradually began to deteriate after her father’s death, symboling the destruction of the old south and everything it stood for. After her father’s death the people of the town began to take pity on Ms Emily only because she was one of few left that symbolized the old times. This is the opening to a new life for Miss Emily, She began to suffer from a bodily decline, which accompanied her age, Symbolizing decline of the “old” South. Throughout the story Miss Emily slowly became older and fat , suggesting the collapse among the “old” South. When Miss Emily passes away the “old” South is gone forever. The young people of the town after the civil war ultimately symbolize the “new” South. Realizing Emily was fixed in her past, the people of the town attempted to convey her back to the present. For example, the city authorities tried to get Miss Emily to pay her taxes, but she refused because Colonel Sartoris came up with a lie so she would not have to pay her

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a southern gothic tale about a mysterious woman named Emily Grierson, largely known as Miss Emily, who lives in a small town and serves as a monument to observe, remark on, and criticize. The story is told from a first person omniscient point of view by an unidentified narrator. The narration is precisely what creates the story as far as tone and capability of influencing the reader’s perception of Miss Emily and her behavior. The storyteller’s account distinctly separates groups of townspeople and their beliefs with his or herself by contrasting third person pronouns with first person pronouns. This distinction forms a point of view that influences opinions of Miss Emily in ways that a third person point of view would not.

William Falkner who was born in New Albany, Mississippi, in 1897, wrote and published “A Rose for Emily” in 1930. He grew up in the South, and was interested in exploring the South as it came out of the Civil War and entered the Reconstruction era, the attempt to overcome the slavery stigma, and the people who changed with the new beliefs and those who stuck with their old-fashioned beliefs. William Falkner employs the story “A Rose for Emily” to portray the South’s refusal to acknowledge and accept the social and historical changes.