A Rose For Emily Conflict Essay

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There are many different beliefs of what the conflict and theme is to “A Rose for Emily”. The conflicts and themes varied from different point of view that the readers took from the short story.

Many critics found the viewpoints for the conflict vary from the North and South to Miss Emily to even sexual politics. Miss Emily, the Griersons, and the old Confederate soldiers were referred to as the South, whereas Homer Barron and the “modern” younger generation was the North (West 527). After reading Ray B. West Jr.’s critic, William Van O’Connor understood the conflict of the story to be between the values of the Old South and the new order (O’Connor 528). “But it can’t be read in these terms because the Old South and the new order are merely a part of the flavor and tone of the story, not poles of conflict” (O'Connor 528). Miss Emily’s relationship with the Old South makes her a part of the town’s nostalgia; it was not her being a “lady”, which caused her to be treated differently by the town’s board when she refused to accept her taxes; presumably even ladies paid their taxes in the Old South (O’Connor …show more content…

Judith Fetterly believed if readers approached “A Rose for Emily” with a feminist perspective, the grotesque aspects of the story would result of its violation of the expectations generated by the conventions of sexual politics (Fetterley 531). “A Rose for Emily” is a story not of conflict between the South and the North or between the old order and the new. It is a story of the patriarchy North and South, new and old, and of the sexual conflict within it. William Faulkner implied that is it a short story of a woman victimized by the system of sexual politics. Judith Fetterly implied the belief that the conflict of the story of sexual politics because the standpoint women had during the time the story took

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