A Rose For Emily Literary Analysis

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” uses Henry James’ notion of the virtue of the air of reality as it embraces the freedom a writer is obliged to exercise which includes the choice of setting and milieu of the story. Faulkner’s decision concisely illustrates the interrelated concepts of power and abuse in the South during the Post-Civil War in terms of class and gender–in the abuse inflicted by the aristocracy on the working class, and in the patriarchal dominance of the Old South in constricting the treatment of women. The choice of setting and milieu of William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” exhibiting Henry James’ notion of the writer to exercise his freedom, is based on the events of the Post Civil War, particularly the Reconstruction of the South after its defeat to the North who, along with the current president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, wishes the end

Despite this degrading outcome, the aristocracy continually assert their supremacy such as, in relation to “A Rose for Emily,” the unspecified narrator’s repeated use of the word ‘negro’ while recounting the events of Emily Grierson’s life and the racist address of Judge Stevens, both disregarding the individual existence and name of Tobe, Emily Grierson’s helper; the malicious gossips of the townspeople after the arrival of Homer Barron, a Northern Yankee; the refusal of Emily Grierson to: pay her taxes confirmed by the new generation of government leaders, repeatedly stating that she does not pay taxes after Colonel Sartoris’ invented tale of how her father loaned the town some money several years ago, and allow the installation of a mail box and an address number after the town receives free postal delivery; and Emily’s continuous clutch to Tobe, who is supposedly emancipated long before her