Comparison of A Rose for Emily and The Possibility of Evil In the short stories “A Rose For Emily,” by William Faulkner and “The Possibility of Evil,” by Shirley Jackson both authors create similar characters and settings that illustrate daring images of evil. Both Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth are women who share similar characteristics yet pose completely different motives. Their stories take place in close-knit towns, which play essential roles in their motives for evil. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth demonstrate similarities and differences that develop their actions, revealing the possibility of evil within them. Both towns that Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth exist in are important settings for their actions. Without their towns both women may not have faced their disastrous conclusions. Emily Grierson’s position in her town was not chosen, it was handed down to her by her father as an aristocrat of her small town. Her town alienated her and placed her under the high expectations of a classic southern aristocrat. They treated Emily as “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation” (FAULKNER 89). Her town’s nosiness kept her from the man she loved and ultimately alienated her from all parts of the town. Emily Grierson’s role in her town was chosen for her. However, Adela Strangeworth’s role was one she chose herself. Adela Strangeworth’s position was the exact opposite of Emily Grierson’s. Adela Strangeworth was involved with everyone’s business, “This was, after all, her town, and these were her people; if one of them was in trouble, she ought to know about it” (JACKSON 469). She wrote them secret, mean and hateful letters in reciprocation to their evil actions, which began to ruin their lives. Her nosiness, not the towns, drove her to her final fate. Both towns played an essential role in developing the women’s evil actions. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth both resort to evil actions in order to gain control over that which they desired. Did Adela Strangeworth demonstrate a greater sense of evil for invading her town’s privacy, or was Emily Grierson more evil as she committed murder? The American Heritage Dictionary defines evil as “morally bad or wrong; love in public esteem” (DICTIONARY 249). Adela Strangeworth’s decision to disrupt her town’s privacy was bad and Emily Grierson’s decision to... ... middle of paper ... ...rth further their evil degrees. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth possessed characteristics alike and different, both resulting in evil actions. Their towns create the perfect canvas on which to paint their tales of evil. The stories of Emily and Adela are tales of control. Emily Grierson desires only love from another human being and Adela Strangeworth sought order in her live and both women use evil to achieve their desires. Adela did so by manipulating the lives of others, cruelly and secretly, Emily by extinguishing lives itself. Emily is sad and pathetic in her attempt of control. Adela was pure evil, which ultimately destroyed her. Emily in a strange way achieved her goal, though monstrous; Adela never did and was crushed by it. WORKS CITED Faulkner, William. “A Rose For Emily.” Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Kirszner, Laurie. Mandell Stephen. 4th edition. Sea Harbor: Harcourt College Publishers. 2001. 87-94 Jackson, Shirley. “The Possibility of Evil.” Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Kirszner, Laurie. Mandell Stephen. 4th edition. Sea Harbor: Harcourt College Publishers. 2001. 463-474 “Evil.” American Heritage Dictionary. 1973 ed.
In “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner both main characters are portrayed as irrational and are isolated from reality. The narrator in “The Tell-Tale Heart” murders an elderly man, as he is fearful of the man’s eye. Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily” lives secluded from society, until she marries a man, Homer. She ultimately kills Homer in his bed and leaves his body to decompose for many years. Both the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” deny reality so vehemently that they isolate themselves from reality. Their isolation and denial of reality cause both to commit murder.
Faulkner, William. A Rose For Emily. 10th ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 681-687. Print.
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 12th ed. New York: Pearson, 2013. 549-51. Print.
Having been the only daughter of a noble family, Emily was overprotected by her father who had driven away all the young men wanting to be close to her. As a result of that, when she got to be thirty, she was still alone. It was Mr. Grierson who alienated his daughter from the normal life of a young woman. If she weren?t born in the Grierson, if she didn?t have an upper-class father, she could have many relationships with many young men in order to find herself an ideal lover. Then she might have a happy marriage life with a nice husband and children.
He was the only man in her life, and after his death, her behavior became even more unnatural. However, her father's death cannot be seen as the only cause of Miss Emily's insanity. Miss Emily's behavior was also influenced by her own expectations of herself, the townspeople's lack of authority over her, and her neighbor's infatuation with her. The narrator tells us the Griersons had always thought too highly of themselves and no doubt Emily shared this opinion with her belated family. After her father's death, she was the last of the Griersons.
Usually, the little old lady who lives down the street is always a sweet old woman who bakes cookies and knits all day, but in the case of Miss Adela Strangeworth she had developed a very evil hobby. In Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Possibility Of Evil” Miss Strangeworth may seem like a nice old lady but she is really a proud, cruel, and secretive woman, who enjoys making everyone in the town she lived in feel terrible without even knowing she was doing it.
William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line.
The story is clearly an illustration of the passing of the old to the new, and of the real character of human nature - decadence. The townspeople had an equal share in the crime that Miss Emily committed, and they were instrumental in its cover-up. She is described as "dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse." (85) This description sums up the people's outlook of both her, and themselves in their willingness to embrace her. Even today the fetters of certain types of ignorance and other forms of evil acts are on view anywhere in the country if one looks. A Rose for Emily illustrates it in its purest form in its own time.
In “ A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the complex tale of a woman who is battered by time and unable to move through life after the loss of each significant male figure in her life. Unlike Disney Stories, there is no prince charming to rescue fallen princess, and her assumed misery becomes the subject of everyone in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the townspeople gossip about her and develop various scenarios to account for her behaviors and the unknown details of her life, Emily Grierson serves as a scapegoat for the lower classes to validate their lives. In telling this story, Faulkner decides to take an unusual approach; he utilizes a narrator to convey the details of a first-person tale, by examining chronology, the role of the narrator and the interpretations of “A Rose for Emily”, it can be seen that this story is impossible to tell without a narrator.
She does this by revealing Miss Strangeworth’s ironic actions of her destructive attitude and hypocritic ways. This statement shed lights when Miss Strangeworth is writing letters to Mrs. Harper and Helen, and she notices how the town is becoming more vile, “The town where she lived had to be kept clean and sweet, but people everywhere were lustful and evil and degraded, and need to be watched; the world was so large , and there was only one Strangeworth left in it,” (Jackson, pg. 253). Miss Strangeworth exemplifies arrogance and hypocrisy by stating that she is the solution to all evil, yet she is initiating evil by means of writing letters to people conveying her pernicious words and telling them that they are not good enough. She expresses how she dislikes evil, therefore she is contradicting herself with her actions since she continues to spread evil through her judgemental
William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” displays themes of alienation and isolation. Emily Grierson’s own father is found to be the root of many of her problems. Faulkner writes Emily’s character as one who is isolated from the people of her town. Her isolation from society and alienation from love is what ultimately drives her to madness.
In “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, Emily Geierson is a woman that faces many difficulties throughout her lifetime. Emily Geierson was once a cheerful and bright lady who turned mysterious and dark through a serious of tragic events. The lost of the two men, whom she loved, left Emily devastated and in denial. Faulkner used these difficulties to define Emily’s fascinating character that is revealed throughout the short story. William Faulkner uses characterization in “A Rose for Emily”, to illustrate Miss Emily as a stubborn, overly attached, and introverted woman.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact 4th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 81 - 88.
In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner's use of setting and characterization foreshadows and builds up to the climax of the story. His use of metaphors prepares the reader for the bittersweet ending. A theme of respectability and the loss of, is threaded throughout the story. Appropriately, the story begins with death, flashes back to the past and hints towards the demise of a woman and the traditions of the past she personifies. Faulkner has carefully crafted a multi-layered masterpiece, and he uses setting, characterization, and theme to move it along.
In the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, Emily, the protagonist, is shown as someone who’s life is falling apart and brought down by society. Emily in this story could be described as a victim to society and her father. Emily Grierson’s confinement, loss of her father and Homer, and constant criticism caused her, her insanity.