An Explication of “forgiving my father” When I first read “Forgiving My Father,” by Lucille Clifton, I was confused about the meaning of the poem. I thought that it was going to be about her forgiving her father, but I never noticed her actually forgiving her father. By analyzing the overall message, the diction, and the structure of “forgiving my father,” I realized that she never did forgive her father. Although she tried to forgive him, there was too much hate, and eventually she walks away from his grave. The diction that Clifton uses in the poem is very interesting.
The townspeople were about to resort to law enforcement when she finally broke down and told them that her father was dead. The townspeople did not believe she was crazy, even though they knew insanity ran in her family. They thought Emily did this because they remembered how the father drove all the young men away. Now she was a figure that could be pitied by the town, alone and penniless. Eventually Emily met Homer, a Yankee who came into town to pave sidewalks during the summer of Emily’s father’s death.
One day, she went to a pharmacist to get arsenic. The pharmacist feeling a bit skeptical states, "I can give you the arsenic, but I am required by law to know what you are using it for." Miss Emily just stared at him tilted her head until he turned walked away to get the poison. Homer had left town while Miss Emily's cousins were in town. When they left, Homer had come home, Some had seen him walked in the house then he was never seen again.
William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily In the story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner, the author talks about a life of a woman and the town she lived in. The story begins just when miss Emily died. The author doesn’t tell us much about that time except that many people were interested to see what was in her house. As the story progresses, the author decides to jump all the way to the beginning when miss Emily was still a young woman and her father was still alive. During that time, the town felt bad for poor miss Emily and thought that she was going to die with out a husband by her side, since her father didn’t like any men that liked his daughter.
Meursault’s casual and nonchalant attitude throughout his mother’s funeral creates an emotional wedge between him and the reader insofar as their inability to justify his behavior. The fact that the structure of the novel explicitly demonstrates Meursault’s indifferent attitude makes it so that reader is at odds with the protagonist from the onset of the novel. The reader begins to search for a reason why Meursault is acting this way and causes them to have a feeling of absurdity. As they entered the village for Maman’s funeral service, a nurse spoke to Meursault, and said, “If you go slowly, you risk getting sunstroke. But if you go too fast you work up a sweat and then catch a chill inside the church.” Meursault’s takeaway from her comment was that, “... ... middle of paper ... ... truly be interested in?
Faulkner lures the reader into continuing the story in anticipation of why the death of Emily is such a big and exciting event for the townspeople. Faulkner begins his story with this statement, “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant . . . had seen in at least ten years” (128).
Emily’s father’s death was a major tragedy for Emily. It seems as if she was in denial of his death. Faulkner explains, “The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead.” So Emily would not admit that her father had died.
Her father dies suddenly one day, but Emily refuses to acknowledge it for three days, after which she is forced to let men take her father out of the house. A little while after this she meets a man and they being to talk a lot. Many people in the town have no idea what really goes on in her life, but they love to speculate. After awhile Emily orders a men’s bathroom set and clothes. This leads people to believe that she is going to marry Homer Barron .
Emma left a note for Charles before she died that told him about Rodolphe and her affairs with other men. Gustave Flaubert uses Emma’s death to dissect Charles showing that he is a loving and caring husband, widower, who eventually dies from the loss of his wife and newly acquired information about her affairs. “The elder Madame Bovary arrived at dawn; Charles had another fit of weeping when he embraced her. She tried, as the pharmacist had done, to make a few remarks about the expenses of the funeral. He flew into such a rage that she dropped the subject; he even told her to go to the city immediately and buy what was needed.” (Flaubert 286) Emma Bovary’s death also affected the minor characters.
Both women ignored the feelings of the families of the deceased, failed to refer to the deceased by name, felt shame in the presence of the deceased and both had a life and death epiphany. Although Laura and Elizabeth were in two similar yet very different situations, they both had contemplated the dead men, acted in similar ways, felt similar emotions and both ended up having an epiphany regarding life and death at the end of the story. No real concern was shown in either story for family members of the dead. In fact the only concern shown by Laura and Elizabeth was only concern for themselves. In “The Garden Party,” Laura did not once show any consideration for Mr. Scott’s family.