A Rose for Emily is considered a Southern Gothic horror that include dark subjects such as sex, murder and incest. Sigmund Freud, who many refer as the father of modern psychoanalysis, could have played a very large part in the character Emily Grierson. The strangeness that evolves around Emily Grierson leaves many questions unanswered and left to the reader to interpret with many questions that are hinted in the story. Did Emily and her father commit incest? Why would she hold on to her dad for three days after his death? How can she be okay with murdering and sleeping with her lover? Psychosexual fixation can answer most of these questions. The personality traits that go with the psychosexual fixations shows that the Oral, Anal and Phallic …show more content…
“On the opposite end of the spectrum [anal expulsive], they may become messy and disorganized” (Heffner). Emily shows several character types that can fit into the traits of the Anal stage by being destructive and messy as well as her house being untidy. Between the poisoning of Homer and the unkempt way the state of her house was made it evident. “This may have happened due to a negative reaction from her father during a strict toilet training” (Ilustre). This his hinted that Emily had “ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece” (Charters 221). Emily’s father is seen by being a person of harshness by “clutching a horsewhip” (Charters 219). Her father was abusive and did not give Emily the love that she needed. Emily did not look after herself or her house on several occasions. Emily was said that she had a smell that was caused by the decaying body of Homer. This smell received several complaints and escalated to where four men put lime in the windows to get rid of the smell. She also died on a pillow that was “yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight” (Charters 222). The untidiness can also be seen by the note the mayor received from Emily. The note was on “paper of an archaic shape, in a thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink, to the effect that she no longer went out at all” (Charters 217). And when the town opened the …show more content…
In the phallic stage the Oedipus complex, Electra complex and penis envy which occurs with girls. With penis envy, girls have a competition with their mothers for their father’s attention and love. Because Emily’s mother was not in her life, there was no competition. And while the father chased away all of the boys from Emily, keeping Emily to himself, there may have been an incestuous relationship between Emily and her father. “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such” (Charters 219). Emily’s father thought that he was the only man good enough for Emily. When the father passed away, Emily was in denial about his death and keeps his body. When Homer passes away, Emily kept the body for more than forty years. This suggests that there is a parallel between Homer and Emily’s father being a role of a lover. At the time A Rose for Emily was written during the old South, girls were expected to marry at a young age. “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with the insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized” (Charters 219). After Emily’s father died, the phallic figure was then removed from Emily. Emily then needed another phallic figure to hold on to. The death of Emily’s father may have caused her to be transported mentally to her being a child (Scherting 400). This is symbolized by
In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Miss Emily Grierson is a lonely old woman, living a life void of all love and affection; although the rose only directly appears in the title, the rose surfaces throughout the story as a symbol. In contemporary times, the rose also symbolizes emotions like love and friendship. The rose symbolizes dreams of romances and lovers. These dreams belong to women, who like Emily Grierson, have yet to experience true love for themselves.
Is being attached to something in a great abundance a bad thing? Well, it can be in some cases. Undoubtedly, many people in today’s society live constantly in angst with the fear of losing their loved ones and cope with their anxiety in a variety of ways. However, while many methods are accepted by society’s standards as of dealing with their stressors, some individuals have more extreme methods of coping with their separation anxiety. For instance, in “A Rose for Emily”, the main character, Emily Grierson, loses her father and fears a similar event will occur with her assumed lover. For that reason, it is easy for readers to assume that Emily has a separation anxiety. In this story by William Faulkner, she takes what modern day society would consider drastic measures to make sure the two never leave her.
She is a patient of asylum, also a prisoner. There are more than one changes in her miserable life. Start from her childhood, her father, that arrogant rich man looked down every person of Jefferson. What he has taught Emily it is his selfish dignity. Emily grows up in this kind of situation. For her teen period, the time girls will have oodles of fantasy and dream of love, her father broke it harshly. He shut those guys who asked Emily for a date out of the door as he thinks they are not good enough for her. Emily just surrenders as a good girl. That causes the first twist of her life when it comes her father's death. Emily thinks he left her alone after keeping her in prison all these years. She doesn't know how to stay with people and it is his responsibility. Thus, she wants revenge, she wants to treat her father like what he has done to her, trapped him. Emily tells the Jefferson that her father was still alive and denied the truth. "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all." It is her second change, Emily's lover leave her. We can find out that one more person she loves has abandoned her, again. It brings the following terror, she kills Homer, the unmarried man. Poor Emily cannot bear separation any longer, so she upgrades her action of escaping the truth, leading Homer's death to keep his body like exactly what had happened when her father died. Besides, she sleeps next to him, it shows
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the main character named Emily is a women of high status and is the gossip of the town. Emily was thirty and remained unmarried. Soon she found a Northern man named Homer Baron and was spending most of her time with him until the town didn’t see him after he stepped foot into the house of Emily. The narrator/detective revealed at the end a very disturbing attribute about what was held in Emily’s house. However, William Faulkner’s idea of a detective story is far from becoming visible as the traditions make it stand. Based on William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” he used a unique style to re-create detective genres that clearly made him an extraordinary writer
In a Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, we meet a young woman that is surrounded by death. As the story progresses we find more and more death and decay throughout Emily’s life. This leads to the theme of Death and Dying. Through-out the short story the theme of Death and Dying is represented through many symbols. These symbols include dust, the house and Emily herself. This essay will examine how each of these symbols represent Death and Dying.
Emily’s father rose her with lots of authority, he might had ruined her life by not giving her the opportunity to live a normal lady/woman life; but he build a personality, character and a psycho woman. Mister Grierson was the responsible for Emily’s behavior, he thought her to always make others respect her. Homer’s actions of using her as a cover to his sexuality was not respectful at all, Emily did not know any better and poison him to death.
Emily meets Homer and she soon becomes very attached to him. The town’s people instantly began to notice this, “Presently we began to see him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays from the livery stable” (Faulkner 301). As the town’s people began to see them together, they all started to wonder if they would get married. Soon they realized that Homer was not interested in marriage and that he was interested in men. Emily is obviously very distraught by this and eventually leads her to commit acts reflecting her character as someone with very little morals.
Emily Grierson, referred to as Miss Emily throughout the story, is the main character of 'A Rose for Emily,' written by William Faulkner. Emily is born to a proud, aristocratic family sometime during the Civil War; Miss Emily used to live with her father and servants, in a big decorated house. The Grierson Family considers themselves superior than other people of the town. According to Miss Emily's father none of the young boys were suitable for Miss Emily. Due to this attitude of Miss Emily's father, Miss Emily was not able to develop any real relationship with anyone else, but it was like her world revolved around her father.
Her necrophilia is realized first when she refused the death of her father as she desperately clings to the father figure who disciplined her into loneliness. It was the only form of love she knew. It is once realized when Homer dies, however, this time it is with her hands that death has come upon it. She almost actually controlled it. She denied the changes, the possibilities of Homer leaving her, of refusing to marry her, by cutting his timeline—preserving him in death, effectively. Emily and Homer’s weird cohabitation divulges Emily’s upsetting effort to marry life and death. However, death ultimately triumphs.
As a child, Emily was unable make friends or even play outside because her father held his family to a much higher standard than other townspeople “The Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner 36). Emily’s father, selfishly held Emily back from living, loving, and freedom. She was unable to find a soul mate because her father believed that “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such” (Faulkner 36). Because of this, Emily stuck close to the only man she’s ever known like a newborn to its mother. Emily and her father had such a close bond that when he died, for days she refused to believe he was dead, and she also refused to let the townspeople dispose of the body. For the townspeople, Emily’s reaction to her father’s death was quite normal, but for readers it was our first glimpse at her necrophilia.
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.
All in all, the story of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner represents a chilling and twisted story of a woman who used every option, even murder, to keep her state of happiness. Faulkner cleverly uses symbols, characters, and theme to fully illustrate the twisted mind of Emily Grierson and the communities never ending struggle between incorporating modern rules and keeping traditional values.
Emily is in complete denial about the death of her father for days before she begins grieving. Also, she reacts to Homer leaving her by murdering him. And as it is discovered upon her own death, she slept with his skeleton. Evidence of this presents itself at the end of the story, “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (par. 60).
William Faulkner is the author of many famous titles. Interestingly enough, Faulkner never finished high school. He gained his skilled writing from reading many books and an interest in writing early in his life. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Faulkner noted that it is the writer 's duty, “To help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. One of his most famous texts that he wrote was A Rose for Emily. This story takes place from around 1875 to 1920, chronicling the life and death of Emily Grierson. In the short story, Emily’s father dies. The death seems to have a grave effect on her. Later, she then becomes acquainted with Homer Barron. All of the townspeople believe that Emily will marry Homer, but one day Homer walked into Emily’s house, and was never seen again. Emily, who has refused to pay her taxes since her father 's death, secludes herself from society and is later found dead in her house at age 74. William Faulkner, in his story, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner fulfills his own criteria for writing.