The Traditional Townspeople
“A Rose for Emily,” is a short story about the life of a woman with a tragic history. Emily spent her long-lasting life in a community, and she was known by all. Although the story focuses on the development of Emily, I wanted to shed light on the place that watched her grow. In the story, Faulkner views the townsfolk as a traditional southern community, based on their antiquated social class, their money status, and gender roles. Many issues that surface in the story are originated from inequality amongst the townspeople, issues that aren’t seen today.
To begin with, the role of gender is apparent in “A Rose for Emily”. Faulkner’s commentary on the role of women in society is clear; he believes that women are inferior to men, almost as second class citizens. For example, the story begins with Faulkner saying, “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…” (Faulkner). Faulkner makes his beliefs about the role of gender clear by saying that men attended Miss Emily’s funeral with honor and respect whereas women attend the funeral out of curiosity to see her house. He portrays women as being less honorable. Moreover, Faulkner believes that a woman’s true value to society is her appearance. He spends a lot of time detailing Miss Emily’s appearance throughout the stages of her life. No example is clearer than where he states, “When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even-pepper-and-salt iron gray, when it ceased turning.” Faulkner gives th...
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...their social class, their gender roles, and their money status. Faulkner accomplishes this by breaking down the community and their social behavior/interactions with each other. He views the women as self-absorbed, and vain. The men, as independent, honorable, and respected. The rich are narcissistic, and the poor are pitied. There is even a social class barrier between different skin colors. In our community today, all these are labeled stereotypes, but it seems the community in “A Rose for Emily,” go unbothered by the issues around them. Although the focus of the story is centered on Emily’s life, Faulkner goes above and beyond to illustrate the perfect background for the plot. While shining light on the place she grew up in, perhaps it’s possible to raise more questions, open new perspectives, and illustrates new ways to analyze the life of Miss Emily Grierson.
In Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, there is a constant theme of protection for Emily Grierson, because she was a woman living in the south after the civil war and the requirements that were placed on women enable to be honorable. That is to say that, women needed to be protected by the men of the community during that time in history and women’s actions were constantly under watch to see if a woman was honorable and worthy of protection or not. Within the story, there are many instances in which this is shown. Faulkner also shows the reader a gender split between the men and women and how they felt towards Emily.
William Faulkner’s "A Rose for Emily" is perhaps his most famous and most anthologized short story. From the moment it was first published in 1930, this story has been analyzed and criticized by both published critics and the causal reader. The well known Literary critic and author Harold Bloom suggest that the story is so captivating because of Faulkner’s use of literary techniques such as "sophisticated structure, with compelling characterization, and plot" (14). Through his creative ability to use such techniques he is able to weave an intriguing story full of symbolism, contrasts, and moral worth. The story is brief, yet it covers almost seventy five years in the life of a spinster named Emily Grierson. Faulkner develops the character Miss Emily and the events in her life to not only tell a rich and shocking story, but to also portray his view on the South’s plight after the Civil War. Miss Emily becomes the canvas in which he paints the customs and traditions of the Old South or antebellum era. The story “A Rose For Emily” becomes symbolic of the plight of the South as it struggles to face change with Miss Emily becoming the tragic heroin of the Old South.
In William Faulkner story “A Rose for Emily” has many subtle details that reveal that woman being treated as a lesser and with injustice has always happened and throughout the telling of Miss Emily Grierson’s life, you get a good look at it. For instance, the narrator reveals that “the town remembers all the young men her father had driven away” (Faulkner 732). This gives us insight into the way the female has long
The characters in Faulkner's southern society are drawn from three social levels: the aristocrats, the townspeople, and the Negroes (Volpe 15). In "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner describes Miss Emily Grierson in flowing, descriptive sentences. Once a "slender figure in white," the last descendent of a formerly affluent aristocratic family matures into a "small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head" (Faulkner, Literature 25-27). Despite her diminished financial status, Miss Emily exhibits her aristocratic demeanor by carrying her head high "as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson" (28). In an equally descriptive manner, Faulkner paints a written portrait of Miss Minnie Cooper in "Dry September." He portrays her as a spinster "of comfortable people - not the best in Jefferson, but good enough people" and "still on the slender side of ordinary looking, with a bright faintly haggard manner and dress (Faulkner, Reader 520). Cleanth Brooks sheds considerable insight on Faulkner's view of women. He notes that Faulkner's women are "the source and sustainer of virtue and also a prime source of evil. She can be ...
As a person one might find that we follow a specific routine on the day to day basis. Sudden changes to these routines feels weird and out of place. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily” based in a fictional town called Jefferson taking place during the twentieth century. The time period is indeed an important factor because southern tradition was above all of the highest importance. This short story gives the audience details of life during that time in which they followed the values of southern tradition and the importance to never stray away from those traditions. The context of the story is laced with subliminal messages of humanities resistance to change.
In “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, the story starts out with a distinctive split between the motivations of men and women: “The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity” (Faulkner 121). At the funeral of Emily, the narrator appoints men in the category of attending out of respect, and women attending simply because they are curious and nosy. The immediate distinctive division between men and women suggests the story has a “stance towards patriarchal societal structures” (Curry) in which men are dignified and women are shallow. An additional example of how women are treated as sub-par to men is when the women complain of the smell from Emily's house but are not taken seriously until a man complains; women are portrayed as unheard. Although Faulkner compares the jurisdiction between men and women, the main component of the story is the expectations society has on a “lady”(Curry). Even after the men and women have complained about the smell from Emily's house, confronting Emily about the issue would invalidate her status as a lady; “a 'lady' would not have such a house” (Curry). In a patriarchal society, it is never the goal to destroy a lady. In such a society, ladies are entitled to act a certain way. Later in the story, Emily is able to illegally purchase arsenic without a valid reason, but the cashier assumes she is committing suicide. After Homer, Emily'...
“A Rose for Emily” 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. William Faulkner introduces us to a number of characters but the most involved being Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Tobe, and the ladies of the town; who are not named individually. Emily Grierson was once a beautiful and wealthy upper class young women who lived with her father, who has since died, on the towns,
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.
Faulkner writes “A Rose for Emily” in the view of a memory, the people of the towns’ memory. The story goes back and forth like memories do and the reader is not exactly told whom the narrator is. This style of writing contributes to the notions Faulkner gives off during the story about Miss Emily’s past, present, and her refusal to modernize with the rest of her town. The town of Jefferson is at a turning point, embracing the more modern future while still at the edge of the past. Garages and cotton gins are replacing the elegant southern homes. Miss Emily herself is a living southern tradition. She stays the same over the years despite many changes in her community. Even though Miss Emily is a living monument, she is also seen as a burden to the town. Refusing to have numbers affixed to the side of her house when the town receives modern mail service and not paying her taxes, she is out of touch with reality. The younger generation of leaders brings in Homer’s company to pave the sidewalks. The past is not a faint glimmer but an ever-present, idealized realm. Emily’s morbid bridal ...
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.
In Faulkner’s tale “A Rose for Emily” there are many historical elements throughout the story; Faulkner uses them to give an authentic feel to the story and to add to the setting. A recurring theme that I found was reference to the reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. The setting of the South after their demise in the Civil War adds character to the story and to the characters. The attitudes people had and the way people treated Emily with respect was a tradition of the “Old South” that is presented throughout this tale.
Through out the whole story of “A Rose for Emily” no one ever knows who the people are in her town and we never find out there age, size, color, and whether or not they personally know Emily or not. They are just townspeople, townspeople who gossip. We only know what the people are saying about her and how judgmental they are being through out the whole story. According to Faulkner, in his Short Story Criticism he says,
The rise and industrialization of the South began with the end of the Civil War. This aided in the transition from Old to New South, from a time of poverty and slave labor to a more progressive time. The decline of the Old South was often unaccepted and ignored by southerners as they tried to cling to their past ways. Faulkner highlights the cultural shift from Old to New South through character relationships and personalities in his short stories “A Rose for Emily,” “That Evening Sun,” and “Red Leaves.” The main character in William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily, is a representation of the Old South.
The narrator is vague about the intricate details of her life, perhaps because he presents her story as a member of the town, which means he is only able to narrate it from an observational point of view as opposed to an interactive point of view. “‘A Rose for Emily’ is told from a community point of view, so that the narrative voice in the story is the voice of “our town” and “we,” a group .” (Skei, 150). Certain representations of social expectations can be gleaned from parts of the text. This is especially the case when it comes to gender relations and family. William Faulkner’s short story shows how the nineteenth century was set in certain limiting social expectations especially for women, especially
Through the use of setting, characterization and theme Faulkner was able to create quite a mysterious and memorable story. "A Rose for Emily" is more than just a story though; her death represents the passing of a more genteel way of life. That is much more saddening than the unforgettable scene of Homer's decaying body. The loss of respect and politeness is has a much greater impact on society than a construction worker who by trade is always trying to change things. Generation after generation Miss Emily happily escaped modernism by locking herself in her house the past.