The tragedy of Miss Emily’s life is a common reality that was repeated in the lives of many belles in post civil war United States. A combination of lack of options for women to enhance their lives and the snobbish character of the higher classes in society doomed ladies to a life of waiting for the much sought for suitor. The higher class women, by reason of their upbringing, were schooled not to accept for a husband any man that did not have a certain amount in material possessions. So strenuous was this training and its implementation by well meaning aunts and mothers, that the young women could be depended upon to see to it without any assistance when they attained the years of adulthood.
If Miss Grierson had been born to a more flexible social class, socialization among her peers would have been encouraged. Different peer groups tend to push or at least nudge each other in the right directions. Miss Grierson would have benefitted from such attentions from young women her own age that would encourage her to bravely ignore the maxims of her parents and class and make her own decisions. Once she made her choices, she would once again be able to benefit from the attentions of her peers as supporters of her right to make such a decision. She would not have felt compelled to hide any decision she made concerning her beaus.
However, her epoch did not encourage such closeness or affection between women of high society. Neither were courage and individuality encouraged aspects of the female character. A woman who insisted on doing things differently from how society insisted she should do it was judged as a being flighty and irresponsible. Spouses were to be acquired from one’s own social class and not from across the fence (Ziff,...
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.... They were taught that meekness and a simpering attitude were the right characteristics to embrace. These would achieve the attentions of powerful men who would then seek to ‘protect’ them. Emily Grierson adopted such a pose. She did not get her promised price. In the final analysis, the same society that insisted she adopt the said characteristics, judged her for not having a husband. She was helpless in her snobbish disposition, being too firmly set in her ways and unable to adopt other mannerisms that would assist in her exposure to society. She became, tragically, a victim of her own self.
Works Cited
Mc Cutcheon, Marc. Everyday Life in the 1800’s: A Guide for Writers Students &
Historians. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2001
Ziff, Larzer. The American 1890’s: Life and Time of a Lost Generation. Lincoln: University
Of Nebraska Press, 1979
We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door. So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn 't have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized.’ (25) This complete sheltering leaves Emily to play into with in her own deprived reality within her own mind, creating a skewed perception of reality and relationships”(A Plastic Rose,
As times change and the old aristocratic ways become a thing of the past, the lonely Miss Emily still clings onto her old belief system and her proud, high and mighty demeanor.
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 get many relationships with many young men in order to find herself an ideal lover. Then she might have a happy marriage life with nice husband and children
A Victorian woman was bred up with the honored ideals of someday being “wives, daughters, and guardians of the home” (Parkinson). A model young woman was designed as a bargaining tool; her person, characteristics, skills, and, for those who were fortunate, dowry were key chips to be laid in a game of houses which defined the noblest aspirations of Victorian society. The very “spheres of influence” written about by so many authors of the time, both male and female, dictated that “what the woman is to be within her fates, as the centre of order, the balm of distress, and the mirror of beauty: that she is also to be without her fates, where order is more difficult, distress more imminent, loveliness more rare” (Ruskin). However, being bred for marriage produces a number of problems; hundre...
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
Additionally, it is through this stereotype that the town perpetuates Miss Emily as someone with little control. The belief in Miss Emily’s passive personality, appears to be supported through the contrasting behavioral stereotype of “male-dominance” in her father. For instance, while alive, Mr. Grierson governed Miss Emily’s decisions, specifically that of who she would marry, so as to place her “in the background” and consequently, promote Miss Emily in a subservient role (Faulkner 1350). However, in the same way that a stereotype is an oversimplified, unrealistic image, the full depth and truth of Miss Emily’s identity is similarly reduced (OED 1). For instance, despite evidence that Miss Emily is not regimented to the female stereotype, as seen through observations of her hair like that of an “attractive man,” and the fact that she is Head of the Grierson house (a classically male role), while conversely, her male servant, Tobe, does the cooking and cleaning (a classically female position), the town continues to see her as “poor Emily,” someone weak and meant to pity (Faulkner 1352. 1350. 1351). It is not until the end of the text when the murder of Homer Baron is revealed, that the town becomes aware of Miss Emily’s true propensity to control and are forced to re-contextualize their understanding of her (Faulkner 1353). Likewise, by continuing to see Miss Emily through the impressions projected by her father, rather than the elements of contradiction provided, the town solidifies self-deception so as to be inadvertently
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Societal expectations of wives during the 19th century ranged from beauty, domestic abilities, and to education. Being able to succeed in these expectations a woman could be able to attract a husband. Women were to acquiesce with their husbands and help their marriage thrive. To be a proficient wife and be a success in society’s eyes would be a challenge. By 19th century standards Georgiana had failed as a wife.
Miss Emily was part of the highly revered Grierson family, the aristocrats of the town. They held themselves to a higher standard, and nothing or nobody was ever good enough for them. Faulkner fist gives us the clue of Emily's mental condition when he refers to Emily's great-aunt, Lady Wyatt. Faulkner tells us that Lady Wyatt had "gone completely crazy" (Faulkner 93). Due to the higher standards they had set for themselves, they believed that they were too high for that and then distanced themselv...
Emily was drove crazy by others expectations, and her loneliness. ““A Rose for Emily,” a story of love and obsession, love, and death, is undoubtedly the most famous one among Faulkner’s more than one hundred short stories. It tells of a tragedy of a screwy southern lady Emily Grierson who is driven from stem to stern by the worldly tradition and desires to possess her lover by poisoning him and keeping his corpse in her isolated house.” (Yang, A Road to Destruction and Self Destruction: The Same Fate of Emily and Elly, Proquest) When she was young her father chased away any would be suitors. He was convinced no one was good enough for her. Emily ended up unmarried. She had come to depend on her father. When he finally died, ...
The protagonist of this story is Miss Emily Grierson, an old maid spinster without family who becomes a “tradition” and a “sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 299). The story begins with the death of Miss Emily, so I will rearrange my analysis of the character to begin with what we first know about Miss Emily.
One of the seductive factors of William Faulkner’s society in “A Rose for Emily” is the traditional and adamant mental attitude of the main character in the novel. Miss Emily Grierson was stern in her ways and refused to accept change. She was known to be a hereditary obligation to the town. When the next generation and modern ideas came into progress she creates dissatisfaction by not paying her taxes. For many years and through the time of her death she would receive a tax notice every December and it would be returned by the post office a week later unclaimed. When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily was opposed to the new idea. She herself did not allow them to fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mail box to it. She has no tolerance when it comes to modern ideas. Depression and anguish increased within her causing major conflicts after her father’s death. Being left alone and without any close family to seek support from, she dwelled in disbelief. As custom from the town all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, but Miss Emily met them at the door with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. For three days she was inclined to disbelieve and what had happened while minister and doctors tried to persuade her to let them dispose of the body.
When studying gender roles in history, one will find that females are often depicted in similar ways no matter the era or region of study. Even when comparing the industrialized, early, twentieth century to today’s progressive era, there are striking similarities between female roles. We can see that over the course of the twentieth century, the qualities of loyalty and honesty have decreased in marriages due to the treatment of the two main female roles as depicted literature. The first was the role of the wife. The wife was often portrayed as a housekeeper and a nanny. Dull in appearance, there was no aesthetic beauty to this typical female. The other main role was the “other woman.” The more mysterious and promiscuous character, this woman portrayed the other part of the female population. Both of these types of characters are composites that portrayed the average, disposable female while how they were treated conveyed the general handling of females in the early, twentieth century.
Although I do not agree with how Miss Emily Grierson behaved, but I do not blame her. Harbored from reality her entire life I can expect for her to do some unordinary things. I feel bad for Miss Emily because she was the center of attention in a modernized town where she still practiced her traditional values. Through the eyes the townspeople we get our views of Emily at a distance. Had the story been told from Emily’s perspective we could better understand her reasoning for her bizarre behavior.
Within these marriages, readers get a sense of how education plays an important role in a successful marriage, as this fulfills both of their dreams of personal identity. Although women in the nineteenth century were viewed to be superior wives and mothers, manage the household, and perform domestic tasks, it was important for women to become educated as “an education was supposed to enable these girls to become successful women in society” (Leigh 117). Women were not meant to be “trained” in some way to become good wives, but needed to be formally educated in order to be a successful wife and