...The Affect that Emily Grierson has of the Old South and the New South “A Rose for Emily” is one of William Faulkner’s strangest, most unusual, and famous short stories ever because of its unique plot. The story focuses on Miss Emily Grierson, the unknown mystery of her life, the views of the Old South about Miss Grierson, and the views of the New South about her. Some critics say that Miss Emily Grierson was “one of the strongest, strangest, and most memorable character in any of Faulkner’s short fiction stories” (Kriewald 1). In the beginning of the story, the author describes Emily as a very popular person. Although she was very popular, she was also very different. Most people from the Old South had changed their lifestyle as the time progressed, but not Emily. She stayed the same and nobody could change that. Emily is affected by the change of time, but she doesn’t the change in time change her life. Miss Emily Grierson was one of the most isolated and unknown people in the town of Jefferson, and she made everyone in the town wonder what kind of person she was. Miss Emily represents the Old South, and when she died, everyone in the 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 had seen in at least ten years”(Faulkner, 548). One of the major symbols of Miss Grierson was her house. Her house was one that was build during the Civil War, and...
Words: 1349 - Pages: 6
...Situation in “A Rose for Emily” The era of “A Rose for Emily” is post Antebellum South where the North has emerged victorious from the Civil War. Miss Emily represents the last stronghold of Southern Aristocracy. The setting around Miss Emily reflects the decaying south with the modernization of the north. William Falkner reveals through situation that Miss Emily is static character in a dynamic world. The first paragraph immediately creates a grim atmosphere because of the funeral. The reader feels tension between the towns people as the woman are present for gossip and curiosity versus the men who pay their respects to a “fallen monument.” Faulkner’s diction choice suggests Miss Emily was a great figure, however her impact on the town has faded. This tension between “monument” and gossip is recurring throughout the entire story. The physical appearance of her house contributes to the static nature of her character. Her house reflects the decay of Miss Emily, where the town described it as “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps – an eyesore among eyesores.” The personification of the house suggests that the town holds the same feelings for Miss Emily. She antagonizes change by refusing the death of her father. She holds on to the body of her father three days after his death because she did not accept his passing. Her father’s presence looms after his death as an oppressive force in Miss Emily’s life. She also rejects other...
Words: 581 - Pages: 3
...fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, and are subjectable to uncontrollable impulsive behavior. (Howes) When the world of Emily Grierson is taken away from her in the blink of an eye she copes the only way she can, through the past. Insanity can drive you to the point of no return. In the short story A Rose for Emily, Miss Emily Grierson is a subject to her father and continues to be even after his death. Lost in her mind of delusions Emily Grierson takes actions to keep her life the way it was and does the unthinkable and finds surrogate to take place of her father.! ! For every strong man there is a flaw in them that can ruin a person. Faulkner wrote of the father/daughter relationship for a specific reason, as if to give the readers a view of her past and to see what may have sparked the flame of insanity. Through the narrator’s point of view Faulkner portrayed their relationship through the eyes of the people by saying; “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such. We had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a sprawled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door” (Faulkner). As the viewers of the story read this they realize Emily didn’t get to embrace the normal life of a young woman, she didn’t get to interact with men, and she wasn’t married at the time although she was “thirty...
Words: 1399 - Pages: 6
...A rose for Emily In his short story, “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner intends to convey a message to his audience about the unwillingness in human nature to accept change and more specifically the secretive tendencies of aristocrats in the South during the early 20th century. In order to do this, Faulkner sets up a story in which he isolates and old aristocratic woman, Miss Emily, from her fellow townspeople and proceeds to juxtapose her lifestyle with theirs. In doing this he demonstrates her stubborn refusal to change along with the town, but also Among several literary devices the author employs to achieve this contrast, Faulkner sets up his narrator as a seemingly reliable, impartial and knowledgeable member of the community in which Miss Emily lives by using a first person plural, partially omniscient point of view. The narrator is present for all of the scenes that take place in the story, but does not play any role in the events, and speaks for the town as a whole. Faulkner immediately sets up his narrator as a member of the community in the first line of the story, saying that when Miss Emily died “our whole town went to her funeral.” Although it’s never directly explained, it appears as though the narrator is an older member of the town. This is demonstrated in statements like “the next generation, with its more modern ideas;” because the narrator does not say “with our more modern ideas” he makes it clear that he is not one of the younger members of the community...
Words: 855 - Pages: 4
...A Rose for Emily Miss Emily Grierson becomes and isolated old woman who is pitied by the people of the town. She seems to be one of the last people that is left in the town from the older generation. In William Faulkners’ story “A Rose for Emily”, the nonlinear narrative indicates that time will aid in the development of the story as well as the characters. However, a close look at the manipulation of time, suggests that Miss Emily, herself will come to represent time and change in her community over the decades. The tension between the new generation and Miss Emily indicates her inability the grasp the realism of time. William Faulkner uses progressive time shifts to compare the past and present and their influence upon on another. Miss Emily made an agreement with Colonel Sartoris to not pay taxes because her father had loaned the town money. When the next generation came into office, “this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction” (Faulkner). Miss Emily failed to respond to the tax notice that was sent to her by the new aldermen and mayor. She believed that the new generation should honor the non-official agreement set forth by her and Colonel Sartoris and “perhaps one [of the new aldermen] can gain access to the city records and satisfy [themselves]” (Faulkner). After a non-successful visit to Miss Emily house to collect her taxes, she puts the gentlemen out of her house because she still believes she “has no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner). Miss Emily struggles to...
Words: 895 - Pages: 4
...William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is among his most famous short stories because of the interesting method of storytelling it employs. Faulkner uses a non-linear plot structure in this story, as opposed to the more often used, more simplified linear plot structure of most fiction. “A linear plot begins at point A, progresses through events which build towards a climax, and then finally reaches point B” (Malone). In contrast, “a non-linear plot typically presents the audience with multiple paths from point A to point B” (Malone). In other words, non-linear plot structures consist of back-and-forth storytelling, or flashbacks. Because of this non-conventional plot structure, “A Rose for Emily” has been described as an “emotionally complex and chronologically confusing narrative” (Petry 53). However, the story has also been cited as “one of Faulkner’s most carefully constructed stories” (Everett 165). The effectiveness of the disordered chronology can be likened to the preciseness of an equation. As Faulkner misdirected his readers through the use of flashbacks, he revealed Miss Emily’s disoriented mental state in her dealings with the passage of time. Faulkner efficiently complicates the narrative situation by opening “A Rose for Emily” with the death of the main character. The first sentence captures the reader’s attention immediately, evoking a collective sympathy for the main character: “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral” (Faulkner...
Words: 1257 - Pages: 6
...A Rose for Emily tells of a woman named Emily Grierson who lived in the South where a rigid class structure determined the expectations regarding a person’s behavior and society’s treatment of them. Miss Emily was the daughter of a rich upper class man who was quite influential in the community of Jefferson so it was expected that the community respect his daughter, Emily. Many allowances were made for Miss Emily’s bizarre behavior because of Mr. Grierson’s standing in the community. Miss Emily did not pay property taxes because of past favors that her father had done for the town. Emily’s marriage to Homer Barron could have been seen as a disgrace because of her husband’s place of birth and occupation, he was a Northerner and a day laborer, but the marriage gave Emily the opportunity to redeem herself by performing the role of a wife, which was expected of a woman with such a high status in society. Miss Emily represented women in society who were unable to find happiness because of a stifling class system that dictated the standards for living and prevented Emily from getting the medical help she needed during her times of deep suffering. Some of the townspeople could not fathom the courtship between Homer and Miss Emily since they felt that “even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige.” (p. 2172) They...
Words: 974 - Pages: 4
...(Brainyquote). He further explains why he’d do this in “A Rose for Emily”; although the story is not about him, he details the loneliness and selfishness of a poor woman, Miss Emily. Miss Emily is unable to grip the idea of death and suffers great deals of denial. After the death of her father, the townspeople expected her to be in a state of grief but alas she is not. Instead she proceeds to say that her father is very well with her, alive. William Faulkner’s idea of grieving is clear in this story because he shows his audience that it is better to accept death than to ignore it through the accounts of Miss Emily’s journey. William Faulkner’s story takes place in the South, during a time period of racial discrimination and major political change. By using reader response criticism, a reader can analyze “A Rose for Emily” through the aspects of the secret held within the story, race found through anthropology, and gender found through anthropology. To begin with, one can analyze “A Rose for Emily” by examining the underlying hidden message found within the story. The hidden message that William Faulkner tried to convey in his story was the themes of death and change. Death looms through the story from the beginning right on through to the end as the narrator begins describing the beginning of Miss Emily’s funeral. Miss Emily herself chooses not to accept the fate of death when her extremely controlling father passes away. “Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed` as usual and with no trace...
Words: 1089 - Pages: 5
...Rose for Emily” People will go great measures to avoid letting a loved one go. In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” dreams collide with the real world. Miss Emily Grierson was raised by a narcissistic father who created an isolated woman. Her father secluded her from the rest of the world by assuring no one was good enough for her. After her beloved father’s death, she struggled to let him go. Later in her life, she meets a man named Homer Barron, who was in town to fix the town’s streets. The unknown narrator, who lives in the town, and fellow townspeople notice Miss Emily’s happiness with Homer and believe that they will get married. The townspeople specifically thought Homer and Miss Emily were married when Miss Emily bought a men’s toilet set in silver. However, when Homer disappears, Miss Emily loses another person she loves. In “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s dreams of love collide with the real world. Miss Emily loved her father and he is the only person by her side. He is the only person in her life because her father is narcissistic. Faulkner suggests that Miss Emily’s father abuses his daughter. This may be the reason “none of the young man were quite enough” for her (Faulkner 439). The way Miss Emily acts with her father, the town “thought of them as a tableau” (Faulkner 439). After Miss Emily Grierson’s father passed, Miss Emily became the last of the Griersons. Unable to accept the death, it is only after three days that Miss Emily allows...
Words: 1758 - Pages: 8
...Roberta Jones Mr. Hickman English 1600 22 October 2012 A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily is about Miss Emily who is the main character in a story written by William Faulkner. Miss Emily is a proud aristocratic whose story is staged sometime during the Civil War somewhere in the south. Miss Emily has a strong southern up bringing which ultimately leads to her demise and mental break down. During this period in the South Miss Emily’s is expected to be married and not being so was socially unacceptable. Southern society encouraged this and believed that to be happy it was necessary for one to be married, or be considered an old maid. Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” is an example of classical Southern literature because it has all the important things that ruled Southern culture of that time period family, community, religion, time and place. Miss Emily’s father was one who was compelled to bring her up with all the southern social values and controlled all that she did and whom she would court and what she would wear. Emily’s was regarded as her father’s property like the house in which they both lived. The house is as an example of the lavish expense and show of the wealth as well as the visitors and clothes. Miss Emily believed herself better than most and her father felt no suitor was good enough for his daughter the Grierson family represented the elite and spoiled. Because of this snobbery Miss Emily never married and eventually became a relic of Southern gentility...
Words: 550 - Pages: 3
...into his or her story that has meaning. There can be multiple symbols in a story or just one. It is up to the reader to interpret the meaning of the symbols and their significance to the story. In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner effectively uses symbolism to illustrate the fading glory of the Old South giving away to the progress of reconstruction and the new century. It also plays a role in understanding the whole meaning of the story and why Emily is a tragic figure as opposed to an evil person. The gray strand of hair found on the pillow next to Homer Barron’s corpse is a symbol that represents lost love and perverse action of Miss Emily. The hair represents Miss Emily’s determination to live how she wants while disregarding anyone’s approval. Her eccentric actions proves that she lives by her own moral code, that whatever it takes to be happy is welcome, even if it is murder. “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt...” (Faulkner 327). The strand of hair stands as the remnant of life that is left to decay, just like Homer Barron’s body (Getty 231). The lime that is sprinkled around Miss Emily’s house is another symbol in the story. Lime is a white powder used to cover the smell of decomposing bodies. The townspeople go to Miss Emily’s house to sprinkle lime in her yard when there is complaint about the awful smell coming from her house. The smell of Homer’s rotting corpse eventually stops spreading into the streets, but it is thought...
Words: 1517 - Pages: 7
..."A Rose for Emily" is a wonderful short story written by William Faulkner. It begins with at the end of Miss Emily’s life and told from an unknown person who most probably would be the voice of the town. Emily Grierson is a protagonist in this story and the life of her used as an allegory about the changes of a South town in Jefferson after the civil war, early 1900's. Beginning from the title, William Faulkner uses symbolism such as house, Miss Emily as a “monument “, her hair, Homer Barron, and even Emily’s “rose” to expresses the passing of time and the changes. The central theme of the story is decay in the town, the house, and in Miss Emily herself. It shows the way in which we all grow old and decay and there is nothing permanent except change. Miss Emily’s house is one of the important symbols which represent the past because it rejects updating like Miss Emily. The “… house had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street” (209).Then it ages with Em... ... middle of paper ... ...me time she is the victim of her resistance to change of time while the world went on without her and misperception of the people around her. In conclusion, this story “A Rose for Emily” tells the life, the love, the time, hopes, and destruction of Emily Grierson by using intelligent symbols. Emily never accepts that the changing world around her might be benefiting...
Words: 299 - Pages: 2
...Jones Mr. Hickman English 1600 22 October 2012 A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily is about Miss Emily who is the main character in a story written by William Faulkner. Miss Emily is a proud aristocratic whose story is staged sometime during the Civil War somewhere in the south. Miss Emily has a strong southern up bringing which ultimately leads to her demise and mental break down. During this period in the South Miss Emily’s is expected to be married and not being so was socially unacceptable. Southern society encouraged this and believed that to be happy it was necessary for one to be married, or be considered an old maid. Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily†is an example of classical Southern literature because it has all the important things that ruled Southern culture of that time period family, community, religion, time and place. Miss Emily’s father was one who was compelled to bring her up with all the southern social values and controlled all that she did and whom she would court and what she would wear. Emily’s was regarded as her father’s property like the house in which they both lived. The house is as an example of the lavish expense and show of the wealth as well as the visitors and clothes. Miss Emily believed herself better than most and her father felt no suitor was good enough for his daughter the Grierson family represented the elite and spoiled. Because of this snobbery Miss Emily never married and eventually became a relic of Southern gentility...
Words: 550 - Pages: 3
...story “A Rose for Emily” and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor there are characters to which these attributes apply. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily is from a proud, aristocratic family only then that had made through the Civil War era; Miss Emily used to live with her father and servants, in “a big squarish frame house, decorated with cupolas” (Faulkner 82). The town’s people conspire unconsciously to protect both Miss Emily Grierson and the community from shame and Emily’s unusual behavior after her father’s death. This was a devastating loss for Miss Emily. The setting in “A Rose for Emily” is post civil war Jefferson, a small town in the south where the Confederacy is a thing of the past. The people within “this class and its attributes cannot be separated from each other by a change in outward appearances” (Owens 1). Miss Emily ‘s behavior influenced by her own expectations of herself and the townspeople’s lack of authority over her years after “Colonel Sartoris invented the tale that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town” and “remitted her taxes” (Faulkner 82). The narrator leads the reader to believe the Griersons had always thought very highly of themselves; after her father’s death Emily is the last Griersons. Therefore, the responsibility of upholding the family name now lay with Miss Emily; “these qualities are fixed in blood and are passed directly from one generation to the next” (Owens 1). There is no doubt Miss Emily shares the same...
Words: 771 - Pages: 4
...Rose For Emily A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, is a short story about the life and death of Miss Emily Grierson.Faulkner's primary themes are the struggle of the individual will against the pressures of time and change, and of the conflict between the interests of society and the individual's needs and desires.He arranged the story in five sections of roughly equal length. The first, which begins with her death, deals with Miss Emily's encounters with the tax officials, the next with the death of her father. The third tells the story of her buying poison for an unnamed purpose, and the fourth tells the story of Homer Barron and Emily's own aging and growing isolation. In the fifth section Faulkner returns to Emily's funeral, and the shocking discovery that follows it. The first section of this short story additionally includes a description of the history behind the town's relations to Miss Emily. The narrator comments: "Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town". This obligation began in the year 1894 when Miss Emily's father died; he left her nothing but the house. That year the town's mayor told Miss Emily she was exempt from all taxes because the town owed her father. Miss Emily accepted his exemption and the tradition began. As this section comes to an end, a new mayor tries to get Miss Emily to start paying taxes, but she refuses. The second section of A Rose for Emily describes...
Words: 690 - Pages: 3
