The Lonesome Death of Emily
Emily is a post civil war southern aristocrat. Society deems she stay in her role, however
Her nature is to rebel, and her path is one of dying alone in a house filled with bad memories.
She has comitted murder in her early years, which paints her as an outcast. Emily is a superficially tragic woman. She is a mystery to the townspeople,who narrate the story. We never completely understand her,but the imagination can do wonders to a situation like that, from a literary standpoint. As far as we know, Emily never indicates having a sibling. The story doesn't mention anything to make s assume she is anything but lonely. There is also no mention of a mother,which could have been a key factor in Emily’s psychosis. The narrator clearly wants us to focus on her being her father’s daughter, and her lonely existence with him as a iving figure in her life,and in death. From all evidence, He continued his hold on her after death. The relation to a fallen relative can truly be a powerful entity in ones further time on this earth. As a living man he kept her from having normal relationships. Friends, lovers he abused her emotionally to the point of eventual homicide.In her mind, there was no escape from this mental prison until she died herself. She was meek, and unable to fight back against his cruelty.
This assessment is kind of like blaming the victim though. Of course this is only one point of view, and he shoulders the blame accordingly. When he died, she persued all of what she was missing. The common urges of a young woman. Sex, relationships,socializing.However this attempt was a mterrible failure, and she eventually went back to the ways her father conditioned her to.” None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.”(Faulkner) By now, however, she had Homer decaying in her