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A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner Essay

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William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” narrates the life of Emily Grierson as seen by the villagers. Controlled by her father and her family background, Emily is a woman deprived of the opportunity to live life at its fullest and experience human passions such as love. Furthermore, she lacks a “sense of self” that causes her confusion and makes it difficult for her to form relationships. Due to the lack of identity and isolation presented all throughout her life, Emily suffers from psychological problems related to schizophrenia. Identity begins forming during the adolescent stage of life (Donovan). This stage, referred to as the Identity vs. Role Confusion stage, is the time period in life when an adolescent develops a “sense of self” and a “role” in life (Donovan). If, however, this stage is hindered, the adolescent suffers from confusion (Donovan). Emily is a victim to such confusion. She is torn between living up to her family’s background or pursuing what makes her happy. However, due to the lack of a mother figure and the ever-present father figure, Emily embraces a foreclosure identity. Foreclosure identity is characterized as taking on the values, beliefs and expectations of the parent without knowing why (Donovan). Typically, people with this identity are obedient and cannot function without rules, but are generally unhappy, lack initiative, have poor communication skills, and suffer an inner rebellion (Donovan). All of these characteristics

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