`` A Rose For Emily `` By William Faulkner

Is there any case in which a murderer would be justified in killing? What if the murderer suffered from a severe form of mental illness? In William Faulkner chilling short story called A Rose for Emily, we see a character who murders her lover, but was it her fault? Emily had been mentally unstable for a long time and her family had a long history of suffering from mental illnesses as well, but at the end of the day there is no justification for murder. Some of the most notorious serial killers and murderers have suffered from one form or another of mental illness. People like Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer all suffered from some form of mental illness ("Dangerous Minds: Mental Illnesses of Infamous Criminals"). Although there is an understanding on how a person with mental illness is more susceptible to commit violent crimes, it is still wrong. In a study it was found that “no significant difference in the rates of violence among people with mental illness and other people living in the same neighborhood” (Publications). Emily killed Homer due to lack of morality caused by a combination of terrible parenting and a system that put her above the law. The relationship she had with her father was a distinct one, he pushed her into a little bottle and never let her out. She wasn’t allowed to be a person, but instead a trapped soul yearning for attention and love. The town in which she lived, held her on this pedestal that separated her from the rest of the

When a person has only been taught dysfunctional love, it is all too often that this is the only kind of love they will ever experience. In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner explores an unorthodox relationship between an aristocratic southern lady named Miss Emily Grierson, and a blue-collar northern fellow named Homer Barron. The narrator, who likely represents the townspeople, describes Miss Emily’s unusual father in detail. Because of this illuminating description, the reader is able to begin to understand the strange dynamic Mr. Grierson and his daughter share. The story reveals how an over-controlling parent can negatively

William Faulkner wrote “A Rose for Emily” to showcase the changes in society. Faulkner’s story is about Emily Grierson, a southern woman, who is watched upon by the towns’ people of Jefferson from her earlier days until her death. Emily is a stubborn woman because she refuses to listen to the warnings about Homer, a northern man, she claims she does not have to pay her taxes, and leaves her father’s dead body in the house for three days. Emily also becomes secluded over the years only having two people in her life Tobe, her servant and Homer, her lover. The town’s people began to become suspicious when an awful smell was coming from Emily’s house. When Emily died, the people of the town went into her house, and they found the decayed body of Homer. William Faulkner comments that, “You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” This is a direct reflection on how Emily lives her life because she does not want let go of her past, just like the south not wanting to let go of their tradtion. A decline of the south is the theme of the story and it is shown by the use of characters, conflicts, and symbols.

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” it is clear how Emily’s gender affects how the individuals in the town perceive her. Emily’s gender particularly affects how men understand her. Throughout the whole piece Emily is seen as a helpless individual who is lonely and has suffered losses throughout her life. When the reader reaches the end of the story the actions that Emily has taken is unexpected because of the way she is perceived by the narrator. In the beginning of the story, when the whole town was at her funeral and the men were discussing her life, none of the townspeople ever say anything negative about Emily. The men went to the funeral because they saw Emily as a fallen monument to the town. The narrator discusses how the town felt that Emily had become a tradition for them to take care of her. The narrator even points out how she did not have to pay taxes. This clearly shows how women are perceived in this town. Women are seen as unable to take care of themselves and as innocent humans. The way the narrator talks about Emily gives the reader the idea that Emily could never hurt anyone, because of this idea the reader is shocked at the end of the story. The feminist view of Emily allows the reader to be shocked by the ending of the story and it also allows the reader to see the way masculinity is understood in this piece.

In the short story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner escorts the reader through the peculiar life of the main character Miss Emily Grierson. The gloomy tone of the story is set by the author beginning his tale with the funeral of Miss Emily. During course of the story, we are taken through different times in Miss Emily’s life and how she was lost in time, with the town around her moving forward. Through the use of southern gothic writing style, narrator point of view, and foreshadowing, Faulkner aids the reader in creating a visualization of Miss Emily and the town in which she lives while also giving an insight into her sanity.

In the grotesque short story A Rose For Emily, William Faulkner’s critical tone speaks clearly as he uses irony and bizarre imagery to criticize his own southern culture. Born in 1897 in Oxford, Mississippi, Faulkner grew up in the center of southern racism and witnessed the post-Civil War transition of his society (Wikipedia). By carefully crafting the characters in the story, Faulkner is able to critique the typical southern view of African-Americans as well as demonstrate the unwillingness of the older generations to transform their rules and ideals to match the change of society that came with the younger generation. Throughout the story, Faulkner uses stereotypical behaviors present in Southern culture, such as class structure and racism, in order to demonstrate and critique the prejudice occurring in Southern society.

Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is definitely an odd character by the standards of an average reader. The character analysis of Miss Emily could follow any number of roads. It would be hard as a reader not to examine her from a psychological perspective as well as within the context that surrounds the character. Throughout the short story of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s peculiar and unstable behavior becomes strikingly unpredictable, and the reader like the townspeople in the story, is left to determine why Miss Emily has spent many years living and lying next to the dead body of Homer Barron. One of the important quotes in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the townspeople “did not say she was crazy” at first (Magalaner and Volpe 152), and of course, she was never evaluated by a medical professional. Yet by the end of the story, the reader can travel back through the story and recognize many occurrences in which Miss Emily’s behavior hinted towards the possibility of a mental illness, even if the townspeople wanted to remain oblivious to this fact and allow her to remain a monument in Jefferson. Emily never receives any form of mental treatment, but definitely shows signs and symptoms of mental illness. In fact, these details could be used to reinforce the affirmation that Miss Emily suffered from mental illness, quite possibly Schizophrenia as defined by the

People are subject to decay and death – these are inevitable aspects of life. In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily epitomizes these concepts as she attempts to hold on to the past. Emily is among the last of the Griersons – an aristocratic older family that had lost their influence after the Civil War. She is exposed to the fast changing perspectives and ideals of her town, Jefferson, and she refuses to relent as she continues to uphold her traditional southern values and social status. Emily progressively decays because she chains herself to the past and because of her uncompromising attitude towards the modernization of her environment. She then meets Homer Barron, a potential suitor from the North. However, Emily resorts to the extremes to keep him by her side and poisons him. Her intransigence encompasses her struggle to remain relevant during Jefferson’s development. Emily Grierson’s insistence on living in the past and her refusal to change establish her as the embodiment of decay through the descriptions of her house, her stubbornness, her appearance, and the poisoning of Homer Barron.

A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, is a short story that follows the life and death of Emily. The story starts with Emily's father dying when she hits the age of around thirty during the time of 1882. She could not accept the death of her father, it basically took a piece of her, following that her life then becomes the basis of a psychological discharge, mentally as she changes. The strict dictation of her father was as if her father was the hammer and she was the nail, defenseless and weak. Her life took a turn for the worst as her lust for love was perished by her own hands, killing Homer Barron and forever hiding his death. This story is basically about a young

In the short story A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner narrates a story of a woman’s life, death, and funeral. The short story is separated into five sections in which each section starts in a different manner. In the first section it depicts Emily Grierson’s funeral at her house in which no one had entered in ten years. In this section we also learn that the town’s previous mayor, Colonel Sartoris, had taken Emily’s tax duties to the city after her father died; mitigating the action by stating that her father had once loaned the community an exuberant amount. When it was time for new town leaders, they did not necessarily see eye to eye with Mrs. Grierson, in which they made several unsuccessful attempts to start paying taxes again. Soon the members of the board went to her house to talk with Emily, she then asserted she does not have to pay taxes in Jefferson. In the second section the narrator flashes back to about thirty years prior to her funeral. The main point in this section is the town’s people feel Emily will become reclusive. Her father just died and the man whom Emily was to marry just left her. It was to be said that the Griersons thought too highly of themselves, because Emily’s father drove away any man that seemed reasonable to marry his daughter. The day after her father’s death, Emily is met by the women of her town at her doorstep, the women wanted to give their condolences, when this happened Emily responded with her father was not dead. She

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner was published in 1930. This short story is set in an old southern town. I believe that this and several other combinations of events are what made the main character Miss Emily go insane. Miss Emily was a old school southern woman trapped in a modernizing society. She tried desperately to try and keep to her old ways, but the changes were inevitable. This made me feel like something was going to go wrong very early in the story. It became very apparent to me that Emily did not deal well with change. Throughout the story, I felt sorry for Miss Emily, because I do not deal well with change either. I find it hard and stressful to deal with. Thus I can see how her changing environment directly impacted Miss Emily’s life. This along with her sheltered and isolated childhood could have been what drove Miss Emily to become a murder later on in her life.

In Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” begins with Miss Emily’s funeral and then she is born into an aristocratic family. The vast settings and varieties of characters make it impossible for the story to be told by a single person, but by multiple characters. The short story also suggests that Emily was a victim of the values of the old south, but she butts the southern values again and again. Emily’s father was very protective of her and would kill any man she formed a relationship with. This made it to where Emily didn’t know how to treat a man because she didn’t have the social skills everyone else did at the time. In the book she was also depicted as the non-southern women in fact she was the exact opposite of a southern women.

The way that “A Rose for Emily” fits into the genre of Southern Gothic literature is obvious in the mood of the story. The mood of this story has a rather volatile, grim setting with the house that is deteriorating and the festering body. This exhibits the struggle that the character Miss Emily is facing against a society that is rather oppressive.

First appearing in the April 30, 1930, issue of Forum, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a tale of an eccentric recluse. Emily is essentially a mystery, hidden within the dusty walls of her home, controlling what the townspeople know about who Miss Emily Grierson truly is. While Emily’s father was alive he controlled every aspect of her life. From this her hunger for control was sparked, thus igniting a rebellious flame within Emily as she begins creating and enforcing her own sense of law and conduct. Unfortunately, the consequences that come with her disregard for the law only became more sinister as she craves total power over another through necrophilia.

William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. Faulkner lived in Mississippi; where he went to college for two years after World War 1. An analysis of William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” uses character to show how everyone overlooks Emily as a suspect of the murder of Homer Barron by showing that people felt sorry for her, people thought she was suicidal, and her appearance.