A Rose For Emily Chapter 1-5

Her father, before his death, had been the one to create and feed the insatiable hunger for control that sprouts within Emily. He held a controlling grip on every aspect of her life down to the people she was able to be with. Everyone in town “remembered all the young men her father had driven away” (Faulkner 311) stripping her of the ability to marry of surround herself with anyone who would potentially care for her. At the age of thirty she is mocked for still being single, “When she got to be thirty and was still single, we were… vindicated.” (Faulkner 311) the townspeople felt her loneliness was deserved, but they failed to realize that she had no control over this. After his death, Emily refuses to admit that her father has died “[clinging] to that which had robbed her,” (Faulkner 311) unable to accept that the only person in her life is gone and she is now alone. She is unable to cope with the sudden lack of a patriarch in her life, thus taking on the role of the patriarch as the story progresses.

This annotated bibliography is designed to give the readers comprehensive understand of how the theme of feminism is manifested in William Faulkner short story A Rose for Emily. The information gathered about the story was mainly taken from scholarly journals and credible internet sources. The information gathered on the primary text gives and in-depth and critical look on the topic feminism. Through ongoing secondary research literary critics have a wide interpretations of the primary sources. In relation to the topic feminism, literary critics say that feminism can be seen in the story. Issues that literary critics emphases on are the reason behind the feminism theme. Some say it is because of the author personality, while others say it is just the writer expressing what he sees around him during the time that the story was written. These interpretation by literary critics have influenced me not only to look at the words in story but also to look at the author. Further research on the author would be useful, which will give me a full understand of who he is and what was going on when the story was written.

The townspeople knew that Miss Emily’s chances of a semblance of a “normal” life dwindled each day. They assumed because of Miss Emily’s social status, and her age that she would be a spinster, and expected her to act as such. They were appalled when Homer Barron arrived, and he and Miss Emily were seen together in town. They even contacted out of town relatives to come and talk some “sense” into Miss Emily. They could not accept that Emily may be coming into

The story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner would be drastically different if it was written from the point of view of Miss Emily. Her intentions and thoughts would be more pronounced, and because of this, the ending of the story may not come as such a shock. In addition, Miss Emily would be less distanced from the audience, and they would be able to understand her character in a way that the townspeople could not. Miss Emily being the narrator would immensely change the reader’s perception of the story’s ending and her character.

Desperation for love arising from detachment can lead to extreme measures and destructive actions as exhibited by the tumultuous relationships of Miss Emily in William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 556). Miss Emily is confined from society for the majority of her life by her father, so after he has died, she longs for relations that ironically her longing destroys. The despondency and obsession exuded throughout the story portray the predicament at hand.

“She was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short making her look like a girl” (32). Through this image the narrator portrays Emily regressing back to her youth. It is at this point that Miss Emily is being seen around town with a young contractor named Homer Barron.

In the beginning, the townspeople “did not say she was crazy then.” (34). They sympathize with Miss Emily just after she loses her father, and just after the man whom the townsfolk believed she would marry deserts her. “Poor

Miss Emily was strange and mysterious woman because she didn’t want to see anyone and she didn’t leave her house so many years passed nobody had been able to visit her,she didn’t want to adjust to the new generation and she wouldn’t communication with them.She is the classic outsider,controlling and limiting the town’s access to her true identify by remaining hidden.the house that shields Emily from the word suggest the mind of the woman who inhabits it.

Throughout the story, the actions of Emily are very absurd. However, Faulkner’s setting helps the audience understand how Emily was able to live the way she has for so long and understand the actions of the town. Emily is very reclusive after the death of her father. She has never been without her father’s constant control. Emily’s father thought no one was worthy of his daughter. As a result, she was been kept away from the rest of the world by her father. When Emily’s father died, she could not

William Faulkner is a well-known author, whose writing belongs in the Realism era in the American Literary Canon. His writing was influence by his Southern upbringing, often setting his stories in the fictional Southern town, Yoknapatawpha County. “A Rose for Emily” was one of Faulkner’s first published pieces and displays many of the now signature characteristics of Faulkner’s writing. The short story provides commentary through the use of many symbols. In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, the author uses the townspeople as a representation of societal expectations and judgments, Emily and her house as symbols for the past, and Homer’s corpse as a physical representation of the fear of loneliness.

Eventually, people in the town wrote to her cousins whom she had fallen-out with long ago. When her cousins came and visited, Emily did two things, however separated by Faulkner into sections three and four. In section three, Emily went to the druggist and bought poison. The town, thinking she would kill herself said, “it would be the best thing” (395). Then, in section four, Emily went “to the jewler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver” (395), and the town believed her and Homer Barron were going to get married. The narrator states, “We were really glad.” (395). After the cousins left, and Homer Barron came back to town (he had left to get away from the cousins), Homer was seen going into Emily’s house by a neighbor. “That was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time” (395), stated the narrator. Emily did not have contact with people in the town, “save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting” (395). Then she gave up

"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

The short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner first comes off as a disturbing story. When you realize that Miss Emily Grierson, who is the main character in this story, kills the man she’s though to be in love with, all you can really think is that she’s crazy. I think the conflict in the story is Miss Emily not being able to find love. With her father not giving her a chance to date, thinking that there was no one good enough for her. Then, the only man she has been able to love dies, which is her father. Once she has fallen “in love”, she murders her lover. Miss Emily’s necessity for love has caused her to be unable to distinguish fantasy with reality.

The author uses historical context to show the town as a symbol of the new South. “Even though Miss Emily was a child during the Civil War, she represents to generations past and present the old Deep South of the Delta cotton-plantation aristocracy. She is a visible holdover into the modern South of a bygone era of romance, chivalry, and the Lost Cause.” (Madden). Emily functions as a foil of the town in which she is living, while the town has been evolving to a newer south. She is stuck in her old southern ways even as the town is changing around her likewise it creates a conflict between the town and Emily because of the fact that the town is trying to get her to accept that things are changing. For example when Emily’s father died, she was in denial and the town was trying to get her to let go of her father and let him be buried. “Additionally, Faulkner’s own personal experiences with

Everybody in town feels sorry for Emily when her father passes away. When Emily decides to isolate herself, the town automatically assumes that she is up to something without giving her a chance. Throughout the entire story, the townspeople are whispering and repeatedly saying “Poor Emily”. They label her as “crazy” as soon as they feel she was acting abnormal. Every action that is taken by Emily creates a reaction from the townspeople. “So, the next day we all said, ‘she will kill herself’, and we said it would be the best thing” (Faulkner 85). The town gives off the impression that they despise Miss Emily, they lead the readers to believe that Emily is doing some type of harm to the community. Mr. Grierson supports the town financially and physically. When the mayor exempts her from paying taxes it starts a conflict between Emily and the town of Jefferson. Since Emily has special privileges, the townspeople are now unsatisfied. Jealousy and hatred plays a major role in why the town feels and acts the way they do towards Emily.