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A Rose For Emily: Unlocking The Power Of Women

Decent Essays

Thai Thompson
Professor Parker
Eng 110-003
27 September 2015
Unlocking the Power of Women
A classical expression of Southern gothicism is one of William Faulkner’s most famous short story, “A Rose for Emily.” This 1929 story is divided into five sections and portrays, in an unorganized fashion, five important turning points in Miss Emily’s life. “A Rose for Emily” gives a dark image of a woman who was discriminated against and deceived by the structure of sexual politics, who still unlocked, within the system that preyed on her, a source of power for herself. William Faulkner uses the characters, the point of view, human nature and how far some will go, as well as control and fear of abandonment to portray the role of gender. This explains …show more content…

In “A Rose for Emily” the issue of the male as being the dominant power is portrayed throughout the story. William Faulkner shows the South as a place that is extremely traditional, family oriented, and has defined social roles. During the 20th century women were discriminated to men, mostly in the South. Men were discriminatory to anyone who was resistance to their control. Most of the times the fathers were the ones with a dominant power. In “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily is a character who is in the shadows of her dad. "We had long thought of them as a tableau. Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back flung front door" (Faulkner, 518). This description portrays Mr. Grierson as a tall and big person, whereas Miss Emily is a very frail and small person. …show more content…

In “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily is trapped in her town's society. The Jefferson’s community feels as though it is a accountability to take care of Miss Emily, know about her every moves, and dictate her actions. During the whole story she is shown as a woman who is very weak and dependent. After the death of her father, Miss Emily is left alone. Since her father did not allow any men to marry his daughter, she had no one to care for her, so the townspeople decided to free her from her tax duties. Also the townspeople attempted to offer their help and sympathy to her. They also tried to be lenient with her decisions in keeping her father’s corpse, dating a Yankee, and buying rat

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