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Analysis Of Miss Emily Grieson In A Rose For Emily

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Miss Emily Grieson, a character in William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily” was true a southern belle, steeped in southern traditions, although the town was changing all around her. She was “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating [back to] 1894” (Chapter 1). This southern belle spent her first 40 years living an aristocratic, wealthy lifestyle. Miss Emily lived in a southern mansion with her father, but during her late 30’s her father died, leaving her alone. Shortly after her father’s death, Miss Emily began to openly court “Homer Barron, a Yankee” (Chapter 3). After their brief romance, Homer left town and the southern belle didn’t come out of her house for years. When Miss Emily died, a few men from town breached her home. Inside they find a mysterious and dust-ridden mansion. The men are shocked to find Homer’s body, in a locked room, lying on a bed, under several years of dust. On the pillow next to Homer was a recent impression of a head. In that impression they found one strand of long gray hair, which most likely belonged to Miss Emily. Her secret shocked the town. For years she had lived her life “above” the townspeople. However, her death revealed an eternal truth: we are all equal and we will all one-day return to the dust. Faulkner uses the illusion of dust as the great equalizer, a symbol of the crumbling decline of Miss Emily’s aristocratic life style and the traditions of the old south. This allusion

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