Emily Grierson Modernism

“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 1). Emily, a member of the town’s elite class, relied upon her father when growing up and after his death, she refused to pay her taxes, stating that her father contributed much to society. But it was evident that she didn’t pay them because of a lack of maturity - financially and socially. When she was younger she pushes herself onto Homer Barron, a Northerner with no interest in marriage. Throughout the story, Emily is conflicted over societal change, and clings to her privileged manner even after finding herself in poverty. Yet, she becomes involved with a man from a lower social class, and a Northerner as well - hinting that he has different beliefs and values. The townspeople, however, believe the relationship it too modern when there is a possibility they are having physical relations despite not being serious about marriage. The community’s inability to commit to progress, contribute to the confused Emily’s decision. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses the symbolism of Emily’s house and her hair to demonstrate her emotional instability and physical deterioration, illustrating the outcome of his story.

After reading “A Rose for Emily”, I feel mournful for Emily because of the fact that it seems like she had some sort of mental illness and perhaps she killed her husband by accident because of it. Over the course of the story, readers are most definitely puzzled by Miss Emily’s mysterious and unusual behavior. Although it’s not quite articulated by Faulkner directly, there are various instances throughout the story that hint to the readers about Emily’s awful mental condition.

Emily Grierson and Mark Twain both experience an external encounter with society. For each character, their encounters take place in differently regarding internal and external influences. In A Rose for Emily, the main character, miss Emily Grierson is developed through a course of involuntary actions. She became who she is and is viewed differently by society because of things she did not have control over. As a young woman, miss Emily’s father drove away any man that tried pursue her because he claimed none were good enough. This involuntary experience which came upon Emily Grierson may be part of her pursuit of Homer Barron, a man well below her status within society. When their relationship is made public, the town’s people begin saying

In William Faulkner’s short story entitled “A Rose For Emily” the main character Emily’s insanity was not always present throughout the story as much as she rather snapped when all of the stresses and pressures in her life grew to be too much. She dealt with the tragedy of her father passing with great grief, even going to the extent that she refused to believe he was dead for three whole days. Emily was raised by her father and they had a close relationship so it was understandable that she was distraught at his passing, but their relationship was not necessarily healthy.

1. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” creates a sense of psychological intensity that provides a vision of mindful wonder in the eyes of suspenseful character progression. 2. Faulkner’s story remains an influence of mental stableness in the remnant of love, and the actions taken to receive what is wanted. 3. Written in 1930, “A Rose for Emily” suspends a rare idea of, “Can “killing for love” still be considered love, or is it something quite different, something dark and perverse” (Carver 497). 4. “A Rose for Emily” customs the use of imagery to symbolize character aspects and the way their minds are at work. 5. “Faulkner’s story focuses on the interaction of tradition, madness, and love” (Carver 497). 6. “A Rose for Emily begins with the funeral of Emily Grierson, and describes a first-person encounter of the events taking place. 7. As the climax continues to obtain sentimental value and curiosity, the strange behaviors of Emily and Homer begin to set foot into the readers path. 8. Encountering Emily’s abnormal actions towards the townspeople and Homer, the story focuses on the mystery of her lover’s death, and the actions leading into the horrible discovery. 9. The short story of Emily and surrounding aspects of her life represents a rare encounter of both love, and death. 10. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” forms an act of suspense that is sustained within the initial plot, and character analysis of the individuals throughout the mysterious storyline of gender

Therefore, when women from the community came to offer their condolences, Emily stated that her father was not dead, and continued with this for three days until eventually she turned her father’s body over for burial. Emily previously experienced imprisonment herself with her father keeping her in isolation throughout her childhood, which in response she holds others imprisoned. Faulkner states, “Then we knew that this was to be expected too; as if that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman's life so many times had been too virulent and too furious to die” (4). This states that all the traumatic experiences Emily was placed into from her father is withstilled in her that she continues to present these characteristics past her father's death. She continues to isolate herself when faced with adversity and has no social skills with the outside world, therefore having the dead body of Mr. Grierson and Mr. Barron, she would not become lonely throughout her isolation and did not need social skills.

Faulkner has characterized all the characters in the best possible way. Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, Judge Stevens – the mayor of Jefferson, Mr. Grierson – Emily’s father, Tobe – Emily’s servant, and Colonel Sartoris – a former mayor of Jefferson are the major charters in the story. The narrator describes Emily as a monument, but with a lot of negativity. The story shows us how she was a smart young girl and then how she end up being an overprotective and secretive old woman. She refused to accept the change when her father died and that’s why she kept telling all the people in town that her father is still alive. Homer Barron is much like Emily. Like Emily, Homer is an outsider and becomes the topic of gossip. The narrator describes Homer as a big man with dark complexion with a good sense of humor. Tobe’s character in the story plays an important role. He is a loyal and dutiful servant. He cared for Emily till she died, but he walked out of the back door and never returned after Emily’s death. Mr. Grierson was a well-maintained person. When he was alive, Emily’s house was always beautifully maintained. He earned a lot of respect in the society but when he died the respect towards his family died with him.

In Faulkner's story, an onlooker tells of the peculiar events that occurred during Miss Emily's life. The author never lets the reader understand Emily's side to the story. Instead, the reader is forced to guess why Emily is as strange as she is. In the story, Emily had harbored her father's dead body in her house for three days (par. 27). The reader is told of how the town looked upon what Emily had done, but the reader is never able to fully understand Emily's actions until the end of the story.

Emily was kept confined from all that surrounded her. Her father had given the town folks a large amount of money which caused Emily and her father to feel superior to others. “Grierson’s held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner). Emily’s attitude had developed as a stuck-up and stubborn girl and her father was to blame for this attitude. Emily was a normal

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.

Miss Emily is a mysterious character in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. She is the protagonist in this work. Emily used to be a vibrant and hopeful young woman, but something has changed with her. She had plenty of potential suitors, but her father rejected them all. After her father’s death, she is devastated and lonely. It is almost as if she is depressed, but then she meets homer Barron, a foreman from the north. They spend a lot of time together and the town certainly notices. The town talks about these two and it spreads around like wildfire. One day, Homer is seen going into Miss Emily’s house and he is never seen again. Loss can affect anyone and it certainly affects Miss Emily. Miss Emily’s psychological resilience to anything remotely traumatic is very low. She has a very high for need to get love from anyone. Miss Emily is a dynamic character; her mind and body both change throughout the story, but they are very slight changes that someone rarely notices at first.

Emily’s father died when she was about thirty and refused to accept her father’s death for three days and after a life of having husbands rejected by her father, she spends most of her time with a newcomer Homer Barron. According to the saying of townspeople “Their relationship improper because of differences in value, social class, and regional background” (Mosby 2). Therefore, she started to think of herself as an unfortunate girl. Her father and Homer Barron played an important and significant role in her life and for that reason, she could not bear the absence of two people in her life and stayed unhappy in her house. It seems that Emily might have psychological trauma and it may be assumed that her loneliness turned into a stubborn character as her house is described as “stubborn and coquettish”(Faulkner 557) which reflects the character of the owner of the

Miss Emily's relationship with her father is a key factor in the development of her isolation. As she is growing up, he will not let anybody around his daughter,

The narrator seems unable to establish direct contact with Emily, either in the recovery center or their home life. The narrator notes how Emily grew slowly more distant and emotionally unresponsive. Emily returned home frail, distant, and rigid, with little appetite. Each time Emily returned, she was forced to reintegrate into the changing fabric of the household. Clearly, Emily and the narrator have been absent from each other’s lives during significant portions of Emily’s development. After so much absence, the narrator intensifies her attempts to show Emily affection, but these attempts are rebuffed, coming too late to prevent Emily’s withdrawal from her family and the world. Although Emily is now at home with the narrator, the sense of absence continues even in the present moment of the story. Emily, the narrator’s central

Likewise, due to Emily only having interactions with only her father, I feel that this may have affected her mentally. Emily was not able to accept changes accordingly in her life. Emily was so stuck in her father ways that she didn’t want to change anything from their lifestyle after his death. She wanted to keep everything the way it was, which was comfortable for her. Like the narrator tells us, she didn’t want to use the city new mailing system and wanted to stick with the mailing system she was accustom to , “When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it. She would not listen to them” (Faulkner, 1931, 86-87). Also, evidence that Emily couldn’t adapt to change was introduced when she met a man named Homer to take the vacant place of her loneliness. Homer was a relief for Emily; she would not have to be alone any longer. Although Homer provided Emily with someone to be with, everyone knew that their relationship wasn’t going to last. It was known that Homer liked men, “Homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club – that he was not a marrying man” (Faulkner, 1931,