Emily Grierson's Time

William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, is a dark tale of a young girl damaged by her father that ended up leaving her with abandonment issues. Placed in the south in the 1930’s, the traditional old south was beginning to go under transition. It went from being traditionally based on agriculture and slavery to gradually moving into industrial and abolition. Most families went smoothly into the transition and others, like the Griersons, did not. Keeping with southern tradition, the Griersons thought of themselves as much higher class then the rest of their community. Emily’s father found no male suitable for his daughter and kept her single into her thirties. After her fathers death Miss Emily was swept off of

William Faulkner is an award winning novelist. He has written novels, short stories, plays, poetry, essays and screenplays. Mr. Faulkner graduated from Oxford University, as well as won the two most important awards that anyone can get for writing: Pulitzer Award and the Nobel Prize. A Rose For Emily, is a short story about a Southern women who faces the loss of her father and is criticized by her own town. In William Faulkner’s, A Rose For Emily the author approaches the story with a pathetical appeal, the tone/attitude of the story is set out to be gothic, as well as be a proud a Southerner.

William Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. He wrote short stories, plays, essays, and screenplays. He is mainly known for his creative imaginary stories that were based on Lafayette County, Mississippi where he spent most of his life. Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers in American literature and especially Southern literature. He spent majority of his childhood years sitting around listening to his elders and family members telling stories that included war stories of the Civil war and slavery. “A Rose for Emily was his first story that was published in a major magazine called the Forum.” When the short story was first published, it didn’t do that well in the

William Faulkner wrote, "A Rose for Emily." In the gothic, short story he contrasted the lives of the people of a small Southern town during the late 1800's, and he compared their ability and inability to change with the time. The old or "Antebellum South" was represented by the characters Miss Emily, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Aldermen, and the Negro servant. The new or "Modern South" was expressed through the words of the unnamed narrator, the new Board of Aldermen, Homer Barron, and the townspeople. In the shocking story, "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner used symbolism and a unique narrative perspective to describe Miss Emily's inner struggles to accept time and change

There are many instances where Emily resists change, unable to let go of the Southern, antebellum lifestyle she grew up with. This creates a contrast between Emily and the rest of the town, which is progressing and modernizing as time goes by. Emily’s traditional nature puts an emphasis on her representation of the past. She actively resists modernization, choosing to reply to the mayor’s offer to call with a letter “on paper of an archaic shape, [written with] thin, flowing calligraphy in faded ink” (Faulkner 1). Emily’s actions represent the past and an inability to let go of it. She is stuck in the past, unwilling to accept the change that the future brings. Emily and her house are the last glimpses of the past in her town; as the town progresses, her house stood unmoving, “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons” (Faulkner 1). The house continues to display the style of the past, despite the decay and progression of style. Emily and her house represent the past, when her house was new and in style. Emily’s resistance to change and longing for the past is appropriate, considering her age and upbringing. She is an older woman, who grew up during the Civil War era in the South. The reason the South fought in the Civil War was to protect their lifestyle at all costs. The South was unwilling to change, stubbornly clinging to the antebellum way of life. This philosophy shaped the

The story of Emily Grierson is a hauntingly gothic approach on the resistance of change. It starts out announcing Emily’s funeral is an obligation for the town and the process of the selfish people who would only go for their own benefit. The reader is then transported through time over decades of this southern woman's life while learning about her strange habits and how she became the conversation of many in the town. Everyone has quirks. Emily’s just aren’t the normal ones typically heard from a neighbor.

Miss Emily’s father is over protective that thought no one was good enough for his daughter. He keeps her secluded from the town, “we remembered all the young man her father had driven away” (36). Emily had learned to live that away and became worse within time. She was always protected and sheltered by her father that she lived life away from any social interaction. Her father made her into the woman she became, she did not know how to let go and accept any change.

At first talking about the author can be essential to go through the topic. William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897. He became Famous from the set of novels that explore the South’s historical legacy, fraught and violent present. His works are usually rooted in his fictional city in the county of Mississippi, Yoknapatawpha. This setting which was the microcosm of the south he imaginarily knew it very well. He could look into as binoculars which he could go through the society and people. He was particularly interested in the moral implications in the history. It - “A ROSE for Emily”- was first published on April 30, 1930. This is the time of the high modernism with the rise of its elements. Faulkner once

She was perceived as a powerless, secluded, lady who never interacted with anyone, and never abandoned her house. We are presented with Miss Emily’s stern stubborn attitude once she was faced with the claims of her unpaid taxes. Miss Emily on several occasions presents herself with an attitude in which we begin to interpret as a defense mechanism in which she defies all sense of responsibility as she assumes she is above the law or old southern hospitality. This is the literal representation of the South and it’s loss of control and how they denied it to be true.

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

Culture is also important to the setting in the story being told. Miss Emily was a Grierson. The high and might Grierson’s as they were known in Jefferson. Faulkner talks about how “Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of the august names where they lay in a cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of the union and confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.” By describing this culture setting Faulkner is setting the tone for what kind of character Emily is, and what kind of family she had. The Grierson’s were a powerful family in Jefferson, royalty if you will, and Emily was the last of this great family.

William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. He was the oldest of four Brothers since a very young age William developed a love for literature.He was awarded multiple awards including Nobel prices and Pulitzer awards. William Faulkner is known for his stories about the decadence of the south and the tones his stories have. In this story, we see how Emily is a symbol for the town of the old South and how everyone need to adapt to the new changes in the town. William tone influences every part of his stories.“A Rose for Emily” is about Emily Grierson a girl in a post-civil war Mississippi and how she isolated from everyone during tough situations. In “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner use of imagery and symbolism help us develop the theme of the story.

As an image of decrepit grandeur, Miss Emily’s house is used to symbolize Miss Emily’s character herself, the historical setting in which the story takes place, and some of the story’s central themes. Described as “a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorates with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies” (Faulkner 1), the house is ornate and grand in design, even being located on what was once an exclusive street in Jefferson. However, over time, it had become dilapidated and unkempt, with the interior being dark and full of dust, possessing “a close, dank smell” (Faulkner 1). Similarly, Miss Emily was once a young lady of high standing, opulent in her own ways, but slowly aged and lost her grandeur, becoming “a small, fat woman” (Faulkner 1) whose hair was turning grayer as the days went by. Much like her home, Miss Emily was losing her charm over time, showing that her character was stubbornly grasping on to the idea that she still retained an image of splendor she no longer possessed, all while isolating herself from the rest of the town.

The manner that Faulkner applies point of view in "A Rose for Emily" provides the readers with the idea of the dying values, traditions, and customs of the “Old South”.

Miss Emily, a monument in the southern town of Jefferson, blessed and cursed by her social standing, is reproduced in the dismal short story by William Faulkner. Faulkner describes Emily as a “tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” (Faulkner 323) Even after her father dies, Emily never forgets her high standing as a once aristocratic family in the old deep south. From the beginning of the story Emily Grierson’s social standing is revealed and reiterated through the entirety as Faulkner explores the use of Marxist criticism.