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Examples Of Fate In A Rose For Emily

Decent Essays

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is well known for it beautifully intricate story line. Within this story I will be showing his vision of fate, symbolism, and status all contribute into this short story. “A Rose for Emily” is the telling of the life of our main character Miss Emily from the gossip of the small town of Jefferson.
Throughout the story of “A Rose for Emily” Faulkner will intertwine fate as he does in many of his other stories. Faulkner has already decided the fate of Miss Emily from the very beginning of the story. He shows us her fate simply by the decisions his father have made. The decision made that no man was good enough for her, simply wrote the fate of Miss Emily. By her father showing this level of arrogance labeled …show more content…

Her status has been determined by her father that was doing well after the civil war and acquired a beautiful home and his procured status. From this status the father gained the notion of being able to label his daughters suitors as not good enough for him or his daughter. From this came the gossip of the town about the Grierson family. Not only did the Grierson family believe they were above everyone else they acted as if they truly were. This feeling of status evidently ruined Mis Emily’s chance at a family but did help her encounter Homer Barron. A man whose status was a thing going against him in this town “Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer.” Faulkner represents the status of the people in the town to be one of their defining traits. In which goes back to the Old south and how their status affected the way a person was looked upon. Even in the continuing generations the status of a man or woman was the respect they were given in the small town of Jefferson. Thus, supporting the life and misery of Miss Emily. Faulkner uses an enormous amount of symbolism in the story of “A Rose for Emily”. This symbolism shows us the difference from The Old South to the New South. By the symbol of Miss Emily against the changes within the town. The symbolism can be found within the little things as well in “A Rose for Emily” from the golden pocket watch, to just how she is writing back to the sheriff’s office. The use of symbolism within the story gives the depth within the story. He shows his opinions about the old south, sexism, and the prejudice within small towns and the people of his

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