Functionalist Perspective In Road End

Throughout the story, there is no mention of a mother, so this leads me to believe that the only parental figure she had was her father, Mr. Grierson. He is a single father who was overprotective of his daughter, and felt no one was good enough for her. Mr. Grierson appears to have been strict which took a toll on her love life during her father’s life time. One of the citizen still recalls “all the young men her father had driven away” (Faulkner 500). It was not until after her father’s death when she meets Homer Barron. Homer ends up becoming an important individual to her. Lastly, we have our main character, Emily, who never had anyone besides her father. Her two main tragedies were “her father’s death and a short time after her

In addition to the impact of her family on her mental state, it is also through the relationship Miss Emily has with her community, that helps to foreshadow the fateful ending. It is through the words and actions of the community that this relationship is shown, such as how they even distance themselves from her. In the beginning of the story in Act I, Faulkner describes Miss Emily’s position in the town as “a sort of hereditary obligation”. Since the death of her father, the town is aware of the struggle she is having while being alone, so that is why they see her

The Structural functional theory is focused on the gender roles of a family. The female is the homemaker

The story brings to the forefront on how parents need to anticipate the family needs and take proactive steps to ensure healthy family dynamics during any stressful or critical situation. A family that has functional dynamics has the ability to offer support, concern and love to each other when a chronic conflict or

Emily’s upbringing is plagued with difficulties. She is the first-born of a young mother and the eldest of five brothers and sisters. As a baby, she is

Emily comes from a family with high expectations of her a sort of “hereditary obligation” (30). Emily has been mentally manipulated by her as so indicated in the line of the story “we did not say she was crazy then we believed she had to do that we remember all the young men her father had driven away” (32). There is already proof of mental illness in the family “remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great aunt, had gone completely crazy last” (32).

Meg Jay talks about a client named Emma that is struggling with her identity and feels alone because she does not have a family. Families matter because they provide a sense of security and belonging, without a family people feel lost and unimportant. Not being part of a family can have negative implications on a person’s health such as depression. Having a family to go to can reduce the stress we face in relationships, school, and work. Families are important because they provide an unconditional love that is not found in other relationships.

Although the mother may have been trying to help Emily, the mother should have tried to take care of Emily better instead of sending her off as the only solution. One of the other effects of her mother’s unavoidable neglect is Emily’s failure to be on the same pace as her peers in class. She is at a state of illiteracy that is uncommon for her age at the time which may be a result from staying at home instead of going to class to take care of the household. In addition to the mother’s neglect, having a sister who was the ideal poster child may have caused self confidence problems as she grew older being the odd one out in the family. Emily’s mother should have made sure she was able to take care of Emily first before deciding to give birth to another child. What the mother thought would be the best option for Emily had a more clear negative effect on Emily after she grew older still not having any clear direction in her life.

Jacobs talks about her family as being an important element in her life; for instance, she describes her father’s determination to want to buy off her children, while she describes

     Emotional support also plays an important role of Emily’s well being. The idea mother suppose to care, support, and value their children needs. Emily needed this nourishment. She needed her mother to smile at her in order for her to feel a connection with the person that she supposed to be able to depend on. Emily’s mother did not know how to communicate with Emily. The mother-daughter relationship has an element of coldness, it lacks warmth. “There were years she did not want me to touch her” (Olsen 262). Emily’s mother inability to interact with her, leaves Emily unloved and in return, she shall not express any love toward her mother. Emily’s mother feels her “wisdom came too late” (Olsen 262). With this thought in mind, Emily’s mother shall never show communication or love to Emily, therefore the relationship shall continue to be doomed.

She is a hardworking, honorable, yet stubborn woman. Since birth, she is pampered and is raised as if she were white. She follows in her mother’s footsteps and has a relationship with a white frenchman named Joseph Billes. She lives with him and works in his store where “sacks weighed almost as much as {her}, but she pulled and tugged” to get merchandise into the building (363). When her relationship with Joseph is not taken nicely by the townspeople she still stays honorable to him even after he leaves her. They have five children together and Joseph remains in their lives even though he is with another woman. Emily is like her mother, she wants her children to choose white partners because it can give them a better life. She becomes stubborn with T.O’s wife, Geneva, because she is dark

The plot or sequence of events are explained very well in this story. Emily is the first of 5 children who seems to experience the most heartache out of the other children.

Being away from her family and friends in Alabama, Emily takes out her frustration of her new environment on her family(100). Many flaws exist within this family;however, the family still seeks comfort in one another.

She was a single mother during Emily's initial years. Thus, instead of being able to spend time and play with her 8 month old daughter, the narrator had to go out to look for a job as well as Emily's missing father (199). She defied the image of a typical housewife. Instead of staying home to cook, clean, and take care of her children, the narrator had to go out and get a job.

According to Herbert Spencer, the family performs functions which are necessary for the society, as a whole, to operate smoothly with little or no