Literary Analysis Of Adela Strangeworth And Emily Grierson

In “A Rose for Emily”, Charles Faulkner used a series of flashbacks and foreshadowing to tell Miss Emily’s story. Miss Emily is an interesting character, to say the least. In such a short story of her life, as told from the prospective of a townsperson, who had been nearly eighty as Miss Emily had been, in order to tell the story from their own perspective. Faulkner set up the story in Mississippi, in a world he knew of in his own lifetime. Inspired by a southern outlook that had been touched by the Civil War memory, the touch of what we would now look at as racism, gives the southern aroma of the period. It sets up Miss Emily’s southern belle status and social standing she had been born into, loner or not.

In ‘’The Possibility of Evil’’, Miss Adela Strangeworth is depicted as a villain. Miss Strangeworth in fact is similar to a rose, a rose is a simple flower that looks angelic but has thorns that can prick someone and cause harm. Miss Strangeworth gives the illusion of a 71 year-old lady that can cause no harm and has a heart of gold that cares and worries for everyone. But behind the pretty picture, is a villainous woman who is controlling, bullies the other townspeople, and is jealous of others success.

In the short stories “A Rose For Emily,” by William Faulkner and “The Possibility of Evil,” by Shirley Jackson both authors create similar characters and settings that illustrate daring images of evil. Both Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth are women who share similar characteristics yet pose completely different motives. Their stories take place in close-knit towns, which play essential roles in their motives for evil. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth demonstrate similarities and differences that develop their actions, revealing the possibility of evil within them.

Rose for Emily,” Emily does not talk a lot, but in the Southern culture of the time, to inquire about a person's intent was a vulgar intrusion into one's privacy. Nevertheless, at this point, in spite the narrator's esteem of Miss Emily's aristocratic haughtiness, we doubt a society that allows its members to use their high positions, respect, and authority to sidestep the

Denial is a recurring theme in both stories rendered by those who believe to be in a higher class. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily is depicted as an isolated woman who is so attached to the customs and aristocracy of the past to the degree that she cannot accept change. Emily considers herself as a wealthy and powerful spinster, and her family’s position

While “A Jury of Her Peers” centers on the ramifications of societal standards in marriage, “A Rose for Emily” focuses more on the consequences of societal standards in the family. When she was younger, Emily Grierson was controlled by her father. This control is described in this visualization: “ Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip” (866). This image exhibits how Mr. Grierson overpowered Emily in all aspects of her life. Mr. Grierson, similar to the large silhouette, is seen as looming over Emily, and the horsewhip shows that only he possesses the power to choose all decisions in Emily’s life including her spouse. Faulkner conveys this societal standard as extremely harmful, as Emily becomes mentally unwell. Even though she has seen her father’s corpse, Emily repeatedly “told them [townspeople] that her father was not dead” (866). Mr. Grierson’s lasting effect is also seen throughout Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron, a black day laborer from the north. Although the townspeople believed that “a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner” (869), Emily continues to desperately pursue the forbidden relationship because she believes it is her last hope of having a relationship. Not long after, Homer leaves her but when he comes back to town, Emily makes him stay permanently by poisoning him. Emily’s mental instability all

Emily Grierson is a very misunderstood individual. She lived her entire 74 years of life in the same house in the same city of Jefferson, Mississippi and yet, only a very small group of people can claim they know much about the woman, especially during the later years of her life. She had a mysterious way about her which intrigued all of those around her. The story of “A Rose for Emily” does not occur in chronological order and as a reader, it almost portrays the illusion of being a newcomer to Jefferson, Mississippi and learning about her story through gossip which plays a huge role in this story. As the story begins, Mrs. Grierson has just recently passed and the town gathered at her residency to give condolences and subdue their curiosities.

Starting off firstly, in “A Rose for Emily”, it shows that the setting took place around the end of the civil war. After the war, Emily’s father Mr. Grierson in essence, raised his young daughter Emily to believe that nothing had changed after the war. Emily’s

Tradition controls the actions of both the town and Emily herself.  “A Rose for Emily” captures the importance tradition holds for her Southern community.  The Civil War was an issue of lifestyle.  Southerners hung to the lifestyle they had, with the slaves. Tradition was the reason Emily didn’t pay her taxes. Her father was aristocracy and paid no taxes , therefore , Emily refused. When the slavery era passed, the South fell, the lifestyle was torn apart and the economy changed.  Old-time families, like Emilie’s, lost their position with their

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Emily Grierson is the main character who represents the old values and traditions of pre-Civil War who is faced with the new values and traditions that challenge everything she has ever known. The very first description we get of Emily is the reason people attend her funeral: “the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Faulkner 168) which immediately gives the reader an idea of her being from a past time. Her family’s home is the last remaining building from the town Emily grew up in because “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood” (Faulkner 168). The first major example of Emily’s inability to conform with the new traditions is the revoking of Colonel Sartoris’s tax deal. The old tradition pitied her after her father’s death, but the new tradition didn’t value this and sent her a tax notice every year to which she always sent back. When the sheriff visits to collect the taxes, Emily insists that he needs to talk to Colonel Sartoris who has been dead for 10 years. This delusion shows that Emily is unable to come to terms with the end of the old values. In section II of the story, Emily is trapped as being the last of the Griersons due to her father’s death before he chose a suitor for her. The town “believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner 170) and this combined with the old tradition of the

In order to understand William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” you need to know a little bit about the author. Most of his novels take place in the state of Mississippi with colorful history and richly varied population. The frequent theme in his novels is the abuse of black people by Southern whites. “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the late 1800s in Mississippi after the civil war. The main character is Emily, who comes from wealthy background, but at the time of the story her family has lost its fortune. Faulkner uses a great deal of visual imagery that can illuminate Emily’s life. The author suggests that her father is a dominant character who does not allow his daughter to behave a certain way that would compromise their good name, and

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the story of an sad and lonely lady, stuck in her time. Because her father died, she never fully recovered from it and was not able to find herself. Emily’s house was in the past was considered elegant and was built on the best street in town in the 1870’s. Now the house is old and an unattractive building to the neighborhood. People in her town begin to bad mouth her because of her lost soul. Homer Barron, an employee of a construction company, begins to begins to date Emily. The townspeople do not seem ecstatic about this, because they think she is doing it out of being lonely and depressed since her father died. Later on, she

“Miss Emily” refused to pay her taxes because she believed she was pardoned from them due to the fact that Colonel Sartoris had once loaned money to their hometown. Nobody in her town challenged her on this, or the matter that she still had a negro servant that attended to her in her old fashioned home that she refused to update. The local color of the era Miss Emily wished to live in is particularly apparent. Her home is even described as once being part of the best neighborhood in town, another reason Miss Emily was stuck in the past. Another example of local color in “A Rose for Emily” is the oddity that even though Miss Emily is an outsider in town, nobody bothers to challenge her because she has an “Old South” social standing.

In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner tells the story of an old and lonely lady stuck in her own timeframe. Her controlling father died some thirty years ago and she has never quite found her own ground. Her house has become the most hideous looking home on the once most select street in the city. Previously elegant and white with scrolled balconies, it was now encroached with dust and decay. The people in Miss Emily 's city gossip about her and pity her lost soul. She soon begins dating a young bachelor by the name of Homer Barron, whom is part of the construction company paving sidewalks on her street. They begin taking buggy rides together, and townspeople talk more, and pity Miss Emily more. Things change quickly though, as Miss Emily is seen less with Homer, and is witnessed purchasing arsenic from the local drug store. Eventually no more is seen of Homer, and Miss Emily dies at age seventy-four. After Miss Emily 's death the townspeople breakdown her upstairs room that had been sealed shut for some forty years. They find Homer 's dead decaying body, an imprint of another body beside it, and a single grey strand of hair. "A Rose for Emily" tells the story of tradition versus nontraditional and old versus new, which is brought to light through the story 's plot, characters, and setting. Right the beginning of the story it is clear that it will be about old versus new. The writer begins by describing Miss Emily

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the story is revolved around the character Emily Grierson. The story is told by the townspeople where Emily lives. These people are attending her funeral and pitching in memories and tales they remember from Emily’s life. It is through the collective voices and opinions of the crowd that the reader is able to interpret Emily’s struggles. With Emily Grierson’s choices the reader can tell that she is a dependant woman, with psychotic tendencies, and does not take the thought of change and rejection lightly.