Madness In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner uses imagery and symbolism to both illustrate and strengthen the most prevalent theme; Emily’s resistance to change. William Faulkner seems to reveal this theme through multiple descriptions of Miss Grierson’s actions, appearance, and her home. Throughout the short story it is obvious that Emily has a hard time letting go of her past, she seems to be holding onto every bit of her past. Readers see this shown in several ways, some more obvious than others.

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).

In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner employs a narrator to describe Emily Grierson, a recently deceased old woman. Apart from her manservant, she does not interact with others, save for a short period of time in

According to the Unite for Sight organization, “In 2002, of the estimated 450 million people worldwide living with mental or behavioral disorders, 90 million were drug or alcohol dependent, 25 million suffered from schizophrenia, and 150 million had depression” (Unite for Sight). Mental illness is something that today’s media and government does not want to address, which is seen repeatedly in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. More and more people are being diagnosed with a mental illness and this trend needs to come to an end. People need to understand the various aspects of mental illness. While treatment of mental illnesses has improved over time, the effect they have on the individual and the people around them has not.

The author, William Faulkner, has a collection of books, short stories, and poems under his name. Through his vast collection of works, Faulkner attempts to discuss and bring awareness to numerous aspects of life. More often than not, his works were created to reflect aspects of life found within the south. Family dynamics, race, gender, social class, war, incest, racism, suicide, necrophilia, and mental illness are just some of the aspects that Faulkner explored. In “A Rose for Emily” the aspects of necrophilia and mental illness along with the societal biases that were observed in a small-town setting are seen to be a part of this captivating story. These aspects ultimately intertwine with the idea of insanity that characterizes “A Rose

Initially after the loss of her father Emily Grierson refuses to let go of him and the influence he has over her in “A Rose for Emily”. Emily’s father was a big part of her existence he was the only man in her life. For years he had ran off suitor that had called upon Emily. Once he was gone it is hard for her to adapt to life without him. She refuses to believe that he is dead telling the ladies of the town “that her father was not dead” (101). She had been very close to her father and without him her live would not be the same. She never leaves the house she stays secluded from the town. By remaining alone she will not have to face the fact that any change has taken place.

Stubborn and a bit unstable, Emily Grierson is the main character of William Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily “. Emily is a prime example of a flat character because she seldom changes throughout the whole story. Emily acts as if nothing has changed over the years. In the town of Jefferson, It’s as if time went to a stood still. She shows this flat affect throughout the story in many instances. For example, like her refusing to pay her taxes, not keeping up with the maintenance of her father’s home after his passing. So much so that the home was referred to as “an eyesore among eyesores, still standing among the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps (Faulkner, p. 121).

Insanity is one condition that can be caused by just about anything. In the story, “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner, Miss Emily Grierson`s insanity has a notable source or two. Although Faulkner tells the story out of order, the beginning of her problems starts with her father, who was very controlling and never really allowed her associate with anyone. When her aunt Wyatt dies, her extended family also becomes distant from her. Her father dies and the town talks about her because they pity her. Soon after, a day laborer names Homer Baron comes to fix the pavement on her street. Unintentionally, Homer and Emily get together, causing the town to talk even more about her. Emily then buys arsenic, a toilet ring set and a men`s suit. Homer leaves town and comes back one night and is never seen again. When Miss Emily dies, the nosy town searches her house and finds a locked room in particular that contained a bed with a decaying man`s body, implying that Homer Baron has been dead for 30 years in Miss Emily’s house. Faulkner foreshadows Miss Emily`s insanity by conveying her relationships with her family, the condemnation of the town, and her inability to clearly

In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” Miss Emily Grierson holds on to the past with a grip of death. Miss Emily seems to reside in her own world, untarnished by the present time around her, maintaining her homestead as it was when her father was alive. Miss Emily’s father, the manservant, the townspeople, and even the house she lives in, shows that she remains stuck in the past incapable and perhaps reluctant to face the present.

It is proximately infeasible not to examine her in a psychological as well as contextual light. Over the course of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, Miss Emily’s erratic and idiosyncratic comportment becomes outright, and the reader, like the townspeople in the story, is left wondering how to expound the fact that Miss Emily has spent years living and slumbering with the corpse of Homer Barron. Miss Emily is not emotionally or mentally well, the townspeople persist in enabling her to maintain her delusions. In fact, their denial is virtually as pathological as Miss Emily’s own symptoms. The townspeople eschew confronting Miss Emily about any paramount concerns, such as the terrible smell that is emanating from her home, which itself is becoming more “detached, superseded, and forbidding” every

These stories were interesting reads. It shows the norm of gender roles back then. And they were somewhat accurate. My bosses are both female, and if I would have said that back in the day, it would have been blasphemous. The majority of us, mostly the younger generation, look back on gender roles and see the way women were treated and we think it’s awful. But back then; men didn’t see it as a problem. It was normal to them. The reason why I enjoyed both of these stories was because it opened my eyes on how cruel man can be to his woman counterpart.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner uses memories or flashbacks, and unintentional symbolism to show the transition from the old south to the new south. The short story also focuses on the resistance and ideals that are left in the wake of this transition. William Faulkner is a renowned Southern novelist, which can only be assumed that he is because he was born and raised in Mississippi, where he experienced the conclusion of the conversion while he was still young.

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the elderly woman is mysterious, suspicious, and a murderer. Throughout the story the narrator talks a little about Emily’s back story but the narrator does go as far as telling about her child hood growing up but instead talks about her life from the time she is a young adult until she is an elder. We start to see that there are some unanswered questions throughout the entire story, and even with the surprise ending it still leaves us with a lot of questions that need to be answered. Since the narrator didn’t give that much of a backstory regarding Miss Emily, we must come up with theories and conclusions to answer our own questions.

The short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is the tragic story of Emily Grierson. Her story is set in a changing town named Jefferson, Mississippi, likely in the late 1800's. The life of Grierson is closely supervised in its entirety by the shadow of death. The story is not one of happiness and joy, but of death and loneliness. Emily is very traditional and does not welcome change in the least. From the modern mail system in Jefferson, to the deaths of those around her, Emily refuses to acknowledge that the world must advance away from the traditions of old. Emily Grierson is afraid to lose those who are closest to her, even to death; but in this quest to keep those she loves close to her, she loses her betrothed. Faulkner's story of Emily Grierson is about the fear that time is going to take those she loves and leave her behind, unwilling to take a chance on losing her loved ones, she goes to unreasonable measures to avoid that loss.

Emily Grierson is a curious character from the very beginning of the story. Readers soon learn that her peculiarities come from being raised by a controlling father who never let his daughter marry. The book also mentions a great-aunt who “had gone completely crazy,” so her oddities seem to be something that runs in the family (Johnson, 559). After her father’s death, Emily lives a secluded life with only her servant, Tobe, going in and out of the house. Townspeople write her a letter each year concerning taxes, but they are never given a reply. When Emily meets Homer, her boyfriend, everyone in town assumes they will one day marry. However, Homer soon disappears and is never heard from again. At this point in the story, readers assume that Homer no longer wanted to date Emily and ran away. By the end of Faulkner’s story, readers are presented with even more questions about Emily after learning that she killed Homer and kept his body so that they could be together. This murder is just one chilling element of “A Rose for Emily.”