Miss Emily Grierson In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Miss Emily was raised in the glory days of the South when traditional ideas and customs were a part of everyday life. After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction Era, the atmosphere had changed and Miss Emily was now faced with a different social setting, one that was unfamiliar to her. As the culture of the South began to deteriorate, so did Miss Emily’s grasp on the life she once held to be true. The home of Miss Emily serves a symbol in this story, showcasing her life’s demise as well as the physical and cultural demise of the Southern lifestyle. Her “fallen

Miss Emily knew no authority. The townspeople would at times attempt some type of control, but they gave in easily when Miss Emily resisted. When the man who had deceived her into not paying taxes passed away, the next generation of alderman

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

When Miss Emily’s father passed away she began to start acting out. Emily is stuburned like her father, who refuses to change. Although her father had lots of money, he only left Miss Emily the home. Soon the town started asking Miss Emily to pay her taxes. But, she refused to do so. Colonel Sartoris, the mayor of the town, planned to not make Miss Emily pay taxes on her house, “Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity” (452), trying not to make it seem like Colonel Sartoris was offering her charity. He made up an imaginary loan from her father to the town

During the conversation Miss Emily tells the men “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson” (31). Colonel Sartoris has been dead for almost ten years. Emily’s behavior not only shows mental instability but also that she may be delusional and confused.

The townspeople seemed to almost pity the poor woman and as a result the Mayor at the time Colonel Sartoris, granted her immunity from taxation for eternity; while never actually documenting this act, by developing a story so tall that ...only a man of that time could have invented such a story, and only a woman could have believed it. (Faulkner 74) She began to provide china-painting lessons to the grandchildren of the town-elders to make ends meet. Nevertheless, just as time stood still to her, the community was growing up, and the great mayor Colonel Sartoris died followed shortly by the end of her tutoring days. The grandchildren of the town she once taught, no longer sent their children to her residence. The women in town were convinced no man could attend to the rituals of the home, and were not necessarily surprised by the dirty and dusty dank smell that emanated from her residence as a result.

Emily’s need to control change is first evidenced through her relationship with her father. Their bond, based on a high-class aristocratic ideal system, lasted until the death of her father. A mental image of Mr. Grierson’s

Since many of the members of the older generation have retired or have died, the younger generation wanted her to pay her taxes because there was nothing written down that said that she was exempt from paying them.  When the younger generation asked her to pay her taxes, Emily said that Colonel Sartoris had told her she had not taxes to pay in Jefferson.  The problem as that Colonel Sartoris has been dead for ten years.  Even though he was dead, the "Colonel had given his word, and according to traditional view, his word knew no death.  It is the past pitted against the present-the past with its social decorum, the present with everything set down in 'the books'"(Rodriguez 1).

Depression and isolation captivate the soul, causing every emotion, action, and thought to hold an individual in an unstable state of mind. William Faulkner’s introduction to the protagonist, Miss Emily Grierson, demonstrates the true damage that a parental figure can cause to one’s mind by keeping his or her child shut in from the outside world. In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner characterizes Miss Grierson as a woman who suffered great loss in her years of life, and this is demonstrated by the loss of affection which was enforced by her father, the vast emptiness in her life, and her refusal to change. The life of Miss Grierson wasn’t full of roses like she had anticipated, and this caused her life to wilt away into darkness and heartache.

People began say, ”None of the young men were quite good enough for for Miss Emily and such”(). Mr.Grierson’s audacity influences Emily to believe that she is too good to be friends with anyone. As Emily grows old, and her father is the only other Grierson alive other than herself, she isolates herself from the world. -

Miss Emily Grierson comes from an old, traditional, aristocratic southern family. She lives her life away from

The family of Emily, the Griersons, was a very influential and important family in Jefferson. The townspeople seem to obey a certain hierarchy within which Emily was highly placed.

William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily" is often held as a literary classic due to Faulkner?s ability to play with our mind and emotions almost to the point of frustration. However, there is much more than mind games that Faulkner plays that makes this story great. Emily Grierson, the main character, is a strong-willed stubborn old bitty, who was quite odd, this alone is a reason for greatness. To fully understand why Emily is the way that she is one must look past the obvious and truly look at Emily. Emily Grierson has a mental condition that is just itching to be discovered.

Pingping Yang, author of “A Road to Destruction and Self-destruction: The Same Fate of Emily and Elly,” describes her house as being representative of how the hegemonic lifestyle thrust upon her must be followed because “The noble parentage requires her to follow traditional rules with no doubts and behave as an elegant genteel lady, so she has to live in this house with different kinds of taboos, like a poor bird in a cage” (Yang 1850). Emily tries desperately to hold on to her values with a tight fist, but the ever-changing world suggests that some actions need to be taken to prevent others from taking away her traditions and lifestyle. This is evidenced when she turns away the tax collectors who come to her house after she ignores the letters being sent to her about the unpaid dues her family has in Jefferson. With her father dead and no husband to speak of, Emily handles what would normally be a male responsibility herself. She speaks over the collectors and sternly tells them “See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson” before asking her manservant to put them out (Faulkner 795). Nick Melczarek, author of “ Narrative Motivation in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily,’” suggests this is where Faulkner begins to insert the stream of consciousness, because while the narrator is “seeking to escape blame,” he is “able to admit what the townspeople found and hint at their own possible

Miss Emily lived her life almost throughout on display before the town of Jefferson and ultimately this resulted in her lack of socialization and human interaction. The fault in this matter lies with her father, the respected mayor of Jefferson, who protected her and kept her under thumb, driving away every suitor that came to call. People came to picture poor Miss Emily as “a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door” (Faulkner 35). In this visualization, her father clearly stood between her and the real world as a threatening and domineering figure. One might believe that such a prominent figure would interact with the public on a daily basis in a positive manner, but it appears that the Grierson status only encouraged the prying eyes of the townspeople to impede on Miss Emily’s