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Promulgation Of Women In A Rose For Emily

Decent Essays

The promulgation of certain restrictions on the life of the female protagonist by controlling male characters demonstrates how the subjugation of a female’s thoughts and desires causes her to become isolated and shields her from exploring different opportunities. The characterization of Emily’s father in “A Rose for Emily” exemplifies that psychological suppression of a female by the most prominent man in her life leads to complete isolation of that female. Faulkner characterizes Mr. Grierson through the eyes of the society which had only one view of him: “a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip...framed by the back-flung front door” (4). This characterization of Emily’s father not only shows him suppressing …show more content…

Grierson through Emily’s actions after his death reveal the extent of his impact on her life. He psychologically suppresses her for her whole life, and yet when he dies, she is not able to let go. Literary critic Donald Akers recognized this suppression and unbreakable tie between the father and daughter and concisely explains the connection between the suppression and Emily’s inability to let go of her father’s body. He states that Emily’s “overbearing father denies her a normal relationship with the opposite sex, [therefore,] because her father is the only man with whom she has had a close relationship, she denies his death and keeps his corpse in the house” (Akers). Mr. Grierson isolated Emily from the rest of society and mankind by means of his suppressive nature, and this impact of this isolation lasts throughout the rest of her life as later, she is not able to let go of her love Homer Barron for the fear that he will leave her, so she drags him into her isolate sphere as well. Thusly, the characterization of Mr. Grierson in “A Rose for Emily” illustrates that the psychological suppression of a female by the most prominent man in her life leads to complete isolation of that

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