A Rose For Emily Internal Justification

In the short story A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, readers are immersed in the narrative of a supposed town member who describes the impact that the recent death of an old woman has had upon their small community. In the narrative, readers are taken on a journey through the life of Miss Emily, an old, lonely woman who is seemingly frozen in her own timeframe. As the story unfolds, readers learn about the various tragedies Emily encountered in her lifetime such as the sudden death of her controlling father as well as her alienation from other family members that leaves her utterly alone following his death. Audiences also learn about events that happened throughout Emily’s life that both molded her as a person and aided in shaping her reputation around the town. From her controversial relationship with a construction worker named Homer Barron to her suspicious purchase of arsenic at the local drug store, there is no question that Emily lived under the constant scrutiny of her fellow townspeople. After reading the initial sentences, it can be concurred that this story doesn’t simply describe the life of an old, questionably insane woman, but also the story of the age-old battle between old and new. Through symbolism and an artful arrangement of the events described, Faulkner is able to meticulously weave a tale of the clash between newer and older generations’ views and standards.

In William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” his main character Miss Emily Grierson’s deranged behavior leaves the reader questioning her mental status.

Jefferson was educated under a doctrine that sought to perpetuate the slaves’ place in society as inferior. He argues that “the whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading subjugation on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate it: for man is an imitative animal.”

The philosophies of Thomas Jefferson are often at odds with one another. On one hand, he looks to enlightenment ideals and writes of natural rights and equalities for all men in his drafting of the Declaration of Independence (more on Jefferson’s and the Enlightenment can be found here). He also proposes legislature that prohibits the spread of slavery to new states. However, his role as a slave owner contradicts his philosophy on liberty in a profound way. His book Notes on the State of Virginia represents the depth of his thought against black people as an equal race to whites, and he includes a breakdown for the reasons that he believes integration is not a viable alternative to the problem of slavery (the full content can be read half way down the page here). Then, there are the facts surrounding his personal relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings and the children he fathered with her. This contradiction of attitude and philosophy is directly related to Jefferson’s cultural influences having grown up surrounded by slavery as an acceptable way of life. He ultimately falls back on society’s view of black people as inferior to justify his way of life, and calm his fears of the possible violent ramifications of emancipating his slaves (this is a reference to slave revolts). For more on this topic see my complete work here.

Many historians and American alike tend to encircle the Founding Fathers of this nation in a shield of untouchable morality. With Thomas Jefferson, there is a particularly strong need for him to be seen as a man of outstanding character. However, Jefferson’s personally life has long been plagued with stories of controversy, particularly his intimate life involving one of his slaves, Sarah, or Sally, Hemings. By examining the relationships of Thomas Jefferson, with strong attention to the Hemings family, it becomes clear that his intimate life is one of America’s greatest historical scandals.

Commonly, people believe that Thomas Jefferson is a hypocrite, due to the fact that one of his most famous quotes is “all men are created equal”. Although that was one of his famous quotes, he owned slaves all throughout his lifetime. The topic over slavery including Thomas Jefferson is extremely controversial today in America.

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the reader enters the early 1900’s, following the life and death of Emily Grierson through the eyes of the townspeople. People in the town of Jefferson thought of Miss Emily as a tradition and a duty that was passed on from the older generation (323). The townspeople thought that she would not hurt a fly, but they had not known what she had done until after her death. The decayed body of Homer Barron was found in one of the upstairs bedrooms, with a strand of grayed hair beside him (327). First degree murder, as stated by the group Thomson Reuters, “is defined as an unlawful killing that is both willful and premeditated” (FindLaw). Emily Grierson is guilty of first degree murder because she willfully bought the arsenic, her abandonment issues caused the murder to be premeditated, and she confessed to the Baptist minister what she was going to do with Homer.

Thomas Jefferson was a constant opponent of slavery. Considering it a "moral depravity" 1 and a "horrible stain", he thought that slaves presented greatest threat to the survival of the new American nation. Jefferson also considered slavery to be contrary to the laws of nature, everyone had the right to personal liberty. From Thomas's point of view, he thought that free labor was the norm. In 1778, he enrolled a Virginia law that exclude the importation of enslaved Africans. In 1784, he projected an order that would do the same with the abolition of slavery. Prohibit slavery in the Northwest Territories. Nevertheless Jefferson always maintained that the decision to emancipate the slaves would have to be part of a democratic process; Abolition would be stalled until the slaveholders consented to liberate their human property in an act of large-scale emancipation. For Jefferson, it was antidemocratic and opposing to the principles of the American Revolution that the federal government propagate abolition or that only a few planters liberated their slaves (Dierksheide).

A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner - 91-96, point of view is the narrative point of view the first person. We realize in this story that we the audience don’t know if it is a men or a women. We are able to tell the character when the narrator says “we” in certain points of the text. For example in the text it states,” When we saw her again, her name was cut short , making her look like a girl (pg93).” The text never let’s us know the characters name. The character speaks for the community and it can consider to be the main character. The character shows sympathy for Emily. He as well shows humor when telling the story. Another sympathy the character shows it towards the town of Jefferson and feels the people of the town are unable to control their reactions. The stylistic element the narrator uses is talking about the climax throughout the whole story.

This story about a woman, who is called Emily. she came from a rich family .She’s elegant woman ,but she is strange woman in the world . so anyone or people in her village could not understand about her. She doesn’t have mother but she only had a father. They lived in big house in a little village. Her father didn’t married again so he needed and love Emily very much. And didn’t want anyone take away her from him. But she wanted to have boy friends, because she always feel lonely,but every man who wanted to date with her,her father always rejected all of them,because he was afraid to be left alone.Because of this he forbade Emily to see men and this was not good for Emily ,shevalso got afraid to be

Thomas Jefferson did a numerous amount of political work for our country. He is idolized as one of our country’s founding fathers. He was one of the first to take part in American Democracy and signed the infamous “Declaration of Independence” Jefferson was a culture hero and always will be. When looking at different literary texts about Jefferson, or written by Jefferson himself it is hard to ignore his relationship with slavery. Notes on the State of Virginia by Jefferson and the related documents edited by David Waldstreicher show us a glimpse into his connection with slavery.

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.

William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.

In the Rose for Emily, there is a present struggle between the new south and old south. The two main characters in the story are Emily Grierson and Homer Barron. Emily represents the old south while Homer represents the new south. Emily has been raised by her father who follows the old south rules very strictly, so therefor she acts as if she still lives in the south. Homer on the other hand is a Yankee and is seen as an underclass in the south.

A Rose for Emily was written by William Faulkner, the story was written to show how the South has evolved, furthermore it is about a woman named Emily who refuses to accept change, as change is happening all around her. Emily is stuck in her ways and she functions as a symbol of the Old South as the town around her becomes more civilized and developed.