Theme Of Humanity In A Rose For Emily

The point of view given by William Faulkner in his story “A Rose for Emily,” was from the prospective of the town which offers an interesting insight into the story that would not be able to be accomplished through other points of views. Seeing as the townspeople are the narrator, Faulkner was able to add a level of mystery and uncertainty to the telling of the story. The reader is able to learn of the events occurring in the story only through the reports from the townspeople which prevents the reader from being able to to know exactly what occurred, but is instead told as an interpretation of the events with bias from the town. In the event of the death of Homer Barron, it is not revealed until the end of the story, after the death of Emily

The theme of a story is very important because it is the general idea, it's the meaning the author wants the readers to see. Often these themes require a lot of searching but sometimes they are fairly obvious. For example in both A Good Man is Hard to Find and A Rose for Emily the themes are very hard to see and you have to look further into the story’s words to see that what is being emphasized is how death is powerful in many ways. Although they both prevail similar themes in the idea that death is powerful they both have different stances on death’s power. In O’Connor’s story it seems to have a more positive effect on people, whereas Faulkner gives Death a more negative effect on people in A Rose for Emily. These stories also show the different ways that death displays its power in each story. One way that makes death powerful, which we see in A Rose for Emily is how it causes strain on the mental being of people. Discordantly, in A Good Man is Hard to Find we see that death has the power to change a person and make them evaluate their morals.

The final reason as to why I believe Emily killed Homer is that she does not want to lose the most important person in her life a second time. When Emily's father, the most important and most influential person in her life, dies, Emily keeps the corpse in her house. The day after he dies all of the ladies come over to Emily's to offer their condolences. "Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead." Emily could not let go of him, so she keeps his dead body in her house. This same thing happens with Homer. Once she knows that Homer is the one, she poisons him with arsenic and then leaves him in the upstairs bedroom. When the townspeople find Homer's body, they make quite an interesting find. "Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair."

After living so long as a victim of loneliness perpetrated by her father, Emily decides that she will be vindicated-she will have her man. She orders a toiletry set to be engraved with Homer's initials, purchases an outfit and a nightshirt for him, and buys the arsenic that is to seal his fate. When the townspeople enter her house for the first time in forty years, they find a bridal tomb: a tarnished toiletry set, a neatly pressed suit, and a rotting Homer Baron clad in the nightshirt wearing a "profound and fleshless grin" (87).

The use of metaphor, irony and foreshadowing in literary works is very helpful because they provide hints as how the story would end. They also help highlight the strength and weakness of the characters. With these elements of the story, the reader discerns and conducts his or her own logical reasoning, based on the comprehension of these elements, which yield to critical thinking.

their lives and seek out past memories to deal with the present. Conversely, in “Eternal

“Science has shown how the human mind is trapped into a close expanse making every individual have a supposedly existence” (456). Our parents, teachers, and every individual in this world has grown up thinking that we are living a “life”. We all think about our supposedly “death” when in reality, our mind never transitioned to our own body. Which means that we are not exactly dead. When we “die” we won’t really die because we were never exactly born. Dr. Not So Intelligent explained:

Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent qualities or ideas. In A Rose for Emily, it appeared there was much symbolism. It appeared in Emily’s house, Homer Barron, and even Emily herself. Her house was once a beautiful mansion, that was the center of attention in the town. Her family owned slaves, and had their very own plantation. But, in the years following 1894, the culture in the south was changing. Slaves were no longer a necessity, and plantations were becoming less and less popular. Slavery was becoming something people looked down upon, and Emily didn’t like this idea. The Grierson house was symbolic to this idea, slavery was no longer liked, and it was degrading. Homer was a Yankee, which meant he was from the north. The townspeople didn’t like the idea of a Northerner being in their closely knit southern society. This may have played a factor on why the town didn’t do anything about his death. Homer was a symbol of the North, which was united with the south again, and finally getting a good look at what slavery was like. Although, Homer was not a very good person, he was going to marry Emily because she was sleeping with him. It is stated in the story, “Then we said, “She will persuade him yet,” because Homer himself had remarked--he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club--that he was not a marrying man.”, which leads the reader to the conclusion that he doesn’t want a wife because he likes being with men more. This

This journey we all live called life, eventually comes to an end for all of us. This end of life event is, as we call it, death. Death is all around us with animals, plants, and even other humans; but we still try to avoid and ignore it. There are about one hundred and five people who die each minute. That is 151,600 people a day, and 55.3 million every year (Cartwright). There are many people whom die every day. Death is an impenetrable characteristic of our existence as a species, but we still have that problem with getting a grasp on it. There are many ways we deal with and face death of others and the idea of it happening to us ourselves. So think of how you perceive it and why you see it that way. The concept of death and how we face it is solely based on our individual perception and beliefs.

Emily’s father isolated her to the point she could not move on with her life. Her father is controlling and possibly to blame for her mental illnesses. This lead to Emily as an adult to keep herself in her home, and in due course become in denial about her father’s death. She does not let go of his body and refuses to have a burial for her father. Faulkner explains in the text after her father’s death she went out very little and people hardly saw her at all. It took a while for her to accept her father’s death and possibly the initial cause of her refusing to start any sort of life. There is nothing left for her, so she clings to her father who took away her change for a better life and cannot let him go. Her father is protective of her and her father cut off any future with her having a husband and overall controlling to her well-being. The second example is with the townspeople. The people isolate Emily based on her social status and believe she is better than them. The people do not take initiative and only assume the belief of her not wanting to leave her home because she is grieving her father’s death. The people do not feel they are obligated to help her based upon this outlook she cannot be helped and refuse to accept the misconduct of Emily declining to bury her father’s body and poisoning her husband after he tried to desert her. The certain events were not the townspeople’s fault overall, but from her upbringing. Emily is raised to think she is higher-class and is cut off from making any connections. Her father wanted her to not accept the fact the times are changing and isolated her from making any moral connections with the townspeople, even if they looked at her with high

In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, death is a very clear theme. The main character of the story, Emily, is not very accepting when it comes to death. Emily is somewhat of a monument in her town and represents the Old South, which is becoming outdated and dead as new traditions come about. Emily tries to control death very early on in the story by trying to deny the death of her father. Towards the end of the story Emily finds love with a construction worker, and tries to be in control of death once again. But in every case, death prevails over her every attempt to control it.

In this short story Faulkner uses symbolism which has a deeper meaning, some vague and some symbolism bold. For one example of symbolism in “A Rose for Emily” is the title itself, the rose is a symbol of love. Emily’s father was at one time the most respected man in town, Emily grew up with prestige, he left Emily practically penniless. The Grierson family home, passed down from Emily’s father to his daughter, was once a southern grand lively home. The house, the rose and Emily herself are all symbolic of Emily’s inner state, her love, and the old south.

Is death an event that humans easily face? “A Rose for Emily” addresses this issue by telling the story of Emily’s life. In “A Rose for Emily” the theme is death, and more specifically not coping with death, is represented by many artifacts and actions in the story. These include the tax returns Emily sent back, the arsenic she bought, her house, the men sprinkling lime around her house, her hair continually turning gray, and the bodies she keeps in her sealed room.

The lack of power in a relationship can drive a person to act out their deepest desire to be in full control. In the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, introduces Emily Grierson a young girl who is stuck the behind the shadow of her controlling father. Emily is a very interesting character that went through many erotic periods in her life from once a vivacious young woman to a mysterious anguished woman. She has been enduring hurt and inability to acclimate to society once her father has passed which drove her to do irrational acts. Emily faces struggle but refuses to adapt and overcome the burden of a life that her father held over her.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a story about the life and death of Emily Grierson, known as a “fallen monument” in Jefferson, Mississippi as stated by the narrator (Faulkner 30). The story begins with Miss Emily’s death but the narrator who is assumingly a townsperson reveals flashbacks of Miss Emily’s life. When Emily’s dad died, she was in denial until she finally broke down and allowed his body to be buried. Her heart is then broken by her lover, Homer Barron who she ends up killing. A similar theme is present in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Ann Porter. Porter used stream of consciousness through the narrator to reveal events in Granny’s life that have affected her. Before Granny got married and had four children with her husband, she was jilted at the alter by her fiancé George which cause lifelong sadness and agony. As she took her last breath, the “bridgegoom,” who is believed to be Jesus, betrays her too. Both stories about elderly women and their losses that cause loneliness and hatred that they carry to their death bed. The authors’ use of narration and setting, characterization, and conflict contribute their themes with unique underlying meaning.