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William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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Love, arsenic, china painting, and death. These are the four important factors of Emily’s life in “A Rose For Emily” by William Faulkner. She was an introverted, simple minded and easy living woman with a servant named Tobe. She rarely left her house, and had odd ways of grieving. A Rose For Emily is heavily influenced by psychology because of Emily’s actions, her servants loyalty, and the mental states of the characters. In the story of “A Rose For Emily”, an unnamed character from the town Jefferson, where the story resides, is the narrator. It starts in present time, discussing how people reacted the main character, Emily, passing away. Being as many never stepped foot in her house, they ventured in, and were surprised at what they found. …show more content…

He was part of the construction company, and she had left the house for outings with this man. It was a shock for many people in town, because she didn’t leave. Although this was a nice change for the ill woman, the man was not as nice as she had thought. He was gay. He with younger men, and was described as a not marrying man. Faulkner did not show if Emily did or did not know of this, but if she had, it would be rightful to be jealous of the matters. She had arsenic, a rat poison in her possession, and it would be the best way to fix her issue. It was quiet, clean, and hands-free. Many thought she bought the arsenic to terminate herself, but between Homer drinking with younger men and possibly her two female cousins who visited causing disturbance in her plans, she could not let anything stop her from having this man for the rest of her life. She preserved his body in the bedroom upstairs, with “a men’s toilet set in silver with the letters H.B. on each piece”(p. …show more content…

Emily’s only interactions are with Homer, her servant, and Colonel Satoris. She refuses to put a numbered address on her house, or to have a sidewalk built on her property, because she is very stuck in her own ways. This could give an implication of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, because she has a very set order of how she does things. She will not change her order for anyone. She keeps her solid choice for arsenic, even if there are stronger poisons available. Colonel Satoris argues with her over taxes for years, yet she continuously ignores the forms she is given, and argues that she does not owe any, possibly because she owns that property, and does not leave her house often. Eventually, Colonel Satoris seems to give up, as the story transitions more into Emily’s life. The idea of Emily not being mentally stable may not be stated clearly because from a person who does not converse often with her may not see an issue with the women if she does not publically display her insanity, and when she was out in public, she did not seem deranged. Another point to express the possibility of obsessive compulsive disorder is that when Emily died, the servant, Tobe, left without a trace. This shows that he did not was associated with her death and could have been serving her involuntarily. Emily may have forced him to stay because he was set in her ways, and she did not want to deal with a new servant, regardless of age. Although an age was not listed

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