A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner Essay - 487 Words

A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a unique piece of literature. It has a plot which seems somewhat bland, and it is not particularly exciting. However, the ending is quite suprising, and for me it made the story worth reading. I think there are some interesting aspects of this story if you look at it from a feminist point of view. The feminist movement has attempted to elevate the status of the woman to a level equal with men. Feminists have fought for the right of women to be free from the old social restraints which have been in place for so long. A feminist believes a woman should be strong and independent. In some ways the main character, Emily, is this kind of woman, but for the most part she is†¦show more content†¦When her father died and she had no man to care for her, the town absolved her tax duties. The people of the town attempted to accomodate her needs by offering their help and sympathy. The townspeople also tried to be considerate of he r eccentricities. They extended her courtesies because she was a lady with no one save her servant. This caretaking of Emily by the town shows the opinion of women during that time period. Without a man, Emily was considered somewhat helpless. Everyone felt as if they needed to help her. Another way that Emily represents females as dependent and childlike is her reluctance to admit her father’s death. When he dies, she refuses to let anyone remove his body from their house. It’s as if she feels she needs his comforting and protection. Without a man, she is lost. In the end of the story this situation comes up again. The man who Emily had a relationship with is found dead and decayed in an upstairs bedroom after her death. There is evidence that she would lay in the bed with the men after his death. This is another way that Emily is portrayed as needy and weak. She feels she needs a man so badly that she must keep her lover even after his death. I think most feminists would read this theme into A Rose for Emily. Perhaps the only way Emily was portrayed as strong or independent is in her lifestyle. She lives alone with only a servant to give her any service. She does what she wants without regard to the concerns ofShow MoreRelatedA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner923 Words   |  4 PagesA Rose for Emily; A Tale of The Old South William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897 but lived most of his life in Oxford, a small town nearby. After dropping out of high school then briefly joining the Canadian Air Force, he returned home and completed three terms at the University of Mississippi (Fulton 27). During his early twenties Faulkner spent time in New Orleans and Europe before returning to Oxford and publishing his first book of poems. In 1929 he married Estelle FranklinRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1729 Words   |  7 PagesJune 24, 2015 â€Å"A Rose for Emily† In every neighborhood there is always that one house that is a mystery to everyone. A house that everyone wants to know about, but nobody can seem to be able to dig up any answers. It’s the type of place that you would take any opportunity or excuse to get to explore. The littler that is known, the more the curiosity increases about this mysterious place or person. In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, this mysterious person is Emily Grierson, andRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner949 Words   |  4 PagesIn William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† it is clear how Emily’s gender affects how the individuals in the town perceive her. Emily’s gender particularly affects how men understand her. Throughout the whole piece Emily is seen as a helpless individual who is lonely and has suffered losses throughout her life. When the reader reaches the end of the story the actions that Emily has taken is unexpected because of the way she is perceived by the narrator. In the beginning of the story, when the wholeRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1577 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"A Sarah Markins Dr. Bibby ENG 107 February 11, 2015 â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, written by William Faulkner in 1931, follows a series of peculiar events in Miss Emily Griersons life. Written in third person limited, Faulkner utilizes flashbacks to tell of the period between the death of Emily’s father and her own passing. Split into five short sections, the story starts out with the townspeople of Jefferson remembering Emily’s legacy and how each new generation ofRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1552 Words   |  7 PagesRyan Dunn Mrs. Williams English 11 March 11, 2016 In the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner, the reader is given a glimpse of the internal conflict of the main character, living in the past, and the involvement of an over involved society causing the reader to look into the consciousness of an individual haunted by a past and lack of a future. The story is set in a post-Civil War town in the South. He is able to give the reader a glimpse of the practices and attitudes that had unitedRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1507 Words   |  7 Pages1897, William Cuthbert Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi. He stands as one of the most preeminent American writers of the twentieth century. His literary reputation included poetry, novels, short stories, and screenplays. Faulkner won two Pulitzer Prizes for Fiction and the Nobel Prize in Literature. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a short fascinating story written by William Faulkner and it was his first short story published in a national m agazine. The story involved an old woman named Emily GriersonRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner883 Words   |  4 PagesIn the timeless classic, â€Å"A rose for Emily† by William Faulkner we are introduced to Emily Grierson, a matured sheltered southern woman; born to a proud, aristocratic family presumably during the American Civil War. Through out the short story William Faulkner uses many literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors and allegory to play with â€Å"time† and how time reflects upon his main character Emily Grierson. Emily being one who denies the ability to see time for what it is linear and unchangeableRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1270 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† thoroughly examines the life of a strange woman name Emily Grierson who lives in the town of Jefferson. If we examine â€Å"A Rose for Emily† in terms of formalist criticism, we see that the story dramatizes through setting, plot, characterization, and symbolism on how Miss Emily’s life is controlled by a possessive love she had for her father and lover. William Faulkner uses Emily’s life as the protagonist to examine from a formalist aspect. In orderRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1780 Words   |  8 PagesIn 1930, William Faulkner wrote a five-part story entitled â€Å"A Rose for Emily† that follows the life of a young woman named Miss Emily Grierson. Faulkner sets his story in the Old South, soon after the ending of America’s Civil War, and represents the decaying values of the Confederacy (Kirszner Mandell, 2013a, p. 244). One of these values which the text portrays quite often in â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, is the patriarchal custom of society viewing men as having more importance than their female counterpartsRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1277 Words   |  6 PagesMiss Emily Grierson, the main character in the strange short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written by William Faulkner. It would be best to examine her in a mental capacity as well as the circumstances that may affect her. Throughout the story, Miss Emily’s unpredictable and eccentric behavior becomes unusual, and the reader, like the townspeople in the story, is left to speculate how Miss Emily has spent years living and sleeping with the body of Homer Barron. An important quote from the story was that