“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is about the life and death of Emily Grierson. The main themes in this story are the loneliness Emily faces and her resistance towards change. Emily’s loneliness forces her to resist change because her traditions and old ways are all that she has to hang on to due to the death of all her closest living relatives, her living relatives having nothing to do with her, and her lover leaving her. Because Emily was such a recluse, her neighbors and other townspeople are very curious as to what she has been hiding about herself all these years.
We first learn of Emily’s loneliness when the narrator begins to tell us where Emily lives. On page 238 it says, “but the garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left.” The town also feels as though Emily is just a “hereditary obligation” because her taxes were remitted by the fathers of the newly elected officials, and she refused to pay. This contributes to her loneliness because she isolates herself by choosing to make the townspeople dislike her. When Emily’s family was alive they too contributed to her loneliness. Her father seemed to run off any men she dated because they weren’t “quite good enough for Miss Emily.” Her family also “held themselves a little too high for what they really were.” Before her father died, he got into an argument with her last known living relatives. Therefore after he died, she had no one but herself and her help. For a few years, during her forties, Emily gave china-painting lessons to some of the girls in the town. But she was again isolated when they grew up and didn’t send their kids for lessons (243). Emily was so isolated from her fellow townspeople that they didn’t even know she was sick until she died at the age of seventy-four(244).
Emily also resisted change because what she had and what she knew were the only stable things in her life. The same paragraph on page 238 that first speaks of her loneliness also first speaks of her resistance to change. It says, “only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay about the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores.” Even though her house is decaying and her street is being industrialized, Emily refuses to move because she has lived in that house for some time making it the most stable thing in her life. She also refuses time and time again to start paying taxes to the city because she hasn’t had to pay them since her father died. She was told that her father had loaned some money to the city and that this is how they would repay it. Not only is she refusing to start paying taxes, but this also isolates her in a way because the town starts to resent her for not paying taxes all these years. Emily also resisted change when the city wanted to put metals numbers on her house so that she would receive free postal delivery; she was completely opposed to this idea (243).
Rebecca and Robin
I agree with your analysis. Emily is a very lonely woman because of the belief her father carried. Her father thought that they were some type of nobility, causing Emily to never find a husband.
ReplyDeleteI also find it interesting when the men come to collect her taxes. Emily exerts what little power a woman has by not inviting her guest to sit. In these times, it was rude for a man to sit when a lady is present, unless invited. This shows that Emily is not afraid to exert any power she has left to keep her home exactly the way it is.
I agree with the pattern of isolation through this story. I think the relationship she had with her domineering father where everything stemmed from. Emily’s father shelters her and cuts her from having a normal childhood. Her father runs off every boy that attempts to be with Emily. So Emily never had a chance to experience the joy of love. It is also evident that he is a stern figure toward Emily by the painting that is described, “Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip”. The picture shows how he has control and domination over poor, pure Emily. Her father died and she is without a leading figure. We see her denial to recognize his death by retaining his body once he passed. The people come to get the body and her response is “my father isn’t dead”. Emily clings to him and does not let him go because she has been under his command for so long that she is lost without it.
ReplyDeleteWe also see how her father’s actions are expressed in her character. Emily allows herself to get stuck in a rut of time. Her house is a reflection of herself. It is described as “a squarish frame house that had once been white”. This sets the precedent for the explanation of her actions with Homer Barron. At the end of the story it quotes, “we noticed in the second pillow was an indentation of a head” and “we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” The evidence implies that she had been lying down with him. The quote shows that Emily is stuck in time and holds on to what she used to have.
I agee that Emily is basically crazy and will go to any extent to hold on to what she desires. I also believe she gets away with murder by using the arsenic to kill Hommer. She is affraid of being alone so she goes as far as murder to secure herself a husband. She symbolizes people affraid to let go and move on in life. Also the mental breakdown they could suffer. The town also fails to play a role as they ignore suspicious behavior. It seems the rules do not apply to Emily because of her social status which could lead to the death of Hommer which no one considers significant! (poor guy)!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis and thought it was well presented. Your points do a wonderful job of outlining the story's main themes.
ReplyDeleteSomething I found really interesting that y'all didn't mention is the fact that the narrator refers to itself as "we". It goes along with the point y'all made about Emily being isolated. The use of the pronouns "we" and "our" let us know that the speaker is everyone and no one. Everyone was aware of her condition.This is clear on page 241 in part III when the ladies of the town keep repeating "Poor Emily". Even though it seems that everyone is conscious of her isolation no one knows how to correct it, and after a while people stop caring all together.
Something else that I thought was important was the presence of the negro manservant. Even though Emily seems isolated he is ever present. He, like Emily, will not address the outside world. He even seems to age parallel to her. As she gets old and gray, so does he. They almost seem to be two sides of the same coin.
I agree with your analysis!
ReplyDeleteI also think that Emily denies death. It took her three days to admit that her father was dead and she treated her dead lover as if he were alive. They describe in the last paragraph on Page 245 how they found "a long strand of iron-grey hair." This indicated that Emily was sleeping next to the corpse while she was alive. I do believe that she killed Homer and kept his body because she was in control of what he did now and he was unable to leave her. She did not want her man leaving her like her man before that had done. Emily, obviously, did end up going crazy just as the rest of her family did.
I completely agree with what you are saying about Emily's loneliness.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though since the death of her family she has pushed everyone away from her. She also seems to not be able to act properly in a social setting like when the visitors came at the beginning of the story. It states how no visitor had passed through her doors for at least eight or ten years. This shows how she pushes people away. She did not ask the men to sit like most hosts do and she did not sit herself. She did not even come into the room She just wanted them to get to the point and then leave her alone. This is not normal behavior.
Your posting and the classmates comments pretty much sum up my analysis of this odd story.
ReplyDeleteI found it weird that the pharmacist gave her the arsenic even though he was supposed to know "why" she wanted it. Everyone wanted to know what caused the "smell" coming from Miss Emily's house, but no one wanted to confront her. They just watched and said "Poor Emily".
I agree with pretty much everything before me. Loneliness is a definite theme in the story. Emily still upholds the "noblesse oblige" for the family (pg. 241), and she always seems to believe she had to keep her image of basically being better than other people. Maybe there exists some connection between being of higher class and loneliness.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis of the main themes of the story. Emily is obviously a very lonely woman and finally refuses to be alone ever again. It seems ironic that her loneliness cause by death and that she seeks refuge in death as well. Also I thought that the town played right into the theme of tradition versus change. They always "expect" or "knew" exactly what was going on with Emily,yet they had no idea she was sick before her death. The town was my favorite character in the story and I loved how Faulkner portrayed them; nosey Know-it-alls, who actually know nothing at all. Great job guys!
ReplyDeleteI think that maybe Emily's dad was controlling of her and after his death, Emily takes control of him by keeping his dead body. She also transfers this control to Homer by taking his life so he could not abandon her.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the analysis of the story and the fact that it's main theme is isolation. She feels her family is noble and that should give her some status over the rest of the town. Instead of regarding her this way the town always just refers to her as "Poor Emily". I think the final line saying that the people found a strand of silver hair next to the body of her lover shows just how extreme her loneliness was and the fact that she was resistant to change anything, even in death.
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