A Rose For Emily By William Faulkner: Analysis Of Emily Grierson

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner has been explained in many ways. Most of these interpretations rely solely on hints found within the story. The possible meanings of the title of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” have been debated for years, but together they, along with the language used by Faulkner, are what truly define the story. In this short story, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the main focus is on a girl named Miss Emily. William wrote the story between the years of 1861-1930. The book was published on April 30, 1930. Emily’s story has themes of death and emotions along with loneliness. The author goes through those same themes in his own life while writing the short story. A Rose for Emily is the result of Faulkner’s experiences throughout his life.

The story starts with an introduction to Miss Emily and where she is in her life. The story starts by explaining how Emily has no children in her life. A dreadful event happened with Emily, that was her father’s death. Emily Grierson was mistreated from the hands of her father because he was assuming that no man was capable of Emily. Still, Emily held her father in a high specified way. When Emily’s father died, she was very upset. Emily goes into denial for three days after her father passes away. After those three days, she was heartbroken and finally gives the body up for final rites. When her dad was alive he was very wealthy. Emily’s father was so rich that when the town they lived in, Grierson, needed financial help, Emily’s father loaned the mayor, Colonel Sartoris, money. In return for the family’s help toward the town, the mayor remitted Emily’s taxes. Unfortunately, when the mayor died the town’s people required a payment because they had no verbal or written agreement from the mayor. Emily went about her life without paying her taxes. The big change is during the summer after her father’s death. The big change is during the summer after her father’s death.

A development group comes to and one of the laborers named Homer Barron gets Emilattention y’s and prevails upon her. The two would be seen driving around on Sunday afternoons in Homer’s buggy. It was reputed that Homer Barron “was not a marrying man”, which then leads Emily Grierson to go through a dilemma. Emily was expected to have been married and looking after children but unfortunately, since Homer was a homosexual male, the possibility of marriage was again denied. Subsequently, because of Homer’s sexuality, Emily would not be able to live up to the societal expectations of her time. Not only was Homer not going to marry Emily Grierson, but he was also a homosexual.

The townspeople saw this potential union as a distasteful message to the young people. After her father’s death, Emily Grierson was finally able to love but Homer, like her father, took that away from her. Miss Emily’s external conflict was with her environment (townspeople). They were always in her business, worrying about what she was doing and she just wanted to be left alone. It originally began when her dad passed on and they were at the memorial service concern and feeling awful that none of her family came to help her. The women began calling the house to give their adoration and backing however they wouldn’t get an answer.

Ten when she began dating Homer they resembled they rebelliously going to get married. As time passed by and they weren’t hitched they said she would convince him some way. Then they were like why she with him and their relationship wasn’t a good model for the younger generation. So they called on the Baptist minister and when there weren’t any changes made the minister’s wife called Emily two cousins from Alabama. Emily went to the jewelry store and back out towels with Homer initials on them so they just knew Emily and Homer were married. Out of the blue Homer just disappeared and Emily stops coming out of the house. They wonder what happened but never made a big deal out of it. So as time progress neighbors and people in the community started making complaints about an unpleasant odor coming from Miss Emily’s house. The mayor felt uncomfortable about telling Miss Emily about the odor because she was a lady. So he arranges a few people to sneak and put limestone around the house. Within a few days, the smell was gone. Then she needed to manage the network counsel attempting to compel her to make good on charges. She ignores them numerous time and they decided to pay her a visit at home. She said I don’t have to pay taxes and they were trying to say otherwise but she didn’t want to hear it and kick them out of her house. Everyone was curious about how the inside of the house looks. So when Miss Emily was laid the rest they took that as their chance to see. They waited until they put her all the way in the ground and went touring her house.

There was one room left and it was hard to open the door but when they got it open they were surprised by what was in it. Miss Emily had it set up for a wedding; rose shade light, precious stone and so on. Then they looked at the bed and stood their spot in disbelief. There he was simply the man Homer Barron laying there decaying. Beside him lay a second pillow and on it was a long strand of iron-grey hair. In conclusion, I felt kind of bad for Miss Emily because all she wanted was to be loved and left alone. Due to her father, she didn’t get the chance to love until she passed away. It was self-contradicting in view of the network was continually getting included.

My personal opinion about Miss Emily is that she didn’t give herself a chance to grieve her father died so she was full of anger and pain. I also felt bad for her because of the people in the community talk so bad about her but when her father passed they all of sudden try to beI think they are a piece of the motivation behind why she didn’t get hitched; they essentially ruin her life. I additionally think she was a little insane and required some genuine assistance since how might you poison someone, lay down with their carcass consistently and go on with.

The two would be seen driving around on Sunday afternoons in Homer’s buggy. It was reputed that Homer Barron “was not a marrying man”, which then leads Emily Grierson to go through a dilemma. Emily was expected to have been married and looking after children but unfortunately, since Homer was a homosexual male, the possibility of marriage was again denied. Subsequently, because of Homer’s sexuality, Emily would not be able to live up to the societal expectations of her time. Not only was Homer not going to marry Emily Grierson, but he was also a homosexual. The townspeople saw this potential union as a distasteful message to the young people.

After her father’s death, Emily Grierson was finally able to love but Homer, like her father, took that away from her. Miss Emily’s external conflict was with her environment (townspeople). They were always in her business, worrying about what she was doing and she just wanted to be left alone. It initially began when her dad kicked the bucket and they were at the memorial service concern and feeling awful that none of her family came to help her. The women began calling the house to give their affection and backing yet they wouldn’t get an answer.

Ten when she began dating Homer they resembled they insubordinately going to get married. As time passed by and they weren’t hitched they said she would convince him some way. Then they were like why she with him and their relationship wasn’t a good model for the younger generation. So they called on the Baptist minister and when there weren’t any changes made the minister’s wife called Emily two cousins from Alabama. Emily went to the jewelry store and back out towels with Homer initials on them so they just knew Emily and Homer were married. Out of the blue Homer just disappeared and Emily stops coming out of the house. They wonder what happened but never made a big deal out of it. So as time progress neighbors and people in the community started making complaints about an unpleasant odor coming from Miss Emily’s house.

The mayor felt uncomfortable about telling Miss Emily about the odor because she was a lady. It initially began when her dad kicked the bucket and they were at the memorial service concern and feeling awful that none of her family came to help her. The women began calling the house to give their affection and backing yet they wouldn’t get an answer. Ten when she began dating Homer they resembled they insubordinately going to get married. As time passed by and they weren’t hitched they said she would convince him some way. She ignores them numerous time and they decided to pay her a visit at home. She said I don’t have to pay taxes and they were trying to say otherwise but she didn’t want to hear it and kick them out of her house.

Everyone was curious about how the inside of the house looks. So when Miss Emily was laid the rest they took that as their risk to see. They waited until they put her all the way in the ground and went touring her house. There was one room left and it was hard to open the door but when they got it open they were surprised by what was in it. Miss Emily had it set up for a wedding; rose shade light, gem and so forth Then they looked at the bed and stood their spot in disbelief. There he was simply the man Homer Barron laying there disintegrating. Beside him lay a second pillow and on it was a long strand of iron-grey hair.

Out of everything they did together one think shake the town as quite weird. Emily, one afternoon, stopped at a store and bought rat poison, she wasn’t going to use on rats though. Time passed and Homer was never seen again by any of the town’s people or the people he worked within construction. Emily passed away at the age of seventy-four from an illness. She died in one of her downstairs bedrooms in a walnut bed. No one had been to her house let alone inside of it. When the towns’ people went to retire the body they were confronted by one of Emily’s disturbing long-kept secrets. When the towns’ people prided the door open they saw Homer’s body stretched out on the bed with a suit on and wedding tokens spread all over. As the towns’ people examined the room, one of them found a long strand of grey hair. The hair was on top of the pillow next to where Homer’s body laid. This analysis of Miss Emily at midlife is significant in the instance that there were many mental illnesses that were unknown yet and because of this women were called irrational or mad during their eras. Both Miss Emily handled their midlife crisis in a way that brought them comfort and closure. Miss Emily turned to poison Homer Barron for the conclusion. . . Most of the issues involving Emily Grierson were influenced by many factors, most of which were societal. This goes to show that moving forward women should begin to think of their midlife as a time for re-evaluation and not a crisis.

William Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. William grows up in Oxford, Mississippi. In 1915, William dropped out of high school after the eleventh grade, a year shy of graduating. He made a comment later on saying how he never really liked school. As the next three years went by William is doing okay until April of 1918. William goes through his first heartbreak when his best friend and childhood sweetheart, Estelle Oldham, marries another man. William is twenty-one, devastated by this news, begins heavily drinking and relocates to New Haven, Connecticut. This is where his mentor and good friend, Phil Stone, is living at the time. He starts to live again by getting a job that he ends up getting fired from in December of 1921 because of his negligence. Life turns around for William on June 20, 1929. William marries Estelle Oldham (Oldham divorced her husband just months before marrying William) after eleven years of heartache. Regardless of their love for each other, they would fight often and drink profoundly. Months after the marriage William writes a book that gets hardly any attention and that attention that it does get is negative. This throws William into rock bottom were is drinking worsens even more.

At this point in his life, William is thirty-two and his drinking problem has completely spiraled out of control. Then during his time of writing the short story A Rose for Emily, his wife becomes pregnant. That good news slowly turns into bad when the baby, that they named Alabama, is born two months prematurely and dies nine days after she is born. The death of his first daughter is just another heart-break for William and another reason for him to keep drinking. When comparing the story“ A Rose for Emily” towards the author’s life there are many reasons why William would write this particular story.

One thing that occurs in both the story as well as the author’s personal life of William Faulkner is death/ heartbreak. Right off the bat, the short story starts with a death, Emily’s mother and then her father. When her father passes away the reader experiences her heartbreak. She lost a loved one. In William’s own life he loses a loved one as well. Estelle Oldham who was Williams’s first love marries another man. This causes William to feel heartbreak as well just like Emily did. Along with heartbreak, William starts to drink. Besides the heartache from Estelle marrying someone else, William’s first daughter is born two months premature and dies nine days later. Emily and William both had two heartbreaks from the people that were close to them. Heartbreak and death are not the only reoccurring theme throughout both stories.

The other theme would be isolation. During the short story, Emily goes through isolation when bother her parents pass away. When William lost his job he was isolated because he had nowhere to go or live. They both went through physical and emotional isolation. William wrote the short story to help him express his heartbreak and isolation when he was in his late twenties and early thirties.

William Faulkner wrote A Rose for Emily in connection to his own life. Emily just like William went through isolation of being left alone to have to deal with heartbreak because of death. This just wasn’t another story for William, this story helped William express how he was feeling and what he was going through. She lost her mother and father. William lost at first the love of his life then when they go back to each other and have a child, they lose her. This story is very much close to the writer’s heart, in his story we can understand, how emotionally he is broken and how he is disturbed in his life. From the research paper, I could personally understand that I felt kind of bad for Miss Emily because all she wanted was to be loved and left alone.

Due to her father, she didn’t get the chance to love until she passed away. It was mixed in view of the network was continually getting included. My personal opinion about Miss Emily is that she didn’t give herself a chance to grieve her father died so she was full of anger and pain. I also felt bad for her because the people in the community talk so bad about her but when her father passed they all of sudden try to be. I think they are a piece of the motivation behind why she didn’t get hitched; they essentially ruin her life. I additionally think she was a little insane and required some genuine assistance since how might you poison someone, lay down with their carcass consistently and go on with your day by day life like nothing at any point happened. This spying discovery about Homer Barron led Emily to remain closed in her house. Her door remained closed for “a period of six or seven years”.

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