Even on her deathbed Granny's children annoy her. "She lay and drowsed, hoping in her sleep that the children would keep out and let her rest a minute" (Porter 243)
The destruction of slavery destroyed the plantation system and many cultural ways of the Old South. The South attempted keep the old ways, including slavery by trickery; however, Congress reinstated military rule in the South and a compromise labor system was created that "part compromise" and "part tragedy" that left millions of post-Civil War Southerners poor and hopeless (Beck, Frandsen, & Randall, 2009, p
16). Emily Grierson's life mirrored the Old South and post-Civil War South in that she went from being an old-fashioned upper class person to a poor recluse who clung to old ways and was "tragic and serene" (Faulkner, 2012, p
Faulkner spent his life creating characters that represented "the historical growth and subsequent decadence of the South" (Nobel Media AB, 2012). In fact, Faulkner stated, "…no man is himself, he's the sum of his past…" (Gwynn & Blotner, 1995, p
48). It is within this context that Faulkner wrote his first short story for national magazine publication, A Rose for Emily, published on April 30, 1930 in "Forum" (Padgett, 2006)
Emily Grierson has always been able to defeat anyone who would dare to challenge her position above the other citizens of the town. "She vanquished them & #8230;just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell" (Faulkner 2011,-page 537)
For example, he was able to pass a law which demanded that all negro women wear aprons while on the street. Sartoris's power allowed for him to perpetuate the prejudicial attitudes of the south even after the war had ended (Volpe 2004,-page 100)
The reader must use foreshadowing to sort this out since no detective is available. Baraban also brings up the possible motive of insanity, but questions it due to the intricate details of the plot (Baraban)
Repression is a foreshadowing as well as a flashback term which permeates the "A Rose for Emily." According to Yang Hong-mei "although both Steinbeck and Faulkner do not provide us with direct descriptions of how emotionally trapped and repressed their protagonists are and how they long for love and affection as ordinary women, we are still allowed enough access to their inner worlds to understand their thoughts, sufferings, disillusionment, for both authors effectively utilize, either in a similar or different way, some literary elements or techniques to help create characters and present themes" (Hong-mei 73) Yang Hong-mei goes on to point out that the closed-in setting of the story helps to foreshadow that Emily feels physically and psychologically constrained and isolated, symbolic of her yearning for acceptance as a female and for romantic love
Fortunato claims to be a connoisseur of fine wine, but the story line definitely raises question about this line of analysis. To illustrate Fortunato's lack of knowledge, all that must be considered is the way he becomes so drunk that he can not tell the difference between Amontillado and De Grave, a very expensive French wine that he gulps down with little regard (Moffitt 41-42)
In addition, all sorts of forbidden mysteries come to the fore in the background of the story, adding to the suspense as the plot builds. In addition, it adds an international aspect of mystery to the tale, transporting the reader from the early nineteenth century America of Poe's day back to 18th century Italy where the story takes place (Rodriguez 41-42)
Homer Barron's very name sounds larger than life: He is "Christian" name is not "Christian" at all -- but of pagan origin (Greek antiquity to be exact), and recalls one of the greatest epic poets of all time, Homer (who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey). "Barron" suggests aristocracy and "nobility" (Blythe 49) -- and yet Faulkner's Homer is neither aristocratic nor poetic
The fact that the South has lost the War, has lost face, has lost in a sense its respectability, may have a role in Emily's desire for a Northerner -- a man from the opposing camp. Some critics (such as Fang) see in her murder of Homer an act of revenge -- the Southern spirit refusing to be betrayed twice (Fang 23)
Or does she? Du Fang, Hal Blythe, and Thomas Klein each notes how nothing is what it seems in the world of Emily Grierson. Even the voice of the narrator is curiously suspicious (Klein 229)
In Faulkner's story, the time has now changed and Miss Grierson, Emily, is a woman who has become displaced in the world -- a sort of a ghost of another time. Interestingly enough, Faulkner referred to his short story as a ghost story (Klein 232)
Homer and his things. CONCLUSION: Emily in Faulkner's story was no less than a social stigma (Ruthman)
CRITICAL ANALYSIS: In this part of the essay I would discuss about Miss Emily a protagonist, who proved to be the most static character of Faulkner's story which was only because of her attitude towards life. The story begins with a trauma of Emily Giererson's death who suffered the pain of denial throughout her life and fought against the universal fate of death in quite a weird way (Werlock)
However, Emily's well-known refusal to pay taxes in Jefferson, especially when she herself makes no contributions whatsoever to the town (as her forbears had once done) and her stubborn unwillingness to mingle with people of the town, also creates a lack of sympathy for Emily. Most bizarre is Emily's attachment to the dead bodies of the two men who arguably "robbed her" (Faulkner, p
Throughout the story, Faulkner drops hints about Miss Emily, the ladies of the town, and where they stand in society and importance. Early in the story Faulkner writes, "Only a man of Colonel Sartoris' generation and thought could have invented it, and only a woman could have believed it" (Faulkner)
There is some suspicion that they met with a nasty end, but no proof, and no one willing to ask Emily any questions. The townspeople generally treat her as something of a god among them, to be both admired and feared, and she never pays taxes or does anything of the other things that she does not want to (Faulkner, 2007)