FREE ESSAY ON A STRUGGLE FOR EMILY-

A STRUGGLE FOR EMILY-

"A Struggling Emily" In the story, "A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner, Miss Emily
Grierson's struggle with her family, her town, and herself makes her do things that are
out of the "norm." Her struggle makes her act inhuman and deranged. Emily is a living a
very sheltered life. Miss Emily struggles, in this story, with herself and the society
around her. Emily Grierson became very heartless in the eyes of the reader and even a
little demented all because of her sheltered lifestyle, closed environment and, conflict
with the townspeople. She knew that the people of her town were talking about her.
However, she ultimately let their gossip influence her life. Some think that Emily's
actions were based on the townspeople's attitudes toward her. Others may say that her
father shaped her actions. However, Emily's father, the townspeople, and even Emily
herself shaped her motives. They were the driving forces behind Emily's action. This
struggle between an individual and the society that attempts to restrict her (Brooks &
Warren 158) would be unbearable for Miss Emily. This is what ultimately leads to her
downfall. Through imagery and conflict, the reader can witness how all of this is true.
As Faulkner begins this story, the reader quickly learns that this piece is going to be
about death and dying. Not so much as physical death, although physical death is also
apparent, but spiritual, mental, and social decay. The physical death is opened to the
reader in the first line of this short story. The storyteller informs the reader by
saying, "when Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to the funeral..." Just by
this line the reader wonders if the town was sad to see Miss Emily past away, or were
they glad. Later in the story, the reader finds out that the townspeople were glad.
However, not for the reason that one might imply. Because the first line of the book
deals with death and dying, does it make "A Rose for Emily" a story of horror? Brooke and
Warren writes, "we have a decaying mansion in which the protagonist, shut out from the
world, grows into something monstrous, and becomes as divorced from the human as some
fungus growing in the dark on a damp wall." (Brooks & Warren 158) This is what makes this
piece a horror story. Webster New World says that horror means, "the strong feeling
caused by something frightful or shocking." At the end of "A Rose for Emily," the reader
finds out that Miss Emily is performing a very deviant action. The reader and the
townspeople are very much shocked by this act. This piece is truly "a story of horror."
(Brook & Warren 158). What made Emily killed Homer? To answer this, the reader must first
expose Emily's character to view. Emily's grew up around her father. Her life was hard.
Emily's father was a very strict man. If compared to today's strict father, he would be
the type of father that would show off his gun collection to a guy before taking his
daughter out. However, in the case of Miss Emily's father, he did not let anyone see her.
The narrator in the story says Emily's father "ran off all the men that came for Emily."
The reader sees how Emily's father is detrimental to Miss Emily's well being. Because her
father blocked her from the outside world, Emily became dependent. Emily became addicted
to her father. If her father told her to jump, Emily probably would respond by saying how
high. Emily's father was like a depressant drug. This drug made Emily feel safe at all
times. The reader also witnesses Emily's father characteristics in a work of art. The
portrait hung "by the back-flung front door." The narrator of the story describes Miss
Emily in the picture as "a slender figure in white in the background." It continues to
say her father was "a spraddle silhouette in the foreground." The reader can see how
Faulkner uses the portrait to symbolize how Emily's father shielded her. The narrator
goes on to say that, " [her father's] back to her and clutching a horse whip." The
picture depicts how Emily's father is in command. It shows how he ruled her. Her father
was the dictator in their relationship. Emily's white garment represents how pure and
innocent she was. Emily was like a child that is in the first stages on its life. The
reader can not help but wonder what happened to Emily's mother. Faulkner does not answer
this question. Something must have happen to her while Emily was still young. Something
had to happen to make Emily's father act the way he did toward Emily. The absence of her
mother affected her slightly. The reader can only speculate exactly how much it affected
her. However, the reader could clearly see that Emily's father made her live sheltered
and away from everyone. Emily never had a worry. She grew up thinking that in her older
years there would always be someone there to make sure she had the necessities of life.
Miss Emily knew that without her father she was nothing. Because of this, losing him
never crossed her mind. In actually, when Emily's father pasted, Emily lost her best
friend, her mother, her brother, and her father. This is what Emily's father represented
to her. Emily had nothing else to live for. When her father died, it was no wonder why
Miss Emily was confused. However, surprisingly, Emily did not deal with her father's
death like most people. She took it hard, but it left a different kind of impression of
her. Her grief was not like a normal person's grief. Nevertheless, she still grieved.
When the storyteller describes Miss Emily, '...with no trace of grief on her face," and
when she tells the townspeople that "her father [is] not dead,' the reader knows that
Emily is having a serious problem dealing with her father's pasting. This also makes the
reader wonder if Emily is crazy or if she is just taking the lost of her father in a much
different way. The townspeople thought that Emily was crazy. For three day, Miss Emily
denied to the town that her father was not dead. The storyteller says, "Just as they were
about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly,"
After this, the townspeople begin to wonder if Emily was playing with a full deck. "The
narrator indicates plainly enough that people felt that she was crazy." (Brooks & Warren
158) The reader finds out that Miss Emily has become the type of person where "realty and
illusion has blurred out." (Brooks & Warren 158) This is apparent to the reader during
the tax situation with the new Board of Aldermen. Miss Emily refuses to pay taxes to the
town. The mayor of the town begins to protest about her refusal to pay the city. However,
Miss Emily does not even identify him as the mayor of the town. A committee from the town
comes over to Miss Emily's home. She tells the committee to talk with Colonel Sartoris.
The reader finds out that he had been died for ten years. However to her, he was still
alive. Faulkner used this comparison between illusion and reality to show how Miss Emily
was impacted by her closed and sheltered life. (Brooks & Warren 158) Emily began to live
like a commoner. During this era, status was a very important thing. The name of Grierson
was very noted in the community. For many generations, the Grierson Family lived solely
off their name. " A principal contrast [in this story] is between past times and present
times: the past as represented by Emily herself, in Colonel Sartoris, in the old Negro
servant...the present is depicted through the unnamed narrator and is represented in the
new Board of Aldermen, in Homer Barron..." (West 148). This means that Faulkner used
Emily (and the Grierson name for that matter) to represent how things used to be.
Although the Griersons lived off their name, the townspeople knew that they did not
really have as much money as everyone thought. This is revealed to the reader when the
storyteller says, "...the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they
really were." (O'Conner 152) Because of Emily's shelter life, she was unable to cope with
big events that came her way. Emily was dealing with so many things. She did not know how
to handle herself in these unfamiliar situations. However, something happen to Miss Emily
that would change her life, Mr. Homer Barron. Homer was "day labor. This was different
for Miss Emily and the townspeople, because Miss Emily was a Grierson and she was not
supposed to ignore noblesse oblige. Miss Emily disregarded it anyway. The reader notices
that Miss Emily is proud of Homer. "[Brooks and Warren] indicate that her pride is
connected with her contempt for public opinion. This comes to the fore, of course, when
she rides around about town with the foreman whom everyone believes is beneath her.
(Brooks & Warren 158). The townspeople were happy for Miss Emily. Homer was like the rest
of them, a commoner. They felt that he brought Miss Emily down to their level. The reader
could see that Homer made Miss Emily happy. This was also apparent to the townspeople.
They could see that Emily loved Homer. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
She was determined not to lose Homer the way she lost her father. "She is obviously a
women of tremendous firmness of will" (Brooks & Warren 158). Miss Emily was going to get
it no matter what it took to do it. The reader can see how firm she is when she goes to
purchase the poison to kill Homer. "She completely overawes the clerk" (Brooks & Warren
158). She does not even give off any clues to what use she will have for the poison. When
she kills Homer, Miss Emily feel that this is the only way to keep him forever. To Miss
Emily, poisoning Homer was her way of preserving. (Fielder 142). Miss Emily was a
confused woman. She did not understand what she was doing was not the way to preserve
love. The reader could see that she had never experienced love like the love her and
Homer Barron had. She liked that feeling and did not want it to end. She knew that if the
townspeople found out he were dead, not only would she suffer serious consequences, but
also they would take Homer's body away leaving her with nothing. Faulkner says, "I feel
sorry for Emily's tragedy; her tragedy was, she was the only child, an only daughter. At
the time when she could have found a husband, could have had a life of her own, there was
probably someone, her father, who said, 'No, you must stay here and take care of me'"
(Jellife 152). Like Faulkner himself, the reader feels sympathetic toward Emily at the
end. Miss Emily could have had a great life if she had only had better values instilled
in her. If her father let her roam free, if the townspeople saw it form Miss Emily's
perspective, and if Miss Emily herself would have tried harder to make a difference in
her own life Homer and her could have gotten married and live happily ever after. Works
Cited Brooks, Cleanth. & Warrren, Robert Penn. (1959). Short Story Criticism. (Vol. 1).
Detroit: Gale Research Company. (pp. 158-159). Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily."
Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience. 7th ed. Eds. Richard Abacarian,
Marvin Klotz, and Peter Richardson. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. (pp. 667-674) Fiedler,
Leslie A. (1950). Short Story Criticism. (Vol. 1). Detroit: Gale Research Company. (pp.
142) Jellife, Robert A. (1955). Interviews with Faulkner. Short Story Criticism. (Vol.
1). Detroit: Gale Research Company. (pp. 152). Van O'Conner, William (1970). History in
'A Rose for Emily.' Short Story Criticism. (Vol. 1). Detroit: Gale Research Company. (pp.
152) West, Ray B. (1949). Short Story Criticism. (Vol. 1). Detroit: Gale Research
Company. (pp. 148-151).