A Rose for Emily Analysis Essay

If the story was not done by the narrator’s point of view then we would have felt less sympathy for Miss Emily. The narrator hides its sympathy toward Miss Emily by putting them through Miss Emily and her loved one. This makes the readers feel saddened with them and not the narrator. It gives an effect that the readers don’t notice until the

The day after her father's death, the women of the town went to give their condolences to Miss. Emily. To their surprise, Miss. Emily was "dressed as usual" and had "no trace of grief on her face (Perrine's 285)." Emily told the women that her father was not dead. Finally after three days of trying to hold on to her father, "she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (Perrine's 285)." The town's people tired to justify Miss. Emily's actions, by saying that she had nothing left, and was clinging to the one thing that had robbed her for so long they convinced themselves that she was not crazy.

Emily's father suppressed all of her inner desires. He kept her down to the point that she was not allowed to grow and change with the things around her. When “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated…only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps” (Rose 217). Even when he died, she was still unable to get accustom to the changes around her. The traditions that her and her father continued to participate in even when others stopped, were also a way that her father kept her under his thumb. The people of the town helped in

William Faulkner begins the story by describing the characters of Miss Emily. He divides the story into five parts which all talk about the life of Miss Emily. At the first part, he describes her as, “A tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.” (Faulkner 217). He further discusses that Miss Emily not wanting to pay any taxes to the city until the Board of Aldermen had called a special meeting about the issue. But Miss Emily kept saying that she had no taxes to pay what so ever and tells her servant, the Negro, to “show the gentlemen out.” (Faulkner 218). She did not show any respect and manner for the Aldermen. The

A narrator is used as a lens in telling the story, and with that it centers the story around the particular themes the author wants to convey, in this case it is isolation, death, and tradition vs. change. In these themes they show the narrator has has particular feelings for Miss Emily, even in the name that the narrator uses for the main character, is shows a sense of formality and position of her authority and separates her from the everyone else in the town, the narrator's refers to everyone else in town with the name of their position in town , i.e Judge Stevens, the druggist.. these examples infer that the narrator separates himself from the same views as everyone else in town, just like the main character who is isolated from everyone else by the town's doing along with her own. In the quote "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all."(pg515) , it shows that her life was filled with a misery, being all alone it drove her to madness, the isolation was caused by being considered in a league above everybody else, her father chasing away suitors, and her fiance not wanting to marry her. The narrator reflects on this theme because he could identify with Miss Emily, because the narrator does not feel the same way about things as the

The story reveals its main topic and conflict during the first four, short paragraphs, wasting little time on offering an explanation of what is happening in the present, and fully disregarding giving any physical or outside description of the mother. Emily's mother, after being notified by an unknown character who is likely a person of authority of Emily's need for "help", quickly goes off on a tangent, delving deep into not only justifications for Emily's odd behaviour, but

Taking everything into account, the setting of this story was to clarify the future eras and how they managed their legacy. This portrayal helps us picture a rotting Mississippi town in the post-Civil War in the south. We are additionally ready to perceive how Miss Emily opposes change definitely. The room that was entered amid Emily's memorial service shows the distinctive physical points of interest of the qualities, thoughts and mentalities of the place in various times. Emily's home was the main house that did not change while the others made theirs lovely in the

and she endeavored to hold on to the past life she recognized so well. Furthermore, in Miss Emily’s dusty, timeworn parlor “On a tarnished gilt easel before the fire place stood a crayon portrait of Miss Emily’s father.” (731). The childhood drawing of her father being displayed in her house symbolizes how Miss Emily is stuck in her childhood, since the only love she knew was her father’s harsh, controlling affection. Consequently, Miss Emily was completely frightened of being abandoned again.

“ Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town (Faulkner 299). After the passing of her father, Miss Emily was left alone all to herself, no one but her in the large house for company or security. She made no attempt at going into public for years; this made the town’s people worrisome as to if or what Miss Emily could be hiding. It gave the townspeople a sense of curiosity. When Miss Emily died after her father, the funeral took place at her house rather than a funeral home or church. This gave the town’s people the opportunity to alleviate their curiosity. “the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant—a combined gardener and cook—had seen in at least ten years” (Faulkner 299). “Besides telling us that Emily is a spinster who has not been visited in ten years, this sentence also provides important clues to the town’s attitudes toward Emily” (Heller). While examining the house the townspeople found something very disturbing to them. This would be the secret she had been living for so

Miss Emily is an elderly lady who lives alone in a nice home with a African-American butler Tobe. She is a mysterious lady who changes her attitude from being a vibrant and hopeful young lady to a secretive old women. Her father, Mr. Gierson had rejected many of those potential suitors because he still wants Miss Emily to be under his control. After Miss Emily's father death, she went devastated and the townspeople had some sympathy for her. However, she spends some quality time with a new comer Homer Barron but his chances of marrying her decreases throughout the years. Miss Emily shows insanity and serene to validate her life.

In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the author reveals the conflicts that can occur when tradition and change challenge each other through the use of point of view, symbolism, and setting. Faulkner’s use of point of view shows the differing sentiments of several characters in the story. The point of view in “A Rose for Emily” is unique, in which the narrator uses first person while representing the townspeople as a whole. One common difference between the different groups of the town is that the newer generation of townspeople often have negative opinions of the older generation.

Throughout the course of the story, the narrator remains a nameless “we” and “us” that presumably speaks on behalf of the townspeople. The narrator continuously refers to Emily Grierson as “Miss Emily.” This hints that the narrator is familiar with the woman and or thinks fondly or highly of her. If the narrator is indeed the townspeople, then the reader recognizes the townspeople's respect for the woman. Yet “we” could be a disguise the narrator uses to hide his/her identity and turn his/her thoughts into commonly held beliefs of the townspeople. Because the point of view is first-person, the image conveyed of Miss Emily may be biased and therefore a skewed or inaccurate representation of the kind of character Emily Grierson is. The narrator seems to hold a high level of respect, sympathy, and even admiration towards the woman. In addition, the narrator expresses, “We did not say she [Miss Emily] was crazy

From staying the same for years, to avoiding modern amenities, Miss Emily could be assumed to represent tradition. The story even states, “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care” (Faulkner 714). Miss Emily seems to live in her own world by isolating herself from many. This was obvious when she refused the numbers that were put on her house when the town finally starts using the modern mail service that delivered for free. The story states, “she would not listen to them” (Faulkner 714). It can be assumed that Emily was so stuck in the past that denied that time was passing and that so many things had progressed and changed so significantly; therefore, leading her to not participate in the changes that the town is experiencing.

Lastly, I believe the narrator is one of the residents who lived in Miss Emily’s town. The narrator had to know her in some sort of way. The story starts off by the townspeople coming into her home for her funeral. The narrator could have got lots of details with how her house looked and how she looked then. Then in section two, the narrator goes into Miss Emily’s life thirty years earlier. In other words, the narrator had to know Miss Emily for a long time. In section three, the narrator goes into how Miss Emily had a long illness. In section four, the narrator describes the fear that some of the townspeople have that Emily will use the poison to kill herself. In the last section, the narrator describes what happens after Emily dies. For example, in section two, the narrator states, “People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (35). Another example, the townspeople detected an odor of Miss Emily’s house and began to complain, “We really must do something about it” (35).

After her father’s death Emily ultimately acts like nothing even happened. For when they tried to go to her house ”Miss Emily met them at the door with no grief on her face. She told them her father was not dead. ”(p. 302)