A Rose for Emily vs Killings Essay

When she finally found a male that showed some interest and emotion, she was attached to them. That’s where Homer Barron comes into the story. He would visit Emily and go for Sunday drives with her. When Homer told Emily that he must move on she found herself on the verge of loneliness once again. If Homer would leave it would be two men that have left her. When she realized that he was about to leave she poisoned him and would keep him forever.

She suffers from Necrophilic, in other words she’s attracted to dead bodies. “She told them that her father was not dead. She did it for three days” (Faulkner). Her father had full potential control over her life that after his dead, the only way Emily could have control over him would be by keeping his dead body. Then came Homer, a construction worker who went around town gossiping about having sex with Emily which leads to Emily buying rat poison to kill him, “The fact that certain people in town knew that Homer was in the upstairs room argues a similar recognition of Emily’s need to cling to Homer as she had tried to her father” (Getty). Again, he lied and did not have plans on marrying her, he was known to hang out with younger guys as referring to him as a homosexual man. so to have control over him would be by killing him, but this time he didn’t keep the body for three days but for thirty years.

There is no doubt in the readers minds that Strout is guilty of murdering Frank Fowler, but that does not change the overwhelming anguish and guilt that is felt by Matt after he shoots Strout. As Matt had led Strout through his house and into the bedroom, he could not help but notice the neatness of the house or the picture of Mary Ann and the boys on the wall down the hallway. Matt began to make a brief connection to the person who was standing before him; a connection that he had to dispose of quickly. After the murder, Matt is lying in bed thinking about Strout’s

Once it becomes apparent that Homer is not the marrying type and that he represents everything that she is against, Emily murders him with rat poison. It is revealed that Emily kept Homer’s corpse in her bed throughout the rest of her life, when he is found in the bed by the townspeople after she dies. Homer represented the more modern and industrialized South to come and Emily murdering him

The term "death" refers to someone who is dying or had been killed, basically someone who is at the end of their life. But, to Miss Emily, "death" has a different meaning. "Death" to Miss Emily is when someone is still living their life, even though they are skeletons. Miss Emily keeps dead bodies because she does not ever see death for what it is. She does not think they are dead. In "A Rose for Emily", the theme of control is shown through Emily's interaction with her father in her youth, as well as in Emily's controlling of death.

Killings and A Rose for Emily were both stories that used love as an excuse for violence. In A Rose for Emily, she killed a man because she loved him and didn’t want to lose him. Matt, in Killings, killed his son’s murder; Matt’s wife had to face her son’s murder daily. Matt decided he loved his wife enough to kill that man.

Emily” by William Faulkner highlights the issue of revenge and showcases the outcomes of mental illness. In these stories, the main characters, Montresor and Emily, both suffer from mental illness, which causes them later on in the story to lose their sense of humanity and commit murder. Both Montresor and Emily believe that they have been wronged, and thus seek revenge on the ones who have wronged them by murdering them. Not only do they both commit murder, but also they do so by committing it through inhumane methods. Montresor murders his rival by burying him alive, and Emily by poisoning and preserving her boyfriend's dead body. Both stories “The Cask of Amontillado” and “A Rose for Emily” illustrate two mentally unstable characters who lose their sanity and commit murder, revealing how the actions of people in the upper class, which were unchecked because of their social status, result in the commission of reprehensible actions.

In the short stories “A Rose For Emily,” by William Faulkner and “The Possibility of Evil,” by Shirley Jackson both authors create similar characters and settings that illustrate daring images of evil. Both Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth are women who share similar characteristics yet pose completely different motives. Their stories take place in close-knit towns, which play essential roles in their motives for evil. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth demonstrate similarities and differences that develop their actions, revealing the possibility of evil within them.

In a Rose for Emily, Emily has an unconditional love for Homer Barron. Although they weren’t with each other for very long, Emily was brought out of her confined state of depression and figuratively was given a new life. Emily didn’t have a loving connection with another individual for quite some time after her father’s passing. This being said, she was terrified of being brought down to the depths of solitude once more, pushing her to killing Homer and keeping him all to herself.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” and Andre Dubus’ “Killings” both explore themes of passion, crime, and morality. The violence committed in both stories is deployed with both the threat of love and longing for love. “Killings” portrays a father’s love for his child and the desire to avenge his death. However, the crime he has committed lef to self destruction and some sort of self murder. The character is an ironic position, since he was confronted with the fervent desire to seek revenge and the guilt that guilt that came with it. Anger and righteousness can be sympathetically felt with the character. Similarly, “A Rose for Emily” portrays love as the main reason for the crime. In this story, the father suppressed his daughter from seeking a husband, which eventually led to her killing her love to find eternal love. These two stories are the same in some aspect in terms of the theme which revolves around passion and crime. However, the character differs greatly on the impact of the crime committed by them. In “Killings”, the character felt guilt and a sort of self death. The character in “A Rose for Emily” on the other hand, died with no remorse for what she committed.

She knew Homer was homosexual and still flaunted him throughout town like an accessory in trying to convince both herself and the townspeople she could move on from her father’s death. However, her relationship may have got into deep with Homer and she had to kill him to make sure he didn’t leave her side as her father did. After Emily kills Homer, “a window that has been dark was lightened and Miss Emily sat in it, the light behind her” (p.395). This image shows Emily has now become her father in a way and took dominance in her life by murdering someone else, which causes an internal self satisfaction. She keeps the corpse of Homer almost as the resemblance of a trophy for her work. Emily was wealthy woman who appeared to have it all however, she never accomplished close to anything in her life except for taking the life of Homer. The lost of her father signified the lost of herself, in an attempt to find herself emerged a dark character who became mentally and physically consumed by her pain that she was left to fight alone.

She has bought him personally monogrammed gifts, the people in town believe that they will be married and then all of a sudden it seems that maybe they are not going get married. He leaves town for a bit and this probably made Emily go crazy. She finally meets the only love of her life and he is not being serious with her, so what does she do the next time she sees him? She poisons the guy and keeps his rotting corpse in her house, and to make it worse she even sleeps with him. She didn't know how to deal with rejection so instead she does the only thing she can to keep the love she believes is Homer and that is kill him so she could have him forever, or so she thought.

Emily kills Homer, a former close friend, because of her past and the values and teachings regarding love that have been instilled upon her by her father and society.

Melczarek, Nick. "Narrative Motivation In Faulkner's A ROSE FOR EMILY." Explicator 67.4 (2009): 237-243. Literary Reference Center. Web. 15 Mar.

Murder has always been a fascinating element in fiction that catches the audience 's attention. The unbalanced main characters in the two murder stories, The Cask of Amontillado and A Rose for Emily drive the plots of the stories. Montresor and Miss Emily, the murderers in each story, engage the readers, allowing them to have a different perspective on their actions and similar motives of murder. A close examination of the way Montresor, the narrator of The Cask of Amontillado, and Miss Emily, the protagonist of A Rose for Emily, commit the action of murder towards their victims demonstrates how authors Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner use this entire concept to display the main characters’ similar traits.