Behavior In William Faulkner's A Rose For Miss Emily

William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is a story that uses flashbacks to foreshadow a surprise ending. The story begins with the death of a prominent old woman, Emily, and finishes with the startling discovery that Emily as been sleeping with the corpse of her lover, whom she murdered, for the past forty years. The middle of the story is told in flashbacks by a narrator who seems to represent the collective memory of an entire town. Within these flashbacks, which jump in time from ten years past to forty years past, are hidden clues which prepare the reader for the unexpected ending, such as hints of Emily's insanity, her odd behavior concerning the deaths of loved ones, and the evidence that the

Two important things that characterize Miss Emily are the persona of her father and her actions. Her father is a very domineering man that shows his power over Emily by controlling the aspects of her life. This control had an influence on her thoughts and her actions throughout her life. One of the scenes in the story describes her father as “...a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her clutching a horse whip...”

The short story “A Rose for Emily” is told by a southerner, a resident of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story by William Faulkner portrays a woman who lived a life of seclusion. Miss Emily Grierson could not accept that important people in her life could leave her. She was a victim of her father, time and her town. The way the story is told is controlled by the storyteller. During the time spent letting it know, he infers his own and his general public's social qualities, which impact states of mind and conduct toward Emily in a manner that embroils him and the townspeople in her destiny. The author may well ask why he recounts the story at all or why he lets it know the way he does,

Emily’s father considered themselves superior than others in town. . He believed none of the young boys were suitable for Emily, and always chased them away. Her

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” starts out at Emily’s funeral and then goes onto a story about taxes, which Miss Emily is exempt from paying for life by Colonel Sartoris. During her life, Miss Emily’s father kept her isolated and ran off any potential suitors with a horsewhip. When her father died, Miss Emily refused to acknowledge the fact for three days. Soon after, Miss Emily met and started dating Homer Barron, “a northerner and a day laborer.” The town goes from being happy about the relationship to thinking of it as indecent. Homer seemingly deserted Miss Emily shortly after she bought poison. All is quiet for the next 40 years until Miss Emily’s death when Homer’s corpse is found sealed in an upstairs room (Faulkner 323-327). This paints a picture of a lonely, desperate woman. Miss Emily was isolated with just a butler for company. That does not make her a murder. Emily Grierson is innocent of murder because any evidence is circumstantial or illegally obtained, Tobe cared for Miss Emily enough to kill for her, and Miss Emily is legally insane.

Just as Miss Emily’s resistance to change is symbolized by the Grierson house so is Miss Emily’s loneliness. The Grierson house is so symbolic because it had once been a hub of activity with china painting lessons and guests. After the death of Emily’s father, the house was shut off from the rest of the world, very much like Miss Emily herself. The narrator tells us that “From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china painting.” (Faulkner 34). We can tell, and perhaps understand to some degree, that Miss Emily has a very real fear of being left alone. This is first revealed by her denial of her father’s death for several days. “She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days” (Faulkner

By examining Miss Emily’s behavior and her social relationships, it is possible to diagnose Miss Emily with mental illnesses: PTSD and schizophrenia. Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in “A Rose for Emily,” written by William Faulkner, is a strange character. Miss Emily’s unpredictable and idiosyncratic behavior is bizarre, and the reader, like the townspeople in the story, was left wondering how to explain the fact that Miss Emily has spent years living and sleeping with the corpse of Homer Barron. On page 772, the whole town went to Miss Emily’s funeral when she died. “The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant--a

In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily there is more than enough evidence to determine that Miss Emily is mentally ill. Most of the clues and hints are subtle, but when they are all pieced together the puzzle becomes clear. Not saying it is clear as too what Miss Emily was suffering from, the only way to know that for certain would be if the author or narrator told us in the text. We can conclude, however, she was suffering from some form of mental illness. Miss Emily was seen as a recluse and odd, but what no one in the town knew was that she couldn't help it there was more going on with her then people could see.

William Faulkner has done a wonderful work in his essay “A Rose for Emily.” Faulkner uses symbols, settings, character development, and other literary devices to express the life of Emily and the behavior of the people of Jefferson town towards her. By reading the essay, the audience cannot really figure out who the narrator is. It seems like the narrator can be the town’s collective voice. The fact that the narrator uses collective pronoun we supports the theory that the narrator is describing the life of “Miss Emily” on behalf of the townspeople. Faulkner has used the flashback device in his essay to make it more interesting. The story begins with the portrayal of Emily’s funeral and it moves to her past and at the end the readers realize that the funeral is a flashback as well. The story starts with the death of Miss Emily when he was seventy-four years old and it takes us back when she is a young and attractive girl.

After all these years of being controlled and sheltered, Emily wanted to live her life on her own terms, Rather than living by her father’s rules after he died. Emily wanted more than anything to be in control of her life, although she struggled with depression and was mentally unstable from being restricted from the outside world around her, she didn’t want to ever be alone and wanted to be in control even if it meant hurting someone she loved dearly.

Post Civil war era Mississippi, a racially divided confederate state. The south is known for hospitality, and that special charm. Yet in “A Rose for Emily” the townspeople tend to gossip about Emily and are very nosey. The author of the short story created an environment in where the values of the town contrast the typical stereotypes of a southern state. William Faulkner's, “A Rose for Emily” exposes the hypocrisy of the Post Civil War south.

Her house reeked of a horrible smell. Miss Emily faces many issues by her community. The whole town gossips about her and talk down on her. "Poor Emily," as they attend her father’s funeral and none of her family members are there. “...the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.” She lived in a big house all alone with no one, but her slave. After all the pity the town felt for Miss Emily, they started to complain about her.

As any reader can see, " A Rose for Emily" is one of the most authentic short stories by Faulkner. His use of characterization, narration, foreshadowing, and symbolism are four key factors to why Faulkner's work is idealistic to all readers.

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the story of an sad and lonely lady, stuck in her time. Because her father died, she never fully recovered from it and was not able to find herself. Emily’s house was in the past was considered elegant and was built on the best street in town in the 1870’s. Now the house is old and an unattractive building to the neighborhood. People in her town begin to bad mouth her because of her lost soul. Homer Barron, an employee of a construction company, begins to begins to date Emily. The townspeople do not seem ecstatic about this, because they think she is doing it out of being lonely and depressed since her father died. Later on, she

Moloney went to the store to get food for her dinner with her husband. When she got back from the store she found her husband dead on the living room floor. So she called the police to tell them that her husband was died. Mr. Moloney was a cop. All of the people he worked with there very sad and wanted to get to the end of it. Some other men began to arrive -- a doctor, two detectives, a police photographer, and a man who knew about fingerprints. The detectives kept asking her a lot of questions. They always treated her kindly. She told them how she'd put the meat into the oven -- "it's there now"--and how she had gone to the grocer's for vegetables and how she came back to find him lying on the floor.Mrs. moloney went down to the basement to get the lamb leg to hit her husband with it. When she go up stairs she did it. After she got down hitting him she had killed him. Then she put the lamb leg in the oven to cook to cover it up. So she went to the store to get food so it