Character Analysis of Emily Grierson Essay

The medics tried to come to her to help her take the body from the house, but she rejected. The only love she knew was the love of her father so the passing of her father must have had an enormous impact on her. He was the only one in her life that was protective of her. Later, she broke down and let law enforcement come to the house to bury of his body properly. As a whole, Emily’s behavior throughout the whole story shows the audience that she might be mentally ill. After the death of her father, she held on to his body and was in denial that he was dead when the townspeople came to offer their condolences. After losing the most important man in her life, she found another man named Homer Barron. With the belief of them getting married, she proceeded to buy marital things such as a toilet set in silver with his initials engraved on

Emily’s upbringing is plagued with difficulties. She is the first-born of a young mother and the eldest of five brothers and sisters. As a baby, she is

"She carried her head high enough - even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson” (55). In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” a southern town reflects on the life of a woman who had been “a tradition, a duty, and a care: a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (55). Faulkner uses Mr. Grierson, the town people, and Miss Emily’s actions to divulge why Miss Emily Grierson act like she is “higher up” than a run-of-the-mill resident of the town. This mentality is given to Miss Emily which causes her to be inconsiderate, reclusive, and lonely.

In this southern setting after the Civil War, Faulkner exposes the theme of resistance to change. A Rose for Emily is an assessment of the way some people deal with vicissitudes in their lives. Miss Emily Grierson who always subsisted under her father’s wings, displays serious issues after his death. The story begins with the end of Emily’s life. Poor Emily’s sentimental clutter and grotesque demeanor bring pity on her character. Some may argue that she was just misunderstood, others may see in her a psychologically unbalanced person, and that her attitude was simply a way of crying out loud for help. In any cases, Emily appears to be someone that the common mortal would feel compassion for, enough to deposit flowers on her grave. Her inability

It is William Faulkner’s unique ability to create a character that the audience will sympathize for but also feel animosity towards that makes “A Rose for Emily” so page-turning. The antagonist, Emily Grierson, is a pretty mysterious woman. Her father dies, she is left with almost nothing, she meets a man, and then she stops leaving her house. In literature, the tone is the narrator’s attitude towards his/her subject. Additionally, the style of a short story is the way the writer structures the plot and the manner that it is conveyed. In “A Rose for Emily”, it is almost impossible to truly look into the mind of this narrator because he informs the audience so many emotions that the general society has towards Emily’s reticent personality. Thus, Emily becomes more and more isolated, in which she takes a step further and stops leaving her house altogether. And the writer does a great job in expressing this. In long, vivid sentences fraught with jarring diction and compassionate tones, William Faulkner exposes the reality of society’s alienation towards a possibly insane individual.

The day Emily’s father died, Emily insists to the ladies “that her father was not dead...for three days, with the ministers calling on her...trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (4). Instead of accepting her father’s death, she lies to herself, claiming that her father is still alive - as if she needs any man’s comforting. Without a man by her side, Emily feels lost. When her father was taken away to be buried, Emily finds a new lover: “a foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee” (4). To her dismay, even though Emily loves Homer, the man did not return the love to Emily. She feels betrayed and angry, later on killing Homer with “poison...the best you have” (5). After Emily’s death, the townspeople find Homer “himself lay in the bed…[with a] fleshless grin.” (9). The townspeople, curious about the dead man, “notice that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head…[and] saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (9). The hair indicates that Emily would lay with Homer after she poisoned him. This shows how dependent Emily is; feeling as if she must keep any men she loves even after his

William Faulkner portrays an unusual life of Emily Grierson when she has a difficult time with the change in her surround environment all while dealing with a hard time handling death in this short story “A Rose for Emily”. This short story speaks of death, it starts with the death of her father and ends with her death. Death is all around Miss Emily Grierson and the story emphasizes the issues she has when coping with it. Later it is found after Emily has passed that she was keeping a secret from everyone. In this short story, Emily faces many changes, which include the death of her father and society evolving around her. Emily is not easily susceptible to any of these changes. She is very misunderstood and this can be seen through

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is filled with mystery and horror, but the pinnacle of it all is the character of Emily Grierson. Faulkner gives the reader the perfect amount of information about her to keep the reader interested and at the same time keep the character shrouded and unknown. The curious style of narration and order of the story along with the domination of Emily’s father reveal Emily’s character and the danger of overwhelming southern values on an individual. Faulkner’s largest tool he uses to describe Emily is through the perspective of the townspeople.

In this story, Miss Emily goes through so much that she is “ … living as a lonely recluse in her family's decaying aristocratic house for more than forty years until her death” (Hsu and Wang 87). When Emily's father was still alive, “ … he chases off every suitor that comes near her, denying Emily the choice of taking up the traditional role of wife… “ and “ … isolating her from the townspeople” (Hsu and Wang 89). The strictness of her father and the fact that Emily “ … tries to live in the old aristocratic honor…” has kept Emily living all alone and separated from the town (Hsu and Wang). Living alone with only one person, her manservant, impacted her social life. This severe time of isolation affected her mental stability because

"Perhaps he considers himself the sheriff . . . I have no taxes in Jefferson. " They brought forth their best men, but Emily’s condescending attitude vanquished them every time. She never would accept the advancing world around her. This reoccurring theme, refusal to move on will be the downfall of Emily

Emily had always been desperate to please her father, in fact, she missed many chances to marry because of her father's influences upon her. Her father influenced her actions so much that after he died, she refused to let them take him away because she could not bare to live on her own, it frightened her. This is a perfect example of restrictions in Emily's development as a young woman, because the shadow of her father always lurking upon her was strong, strong enough to have her feel as if she is a little girl as his powerful words rang like a bell to her ears. Emily's father was such a powerful figure top her, as if her father was a dictator, he dictated her, basically had her in a prison cell of such. After his passing Emily was so largely impacted by the way he treated her that she could not just grow up, she became imprisoned in her own

What is shown is that Homer rode Emily around in his buggy and Emily would go on to buy Homer a suit and a silver toilet with his initials engraved on it. The townspeople thought they got married, but the scene before explained that Emily had bought arsenic with no explanation. Why would she need arsenic? There is a possibility that Homer, being a day worker was traveling from town to town to do projects, and to fill in the time would date various women. Emily, being so starved for a romantic relationship, had fallen in love with Homer and finding out that he is nothing more than a playboy felt betrayed and heartbroken. This lead to her poisoning him with arsenic and keeping the body for decades. In the article “A Rose for Emily”, The towns people would not ask anything of it, because at the time it was considered rude to ask a lady why she smelled so bad

I would like to spoke on the dead corpse she had kept in her home. Emily put herself in a predicament where keeping her father’s lifeless body in her home could cause mental problems. Emily’s father controlled her life and who and when she date. Here you have her life wrapped around her father’s fingers to the point that without him she would lose

Everyone was sad for Emily when her father died; he left her the house but she had no money. Moreover, when he died she refused to accept the fact that her father died. People from town did not think she was "crazy" but assumed that she did not want to let her father go, although it could be said that he stole her youth. Then, the narrator returns to the period after the death of her father. Emily begins dating Homer Barron, who is in the village for a sidewalk construction project. The people from her neighborhood did not like their relationship at all and take Emily's cousins to town to put an end to it. One day Emily buys arsenic at the drugstore and it is thought that Homer is going to leave her and that is why ‘she intends to commit suicide.’ She bought some man clothes and a wedding dress and people from town thought that she and Homer were going to get married. However, Homer leaves her and then her cousins’ leave, but then Homer returns home. The last time Homer was seen was when he walked into Emily's house. Emily rarely leaved her house, except for a six-year period during which she went to teach painting

Although Miss Emily received offers for marriage, her father had turned down all the offers even up to the point when she reached the age of thirty. Denying every suitor annoyed the town because it made people think that the Grierson family deemed themselves too highly. Turning down every potential suitor also affects Miss Emily by limiting her growth. Typically, a father cuts off their child in order to help them grow into an independent person so he or she can survive when he passes away. However in this case, by denying every suitor, Miss Emily’s father denies her ability to grow and make choices as an independent adult. By doing so, she is forced to become dependent on her father which prohibits her from making choices freely. Her father played a significant role in creating her murderous state. If he had allowed her to grow and not held such a condescending view of her potential suitors, Miss Emily would have been able to pursue a real love. Her father appeared to have sociopathic tendencies. His lack of moral responsibility to help his daughter strive demonstrates the type of father he was.When her father dies, she refuses to accept this, similar to how an abused child will want go back to their abuser because he or she does not understand anything outside the realm the person he or she depends on. Despite her father restricting her ability to marry and grow as a person, she still wants her father to be alive. Without her father, all Emily