Comparing Influences

Madness and desperation can motivate some of the most extreme actions of individuals. For instance, when faced with a loneliness she was forced into by her overprotective father, Miss Emily Grierson in “A Rose for Emily” struggles to cope with a changing environment after his death. Her mental deterioration even culminates into the murder of her significant other Homer Barron to keep him from leaving her as well. In his story, William Faulkner foreshadows Miss Emily’s mental instability from the very beginning with specific hints. Some of those tactics are portrayed in the description of Miss Emily’s family history, the words and actions of the community, and her inability to distinguish between the past and the present.

In the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, Emily, the protagonist, is shown as someone who’s life is falling apart and brought down by society. Emily in this story could be described as a victim to society and her father. Emily Grierson’s confinement, loss of her father and Homer, and constant criticism caused her, her insanity.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner presents yet another example of a woman who possesses feelings of adoration and hatred but is constantly in despair and isolation because of the male influences in her life. Like the woman, Delia, in “Sweat”, she holds these hateful and even fearful feelings held up inside of herself until she acts out and does something drastic, for example, murdering Homer Barron (913). In “A Rose for Emily”, like in “Sweat”, the male figures are characterized as being very authoritative and controlling, in the case of Emily, her father is this male figure. The narrator provides a detailed description of him next to Emily as others pictured them, as a “tableau”. “Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the backflung front door.”(909). The imagery of the father clutching the whip next to the fragile Emily against a such a pure white background brings one to see and acknowledge the dominating and controlling nature of their relationship, better than any passage of conversation ever could

The author, William Faulkner, has a collection of books, short stories, and poems under his name. Through his vast collection of works, Faulkner attempts to discuss and bring awareness to numerous aspects of life. More often than not, his works were created to reflect aspects of life found within the south. Family dynamics, race, gender, social class, war, incest, racism, suicide, necrophilia, and mental illness are just some of the aspects that Faulkner explored. In “A Rose for Emily” the aspects of necrophilia and mental illness along with the societal biases that were observed in a small-town setting are seen to be a part of this captivating story. These aspects ultimately intertwine with the idea of insanity that characterizes “A Rose

The treatment by Emily’s father affected her as an adult in many ways. I feel that her father actions caused her to isolate herself from society and not able to adapt to change. In the story, “A Rose for Emily”, Emily lived with her father and had little interactions with anyone else. Emily’s father was very controlling over her life by not allowing her to do things on her own, which resulted in Emily being reserved from society. Her father kept her shielded, and believed that no young man was good enough for his daughter. The narrator stated, “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner, 1931, 84). After his death

The most common element found within both pieces of literature is that both women seem to be greatly selfish.

In William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily," Emily does many things that a person who is normal would not do. In section two of the short story, the author begins to reveal Miss Emily creepy actions. It is my belief Miss Emily is psychologically disturbed when she kept her father's corpse, killed a man, and slept with a corpse until she died.

            The insanity of Miss Emily is also foretold in A Rose for Emily.  When the body of Homer is found in her bed, the reader can understand that Emily killed him, because her mental stability had been questioned a number of times.  The narrator begins these allusions to her mental state when he tells how the mayor, Colonel Sartoris, bestows a special tax exemption upon Miss Emily.  Colonel Sartoris makes up a story so unbelievable that it is described as so outlandish that "only a woman could have believed it".  Later, the townspeople talk about her great-aunt, the lady Wyatt, who had gone completely crazy.  They wonder about "poor Emily" with the insanity in her family.  Her mental state comes into question again when the town removes the body of her father.  She is said to have "broke down" and finally let them in to take and bury the body.  This is an obvious analogy to her having a mental breakdown.  This is followed with the statement that the townspeople did

Before her father died, he refused every suitor that pursued her; which in turn doomed her to live a solitary life (Faulkner). “Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead,” (Faulkner). This shows the internal conflict that Emily has with society. She acts as if her father never died and continues to hold her head high and shut herself off from the rest of the world.

In William Faulkner’s short story entitled “A Rose For Emily” the main character Emily’s insanity was not always present throughout the story as much as she rather snapped when all of the stresses and pressures in her life grew to be too much. She dealt with the tragedy of her father passing with great grief, even going to the extent that she refused to believe he was dead for three whole days. Emily was raised by her father and they had a close relationship so it was understandable that she was distraught at his passing, but their relationship was not necessarily healthy.

Mental illness is not an uncommon thing to come across when faced with traumatic or psychologically damaging events. It is a combination of both of these in the case of Emily Grierson within William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”. A strong reliance on her father due to his strict rule prohibiting her from seeing other men combined with his passing and initially denial of his death results in Miss Emily being both mentally unstable and completely disconnected from the world around her. The consequences for the stunted emotional growth of Miss Emily was that she could not let go of the dead which results in her keeping bodies of the dead from being taken away from her on two separate occasions, one of which was the product of her murdering her lover Homer Barron to make sure that he could never leave her. Some critics believe that all of these events ultimately stem from the initial control that her father had over her, and how he sheltered her from the world with a strong rule.

In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner uses the mysterious actions of a heartbroken woman to express the danger of what the sum of love and fear is. William expresses how Emily Grierson is fiercely forbidden from love and sociality, how Emily cannot let go of her deceased father, how Emily falls in love with an unusual match, and how Emily looks at death as a permanent Cupid between herself and Homer Barron. William Faulkner tells a story of how love and fear are the most dangerous of human weaknesses. - Emily Grierson is kept away from love and sociality by her father. Mr.Grierson keeps Emily locked away and runs every man who approaches her away.

In the Article by Jack Scherting, I agree that in the short story called “A Rose for Emily” her father did cause to act psychotic. Even at the age of thirty, her father did not let her married anyone. He believes that no one was good enough for his daughter. After her father death, she could not cope with his death. She kept his body for over three days, and when the town people wanted to talk to Emily but she acted like he was still alive. Law officials had to force her to buried her father. After that she became sick with grief and she cut her hair like a small girl. That begun her psychotic personality after she met Homer Barron. Emily notice that he had the same personality like her father. They dated for a long time, and was a part of

Both men reveal the attitude toward women in society as one of tradition. Traditionally women had no place to speak or lead in any aspects of society and government. They believed that women that spoke out were not submitting to their husbands which would lead to them being superior over the male majority. The men believed that women in the republic should be controlled and not be slaves but they needed to have guidance in life even after they were married. So the guidance went from father to husband.

Firstly, the two texts share a common theme: the unfairness of traditional female gender roles within the society. In Text 1, the brothers are mad at their father and sister because despite their father's will, their sister "can't inherit any land here" and they wanted her to "get married and go elsewhere" so that the brothers could split the land by themselves. Even though the girl had stayed with their father to care for him unlike her siblings, it was impossible for her to inherit his land most likely due to law. Additionally, her brothers implied that her only options for the future were to get married and leave the family to become another man's property. Thus, text 1 expressed its theme through depicting how the girl who deserved the