Essay Comparing A Rose For Emily And A Day's Wait

In chapter twelve there is a study done by Maria Nagy in the nineteen thirties which suggests three major stages in the development of death related concepts in childhood. Maria Nagy examined almost four hundred children between the ages of three and ten living in Budapest shortly before the Second World War. Nagy conducted a number of tests between different age groups in her sample; the results suggested three distinct but unassailable stages in children’s concepts of death. I found this to be quite fascinating, especially comparing the stages to what I can recollect of my own mindset at those periods. Nagy’s first stage encompasses children under the age of five; these children have no concept of the definitive nature of death and instead view it as a continuation of life elsewhere

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

The narrator seems unable to establish direct contact with Emily, either in the recovery center or their home life. The narrator notes how Emily grew slowly more distant and emotionally unresponsive. Emily returned home frail, distant, and rigid, with little appetite. Each time Emily returned, she was forced to reintegrate into the changing fabric of the household. Clearly, Emily and the narrator have been absent from each other’s lives during significant portions of Emily’s development. After so much absence, the narrator intensifies her attempts to show Emily affection, but these attempts are rebuffed, coming too late to prevent Emily’s withdrawal from her family and the world. Although Emily is now at home with the narrator, the sense of absence continues even in the present moment of the story. Emily, the narrator’s central

“It made him feel a little uncomfortable sometimes when he reflected that the good little boys always died. He loved to live, you

When Miss Emily’s father passed away she began to start acting out. Emily is stuburned like her father, who refuses to change. Although her father had lots of money, he only left Miss Emily the home. Soon the town started asking Miss Emily to pay her taxes. But, she refused to do so. Colonel Sartoris, the mayor of the town, planned to not make Miss Emily pay taxes on her house, “Not that Miss Emily would have accepted charity” (452), trying not to make it seem like Colonel Sartoris was offering her charity. He made up an imaginary loan from her father to the town

Emily comes from a family with high expectations of her a sort of “hereditary obligation” (30). Emily has been mentally manipulated by her as so indicated in the line of the story “we did not say she was crazy then we believed she had to do that we remember all the young men her father had driven away” (32). There is already proof of mental illness in the family “remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great aunt, had gone completely crazy last” (32).

Wolterstorff’s story, Lament for a Son, is about the death of his son, Eric, who died in a mountain climbing accident at age 25 (1978). The five stages of grief are addressed throughout the story. The author experienced the denial stage when he was called and told that Eric had gotten in an accident. Wolterstorff had a few seconds of silence where he had no words because of the shock and disbelief in the news. It was hard for Wolterstorff to understand that the death of his son was a reality (Wolterstorff, 1978). Wolterstorff did not talk a lot about physical anger, or the anger stage, even though he must have been angry with the situation. He stated that he was angry that Eric climbed and that he was taken so early (Wolterstorff, 1978). Wolterstorff’s bargaining stage occurred when he stated that he wished Eric would have died of a disease instead of a mountain climbing accident. He said he believed that it would have lessened the pain of his loss because he would have had a chance to say goodbye (Wolterstorff, 1978). The depression

In “A Rose for Emily” Miss Emily Grierson live a life of quiet turmoil. Her entire life has revolved around an inexplicable loneliness mostly characterized by the harsh abandonment of death. The most vital imagery utilized by Faulkner demonstrates Miss Emily’s mental condition. She, being self-improsened within the confines of her home, is the human embodiment of her house; Faulkner describes it as “... stubborn an coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps--an eyesore among eyesores.” (Faulkner 308).

The human mind is a fragile thing. It can be both strengthen and broken down easily. Actions and even words can be the thing to kill a person mentally. Physically harming or locking away a person can lead to mental and bodily withdrawal. Harming a person with words can leave lasting effects and always stay within a person's psyche. Oppressing and locking away a person's true nature or desires can cause someone to act in way that he or she has never behaved before. When done by a loved one, it can affect a person even more. In William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” and Susan Glaspell's “Trifles”, two different women are kept mentally and physically locked away by a person who is supposed to love and protect them. Though Emily and Mrs. Wright

This reality sends panic and fear through her because now she has nowhere to turn and no one to tell her what to do, no one to command her life. Not only is she stricken with the loss of her father but now she is cut off to the outside world, because her only link has passed on. Emily immediately goes into a state of denial; to her, her father could not be dead, he was all that she had and she would not let him go.

140).” Emily’s mother was strong and became independent because she agonized and experienced tons of grief in order to keep her family alive. This meant giving up her life as a stay at home mother, finding a job when jobs were scarcer than ever before, and finding a way when there seemed to be no light at the end of this disheartening tunnel. Ress said, “They lost jobs, economic security, and perhaps most important, their bright outlook on life. In essence, they lost hope (Ress, 2010, p. 787).”

     Emily’s mother felt like she was forced to neglect Emily. Her excuse was that the time was hard, it was the age “of depression, of war, of fear” (Olsen 262). Although things were not under Emily’s mother’s control, she takes responsibility anyway. In society, parents are thought to provide physical and emotional support so that their children can advance through life with prosperity. This paper is the property of Virtual Essays .com Copyright ©

The boy learns the reality of violence and death. Boyle states, “In one of those nasty little epiphanies for which we are prepared by films and TV and childhood visits to the funeral home to ponder the shrunken painted forms of dead grandparents” (573). The boy may have been prepped since childhood to understand death but nothing could compare to the true

reflected on his imminent death and realized, “No one wants to die...yet death… is very likely