Insanity In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

After reading “A Rose for Emily”, I feel mournful for Emily because of the fact that it seems like she had some sort of mental illness and perhaps she killed her husband by accident because of it. Over the course of the story, readers are most definitely puzzled by Miss Emily’s mysterious and unusual behavior. Although it’s not quite articulated by Faulkner directly, there are various instances throughout the story that hint to the readers about Emily’s awful mental condition.

Desperation for love arising from detachment can lead to extreme measures and destructive actions as exhibited by the tumultuous relationships of Miss Emily in William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 556). Miss Emily is confined from society for the majority of her life by her father, so after he has died, she longs for relations that ironically her longing destroys. The despondency and obsession exuded throughout the story portray the predicament at hand.

In the short story “A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner, the negative impact of Emily’s upbringing by an overprotective father, leads to incredible pattern in her life and the obvious mental illness that takes over as she not so graciously ages. While written in five sections, the first and last section is written in present time, and the three middle sections in past tense. To set the stage for Emily’s drastic transformation from young girl to elderly woman, Faulkner uses characterization, setting and narration to show Emily’s lost state of mind and her desire to find and keep love at all cost as.

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

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.

Within the piece “A Rose for Emily”, we see an unhinged woman, who we discover at the end of the story, poisoned a man she appeared to be in love with. The character Miss Emily was in a state of mind that prevents normal perception, behavior, or social interaction; seriously mentally ill. Her uneasy attitude spawned from her father who was extremely controlling; never allowing her to be with a man. Even after his death, the oppression she faced with her father never truly left. She would often act strange and not leave the house at all as if her father was still there holding her back.

In the short story, “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner creates a character that is both complex and mysterious. This character, named Emily, is unique because of her hidden motivations that are slowly revealed to the reader as the story unfolds. Faulkner forces both the reader and the characters in the story to wrestle with how to respond and act towards her. Because her character is shrouded in mystery, no one is quite sure how to feel about the quiet Miss Emily. Faulkner uses Emily to create a compelling short story that is intriguing and makes the reader curious as to what inner or outer forces could be making her act so strangely.

In “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner presents very disturbing instances and events that lead up to a shocking ending. Throughout the story, the narrator gives just enough information about Miss Emily’s past and present that leaves suspense until the very end. Miss Emily’s hardships throughout her life lead up to a mental breakdown. The author combines various literary elements to produce a brilliant and compelling short story. In his short story, “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner makes good use of foreshadowing, character traits, point of view, and setting to illustrate the toll grief can take on one’s mental health.

In a long critical analysis, Terry Heller asserts that although Faulkner’s emphasizes the difficulty of accepting change, they are other ideals that influence the way this short story is perceived. Heller argues that since the publication of this story, Miss Emily Grierson has either been sympathized or hated by the readers. He descriptively comments how the townspeople claimed to feel sympathy towards Emily but in reality never reached out to her to help her overcome her loses. Heller mentions that Faulkner highlights “what the town [felt], the things the town [said], [believed], and [did],” in order to help the reader realize that they are incorrect about the assumptions they make concerning Emily. Heller claims that the town’s actions reveal

Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is definitely an odd character by the standards of an average reader. The character analysis of Miss Emily could follow any number of roads. It would be hard as a reader not to examine her from a psychological perspective as well as within the context that surrounds the character. Throughout the short story of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s peculiar and unstable behavior becomes strikingly unpredictable, and the reader like the townspeople in the story, is left to determine why Miss Emily has spent many years living and lying next to the dead body of Homer Barron. One of the important quotes in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the townspeople “did not say she was crazy” at first (Magalaner and Volpe 152), and of course, she was never evaluated by a medical professional. Yet by the end of the story, the reader can travel back through the story and recognize many occurrences in which Miss Emily’s behavior hinted towards the possibility of a mental illness, even if the townspeople wanted to remain oblivious to this fact and allow her to remain a monument in Jefferson. Emily never receives any form of mental treatment, but definitely shows signs and symptoms of mental illness. In fact, these details could be used to reinforce the affirmation that Miss Emily suffered from mental illness, quite possibly Schizophrenia as defined by the

According to the story, Emily’s father kept her away from society because he cared for her, when all it did was affect her physically, and mentally. In the story the narrator states, “Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her(517).” This quote has the reader speculate that Emily’s father did not let her leave the household, which caused her to gain weight, not being able to get exercise, nor be social at a young age took a toll on Emily’s life in the long run. Additionally, when her appearance was revealed, her father was dead, meaning even if he was dead he seemed to be able to control her exposing that he mentally scarred

Emily’s father had driven himself so far into her life that

In “A Rose For Emily,” William Faulkner portrays how crippling alienation and slanderous gossip transform Emily Grierson into an unstable necrophile and murderer. The townspeople regard Miss Emily as a symbol of their dignified past, but become overcritical and apathetic towards her as events unfold. Even though Miss Emily is highly thought of, women in the community display little sympathy or compassion after the death of her father, a reaction that ultimately negatively impacts her ability to behave within an ordinary civilization. However, when the townspeople show a blatant disregard for Emily, they fail to recognize that she is damaged and deranged. They do not consider her feelings in the disastrous life around her, and even exclaim , “... it would be the best thing” if she killed herself (Faulkner). The townspeople discard her as a lost cause, allowing her to harbor the detrimental feelings she has towards the loss of her father. Although many may argue that Miss Emily’s actions are caused by a mental disorder, the townspeople’s apathy, neglect, and inability to recognize her true feelings are the real cause of her scandalous actions.

In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", a woman of noble origin, Emily Grierson, finds herself alone isolated in a small town in the Old South. The isolation is not only a result of the townspeople's perception of Emily's status in the community, but also as a result of their pity towards her. Emily, herself, is also to blame for the separation she experiences from the rest of the town. This ominous alienation that some individuals encounter can sometimes lead to horrible, and even, disgusting behavior, as in Emily's case. In "A Rose for Emily", Faulkner shows how the alienation felt by Emily Grierson caused by the townspeople, the death of her father, and her own self, enables her to commit an act of grotesqueness.

In the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner talks about a woman whom many thought was a monument, others thought she was an outsider. Emily lived in her own world and loved in her own way. In the story, there were a couple meaningful moments that I thought helped boost the dramatic interest of the story. The first part that was meaningful for me was when Emily’s father died. It really caught my attention when Emily said her father was not dead. The narrator says, “We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that.” (34), at this moment the author is boosting the dramatic interest in the story by saying that they didn’t think she was crazy “yet”. The other meaningful moment in the story was when Emily when to the store to buy arsenic, “She will kill herself” (35), the whole town thought about her actions. This is a meaningful moment because the author is trying to show the mental problems Emily had in her head, but the author wasn’t talking about depression problem. A main conflict in “A rose for Emily” is between Emily and herself, Emily has an immoral way of caring for her loved ones. First, not recognizing the fact that her father was dead, and keeping him dead in her house for 3 days. Then killing her lover and leaving him dead in her bedroom until she died. Emily probably feared that Homer was to leave her like her father did, or she heard what the towns people were saying, “…he was not a marrying man.” (35). In her head, the only way to keep