Mental Illness In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner wrote, "A Rose for Emily." In the gothic, short story he contrasted the lives of the people of a small Southern town during the late 1800's, and he compared their ability and inability to change with the time. The old or "Antebellum South" was represented by the characters Miss Emily, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Aldermen, and the Negro servant. The new or "Modern South" was expressed through the words of the unnamed narrator, the new Board of Aldermen, Homer Barron, and the townspeople. In the shocking story, "A Rose for Emily," Faulkner used symbolism and a unique narrative perspective to describe Miss Emily's inner struggles to accept time and change

According to the Unite for Sight organization, “In 2002, of the estimated 450 million people worldwide living with mental or behavioral disorders, 90 million were drug or alcohol dependent, 25 million suffered from schizophrenia, and 150 million had depression” (Unite for Sight). Mental illness is something that today’s media and government does not want to address, which is seen repeatedly in “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. More and more people are being diagnosed with a mental illness and this trend needs to come to an end. People need to understand the various aspects of mental illness. While treatment of mental illnesses has improved over time, the effect they have on the individual and the people around them has not.

Emily’s father, being a man of wealth, proudness, and domineering widower, he kept Emily close to himself and cut off from most social contact and courtship attempts (Spencer). Growing up Emily only knew the love and caring for her father and that love she received from her father. This seclusion rendered Emily lonely after her father died. She is not quite ready to accept his death, and this is where Emily first reveals signs of severe mental disturbance when she refuses to allow his body to be taken away after three days (Spencer). The dilapidated old mansion and Miss Emily herself seemed to occupy a state of suspended animation in which "the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man…going in and out with a market basket" (Faulkner, 629). Emily's

Additionally, because of Miss Emily Grierson isolation from the community by her totalitarian of a father and as a result, she is basically disconnected from the society, in which she is supposed to have been in contact with or socially connected. Moreover, the result of her father’s death causes Miss Emily to refuse to acknowledge his death for three days. However, after the townspeople intervene and buried her father, it seems that Miss Emily is isolating herself by an obscure illness, perhaps a mental breakdown, therefore, in order for Miss Emily to keep herself sane, she finds herself remembering only the past, creating her own reality, causing herself and others to follow. Likewise, Miss Emily lives in an abiding void causing her to create

A Rose for Emily is a mysterious and jaw-dropping short story precisely written by American writer, WIlliam Faulkner. This eerie story was published in 1930 and has been analyzed for its hair-raising effect ever since. The story places the reader in a decaying Mississippi town in the post-Civil War South where gossip is absorbed as it is the morning paper. The backdrop of the story plays a key role in the end result. The setting relates to the events of the plot, the events of the characters, and the building of suspense.

After her father dies and her first sweetheart leaves her “a few of the ladies had the temerity to call,” but because she does not answer the first time, they just give up (Faulkner 34). They know that she is completely alone for the first time in her whole life and only tries to call her so they do not feel guilty. Instead of pursuing help for her, they just watch her from afar. She knows her neighbors watch her all the time, even though they only occasionally see her look out her window. The neighbors put her under a microscope after she already proves she needs privacy for a while, which makes her even more mysterious to them. They use Emily’s unhappiness and hardship as their entertainment. The neighbors even use Emily’s own death to nourish their curiosity of her life, “our whole town went to her funeral…mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house (Faulkner 33). When the neighbors try to offer their condolences, as it is their custom, they are exposed to Emily’s inability to accept change. She denies her father’s death, which is also another explanation for why she does not accept their charity or support right away. They try to offer their help the day after her father dies because that is their “custom,” but for Emily that is too soon. They do not help her by isolating her and gossiping about every move she makes. Emily deals with her loneliness and grieving process

Emily’s character is difficult to determine since her thoughts are not conveyed in the short story. It challenges the readers to imagine her feelings when her father passed and the reason for her becoming a killer. As in result, Emily avoids change in her life because her perspective she is fixed on living the same era and does not recognize the change in her town. She is secluded alone in her house letting one servant in and out of her home. In addition, the town remembers her aunt who died and gone crazy, so mental disorder might have run in the family. In conclusion, everyone has different perception in the world because no one can understand each other's life unless they can relate it to their life experience. Emily’s lifestyle is shown

"It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street". Having been surrounded by commercial interests, it is "stubborn and coquettish" in its decay. Emily lives in Jefferson, Mississippi in a fictional county. “only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps, an eyesore among eyesores" (Faulkner 102) Adding to Miss Emily’s love for the past, and need for her traditions, people in the community discover that the inside of her house is something that no person would have wanted to come into. “It smelled of dust and disuse a close, dank smell”, “It was furnished in heavy, leather-covered furniture” (Faulkner 101). This horrible display shows Miss Emily's need for stability and her fear of change. As the people in the community move around her house, “a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sun-ray." The look of Miss Emily’s home was not the only thing that bothered the neighbors in her little community. There was something else that was really bothering the citizens of Jefferson. There was an odor coming from Miss Emily’s house that no one quite understood. They almost feared Miss Emily and her humble abode because of what they did not know the

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is short story that unknown narrator tells the strange conditions of Emily’s life and her relationships with her father. Faulkner touches numerous problems linked to dark parts of human life and uses a nameless narrator that represents the voice of the town. The story starts with the burial of the main character who is Emily Grierson. In the story, the author uses the life of Emily Grierson as a symbol of the changes after the American Civil War. In order to illustrate the collapse of the post-bellum South, Faulkner uses a series of symbols, such as hair, Emily’s “rose”, dust, Emily’s house and Emily herself, Faulkner illustrate the collapse of the post- bellum South after the American Civil War.

People who read about William Faulkner (1897-1962) know that he did not lead an easy life. He had the bad habit of drinking way too much, but above all he was very lonely. In his short story “A Rose For Emily,” Emily becomes very important because it represents in some way Faulkner himself. Even though she was perceived as an idol from the town, she felt very lonely.

Have you ever wondered why William Faulkner choose to name his short story "A Rose for Emily?" Even though the rose was mentioned only a few times throughout the story, the title was the most captivating part. Faulkner described the title as "an allegorical title; the meaning was, here was a woman who has had a tragedy and nothing could be done about it, and I pitied her and this was a salute ... to a woman, you would hand a rose." In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner does not explain or mention the meaning of the rose. Roses often come in different colors, shapes, and sizes; in which they all have several meanings. In this essay, I will attempt to further explain the reason Faulkner would give Emily a rose.

“A Rose for Emily” is a tragic story written by William Faulkner. It opens up describing a funeral arrangement made for Miss Emily Grierson. Nobody had been to Miss Emily’s house in ten years besides her servant. The story then jumps to thirty years earlier, in which we find out the mystery behind what happened with Miss troubled Emily Grierson and her relationship with a man named Homer. Faulkner’s use of suspense in this story keeps the readers on their edge.

As stated in the Mayo Staff quote “neglect of personal hygiene” is also, another symptom of this awful mental illness. Later in the story, Emily decides to never really show herself in public again. The townspeople are curious as to what is going on, but no one ever sees anything. When they finally did see her again, they described her fat and noticed that she had gray hair and every time they saw her again, it would grow even grayer. This shows she was unable to perform even the simplest of tasks. She could not take care of herself. At this point she’s unable to be social, unable to relate to others and is totally irrational. Especially when the newer generation “became the backbone and spirit of the town” (Faulkner 485). The story also describes a time when the town received mailboxes. Emily refused to let the metal number hang above her door and continued to not

“A Rose For Emily” is a perfect example of a typical Southern Gothic short story, consisting of the common elements of grotesque, unusual, and dark mentally unstable characters. “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, represents the themes of death, murder and lost love. The hints of “Gothic Literature” can be found in Faulkner's description of Emily, her home, the poison she purchased, and the ending of the story.

Miss Emily's changing ppearance is one thing that she cannot control .      Other variances aside from physical appearance that is seen in Emily is her mental state. Emily having a multi personality disorder is then disinterred. Emily not being mentally stable is due to the fact  that Emily's father had served as a hindrance from her sexual maturity and in her thoughts.  Her father was the reason why she was never able to become acquainted with any other male except her father: "Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, with his back to her and clutching a horsewhip"(Faulkner 316). This illustrates the immense control Miss Emily's father had on her social life in regards to who she was able to associate with on an intimate level even if this perception was just a "tableau" . It was because of this that Emily was unable to find in a man the affection that she yearned for. With this inheritance from Emily's father of not being assenting of change on more occasions than one, it will be proven that this will present adverse outcomes for her. The passing of Emily’s father was when things went downhill furthermore. As the women of the town confronted Emily about her father’s passing, the narrator then goes on to say that, "She told them that her father was not dead." (Faulkner 31). What was