Do you have what it takes to kill the man you once loved? In the story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, Miss Emily shows signs of having a mental illness. Emily withdraws herself from society and becomes trapped in a world of delusions. By examining Miss Emily’s behavior and her social relationships, she can easily be diagnosed with being a sociopath. In a world full of norms, sociopaths roam. A sociopath is someone who has a personality disorder, which cannot emotionally condition social experiences (Million & Grossman 1). Sociopaths often show many signs of being different than the rest of society. Dr. Lykken wrote an article about sociopaths and states that often times a person will lack empathy, will have trouble living with …show more content…
According to Characteristic of a Sociopath written by Stanley Loewen he states a person lacking empathy is unable to feel sympathy for others or understand the emotional consequences of their actions (Loewen 1). We learn that Miss Emily also shows a lack of empty when it comes to “the death of her father” on page 3 (A Rose for Emily 3). When her father died people would come over to meet with Miss Emily and give her their “condolences (A Rose for Emily 3)”, but instead of being accepting and welcoming she insisted he was not dead (A Rose for Emily 3). According to the article written by Stanley Loewen, people who are sociopaths cannot make the connection between reality and what goes on in their minds (Loewen 2). Miss Emily proves that statement to be true when she shows no form of grief after the “death of her father (A Rose for Emily 3)”. Miss Emily is also “dressed as usual (A Rose for Emily 3)” when people show up (A Rose for Emily 3), this is also an example of how she is unable to any type of emotion. If she was in fact not suffering from this disease she would have been dressed in all black and mourning the “death of her father (A Rose for Emily 3). Although denial is in fact part of the grieving process Miss Emily shows no sign of “grief (A Rose for Emily 3)”. This shows that Miss Emily is not just grieving she is in fact suffering from a mental …show more content…
Lykken and Stanley Loewen, sociopath has the power of manipulation down to a science and can get almost anyone to believe their story (Lykken 2 & Loewen 3). Miss Emily uses her manipulation skills to buy “arsenic (A Rose for Emily 3)”, to “kill rats (A Rose for Emily 3)”. Miss Emily was able to manipulate the drug dealer to sell her “poison (A Rose for Emily 3), even though she was well aware of why she truly needed it. Although there is no evidence stating that Miss Emily actually “killed” the man that she loved the body was found “decaying (A Rose for Emily 5)”, in Miss Emily’s home. The fact that Miss Emily reached out to a drug dealer (A Rose for Emily 3), and purchased “arsenic (A Rose for Emily 3), was an example of “impulsive behavior (Lykken 1), which is another symptom of being a sociopath. One may argue that no evidence was found connecting Miss Emily to the death of the man she loved, which is accurate Miss Emily however “sleeps in the same bed (A Rose for Emily 5), as Homer the man that she loves. According to Dr. Lykken Miss Emily would in fact be diagnosed as sociopath due to the fact that she was able to show no empathy, or remorse while lying next to the man she loved and watching him slowly decay (A Rose for Emily 5). Miss Emily not only bought poison to kill a man but she continued to live her life as if nothing ever happened (A Rose for Emily 5). Due to that exact factor Miss Emily lives her life style as a women who suffers from
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.
SHORT STORY LITERARY ANALYSIS PAPER PLAN: INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH In William Falkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” Falkner presents the theme of many of his popular works: the representation of the influence of tradition’s longevity versus change in the perspective of society as it grows. “A Rose for Emily” is centered on few encounters, and the perspective that influence them, occur between the townsfolk and the outsider Ms. Emily. These encounters occurred when the ever progressing and changing town of Jackson, Mississippi and the traditions of said growing town coming into conflict in “A Rose for Emily”. Each perspective of the encounters created two distinct different perspectives of, or approaches to, the traditions and what can and cannot ‘fit’ into the modernization of society.
She suffers from Necrophilic, in other words she’s attracted to dead bodies. “She told them that her father was not dead. She did it for three days” (Faulkner). Her father had full potential control over her life that after his dead, the only way Emily could have control over him would be by keeping his dead body. Then came Homer, a construction worker who went around town gossiping about having sex with Emily which leads to Emily buying rat poison to kill him, “The fact that certain people in town knew that Homer was in the upstairs room argues a similar recognition of Emily’s need to cling to Homer as she had tried to her father” (Getty). Again, he lied and did not have plans on marrying her, he was known to hang out with younger guys as referring to him as a homosexual man. so to have control over him would be by killing him, but this time he didn’t keep the body for three days but for thirty years.
Emily’s behavior takes another dramatic strange twist when she visits the druggist and requests some poison. The druggist asked Miss Emily “What kind? For rats and such?” (33). to which Emily responds “I want the best one you have. I don’t care what kind” (33). It is at this point that we truly begin to question if Miss Emily has foul intentions.
What is a sociopath? According to R. (2012) “There are people in the world who don't care about love, and who feel no remorse, empathy or emotional attachment to others. They don't even know what these feeling are. These people are called sociopaths.” (It Wasn"t a Relationship – It Was a Robbery!!, 2013) explains, “The sociopath makes a career living off others. They feed off your energy, your wealth, your social life, your friends and family, your body, everything, and if you have material possessions, they will take those too.” According to Andersen (n.d.) “[Sic] Sociopathy is not a mental illness; it is a personality disorder. The condition is highly genetic.” These days most people find their mate on an online dating sites. Most of
Any evidence against Miss Emily is circumstantial or illegally obtained. When Miss Emily bought arsenic, the druggist labeled it as being “For Rats” (Faulkner 325). The townspeople assumed it was for suicide (326) but did not question it. The arsenic could have been used for any number of pests around the house. Around Miss Emily’s time, arsenic was being used as part of a beauty regiment
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.
The first instance occurs with the death of her father. Mr. Grierson died, leaving Miss Emily alone with the house and his body to dispose of (325). Miss Emily did not take care of either the house or the deceased body of her father (325). When the authorities came, she greeted them as if nothing was wrong, and with “no trace of grief in her face” (325). The town even reportedly said that they “hardly ever see her at all” after Mr. Grierson died and Miss Emily’s companion had left her (324). Emily’s tendencies to never leave her house and to keep her father’s dead body show signs of instability. Miss Emily publicly displayed an unstable psyche when she told the men who came to collect her taxes to refer to a man who had been dead for nearly ten years (324). A woman who expresses these psychological abnormalities must be examined closely when she is as closely related to the crime as Emily. Not only did her behavior concern others, it made them suspicious. Miss Emily also tried to cover up her crime in the end.
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
The short story "A Rose for Emily" is one that tells about a woman who lives a life of secrets, love, and neglect. Living in selective isolation, her mental health closely resembles that of a 21st Century murderer. Emily has the characteristics of a person with a behavioral personality disorder, or schizophrenia by choosing self-isolation, premeditating murder and keeping a trophy.
The townspeople felt bad for Emily and thought the reason for her craziness was because her family had a history of it. Emily also waits three days before revealing the death of her father. Emily allows the dead body of her father to lie in her home rotting away. Another crazy action that Emily does is when she goes to the pharmacy to purchase “rat poison”. When Emily goes to buy the arsenic she doesn’t tell the druggist what exactly she is going to use it for, but stares him down making him feel uncomfortable. “Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (213). One of the most extreme actions Emily performs is being responsible for Homer Barron’s death. But, after fully reading the story the reader understands that Emily not only kills Homer but sleeps with his corpse. “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay… Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (215) There the reader’s thought of Emily sleeping with the dead body and her psychotic tendencies is confirmed.
Another indication of Emily?s mental condition is the insinuation of necrophilia. Simply put, necrophilia is a sexual attraction to corpses. The roots of Emily?s necrophilia are deep, and unique. Emily?s father controlled her all of her life. He made every little decision for her. For Emily her necrophilia is a way for her to have control, and have things be, for once, the way she wanted them to be. Emily refused to let they body of her father go. It is speculated that Emily and her father had an incestuous relationship with her father. After being abused for so long, Emily felt that she was regaining her own self by keeping her father and being able to do what she pleases with him.
If Miss Emily could be the narrator of “A Rose for Emily”, her motives and thoughts would be more obvious. When she is buying the arsenic, the druggist tells her, “‘… the law requires you to tell what you are
The short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner first comes off as a disturbing story. When you realize that Miss Emily Grierson, who is the main character in this story, kills the man she’s though to be in love with, all you can really think is that she’s crazy. I think the conflict in the story is Miss Emily not being able to find love. With her father not giving her a chance to date, thinking that there was no one good enough for her. Then, the only man she has been able to love dies, which is her father. Once she has fallen “in love”, she murders her lover. Miss Emily’s necessity for love has caused her to be unable to distinguish fantasy with reality.