Sexuality In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Emily becomes a minor legend during her lifetime. After her death, when her secret is revealed, hers becomes a story that no one can forget. "A Rose for Emily" is the story of the old maid who fell in love with a northerner, but resisted being jilted once too often. And only after her death, "When the curious towns people were able to enter her house at last, did they discover that she had kept her dead lover in the bed where she had killed him after their last embrace." (Kazin 162) . "In her bedroom, Emily and the dead Homer have remained together as though not even death could separate them."(Kazin 162) . Even though her lover had

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.

William Faulkner once said, The article describes the fate of a southern town after the American Civil War. As the patriarch of the family, Emily's father leaned heavily to maintain the rank and dignity so he drove all the courtship to love Emily and deprived her of her right to happiness. After the death of her father, Emily fell in love with a foreman northerner that was building the railway for the town. But Emily still did not get rid of the shackles of family dignity and her father's influence on her approach. When she found that Homer Barron had no intention to marry her, she poisoned him with arsenic. Since then, Emily closed herself in the old house, and lived with his dead father for 40 years, until she died. The town residents found the secret at the funeral of Emily. William Faulkner is a pivotal figure in the history of American literature, known as the head of the Southern Renaissance and the leader of the Southern literature. "A Rose for Emily" is Faulkner's most classic short story. In this novel, Faulkner used a symbolic, like rose, Emily and the shadow of father, to reveal the contradictions and conflicts between the American old-age cultural minds and the northern industrial civilization after the civil war. He shaped a fallen southern aristocratic lady “Emily “in the tragedy of personal and social, realistic and traditional tragedy.

“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 1). Emily, a member of the town’s elite class, relied upon her father when growing up and after his death, she refused to pay her taxes, stating that her father contributed much to society. But it was evident that she didn’t pay them because of a lack of maturity - financially and socially. When she was younger she pushes herself onto Homer Barron, a Northerner with no interest in marriage. Throughout the story, Emily is conflicted over societal change, and clings to her privileged manner even after finding herself in poverty. Yet, she becomes involved with a man from a lower social class, and a Northerner as well - hinting that he has different beliefs and values. The townspeople, however, believe the relationship it too modern when there is a possibility they are having physical relations despite not being serious about marriage. The community’s inability to commit to progress, contribute to the confused Emily’s decision. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses the symbolism of Emily’s house and her hair to demonstrate her emotional instability and physical deterioration, illustrating the outcome of his story.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” starts out at Emily’s funeral and then goes onto a story about taxes, which Miss Emily is exempt from paying for life by Colonel Sartoris. During her life, Miss Emily’s father kept her isolated and ran off any potential suitors with a horsewhip. When her father died, Miss Emily refused to acknowledge the fact for three days. Soon after, Miss Emily met and started dating Homer Barron, “a northerner and a day laborer.” The town goes from being happy about the relationship to thinking of it as indecent. Homer seemingly deserted Miss Emily shortly after she bought poison. All is quiet for the next 40 years until Miss Emily’s death when Homer’s corpse is found sealed in an upstairs room (Faulkner 323-327). This paints a picture of a lonely, desperate woman. Miss Emily was isolated with just a butler for company. That does not make her a murder. Emily Grierson is innocent of murder because any evidence is circumstantial or illegally obtained, Tobe cared for Miss Emily enough to kill for her, and Miss Emily is legally insane.

After Emily’s father passes away in “A Rose for Emily,” Emily’s sweetheart rejects her. The only man that her father must have approved of ran out on her, leaving

As a result, Miss Emily remains unmarried. This situation perhaps helps readers understand how Miss Emily is trying to cope of all the burden and pressures of great expectations that others have of her. While most individuals can handle this kind of stress, Miss Emily unfortunately is unable to develop healthy, adaptive coping mechanisms. Another glimpse of her character is when the sheriff office attempts to collect taxes, Emily tells them “see Colonel Sartoris” (33), who had been dead almost ten years. “I have no taxes in Jefferson” reasserts Emily (33). Despite many attempts to collect taxes, Emily simply continues to refuse to cooperate with the town authorities. This observation of Miss Emily's behavior is telling us how irrational and inappropriate she is when she interacts with other people. Another episode of her erratic behavior occurs when Judge Stevens, the new town mayor, receives several complaints from the neighbors that a powerful, terrible odor is originating from Emily’s property and ordered by the neighbors to “send her word to have her place cleaned up” (33). This is another hint that Emily is becoming separated from her community and is totally unable to relate to other people in an appropriate matter.

Initially after the loss of her father Emily Grierson refuses to let go of him and the influence he has over her in “A Rose for Emily”. Emily’s father was a big part of her existence he was the only man in her life. For years he had ran off suitor that had called upon Emily. Once he was gone it is hard for her to adapt to life without him. She refuses to believe that he is dead telling the ladies of the town “that her father was not dead” (101). She had been very close to her father and without him her live would not be the same. She never leaves the house she stays secluded from the town. By remaining alone she will not have to face the fact that any change has taken place.

After the death of Mr. Grierson, Emily initially refused to have her father’s body buried, and “she went out very little.” The initial refusal to bury her father demonstrates Emily’s inability to accept the death of her father. She wanted to keep him inside the house to “live” with her. “…the house was all that was left to her….” and so, when Mr. Grierson died, “Miss” Grierson died too. After his death, Emily was left unable to love, since her only love was now dead. The unusual and immoral love shared by “Miss Emily” and her father led to more tribulations later in Emily’s life, including her first and final attempt at attaining a husband.

In the story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner, the author talks about a life of a woman and the town she lived in.

The death Miss Emily’s father, as one of the most influential figures in her life, caused her to have a serious mental break. He died of an unknown cause and the townspeople were ready to help his daughter through this tough time. When they arrived, they found her clothed as normal with an even temperament. In fact “she told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body.” (Chapter 2) Having been attached to this man for her entire life, Miss Emily sees no other way to continue so she truly believes he is still alive. She is unable to deal with the idea that he has abandoned her and left her with no one to spend her days with other than the manservant. The doctors and ministers end up having to take the body away after three days and disposing of it. After that “she was sick for a long time. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows – sort of tragic and serene.”

Miss Emily lives in an environment where she is surrounded by people she loves. After her father dies, she shuts herself in the house. The house, to Miss Emily, was like a symbol of her father, protecting her from the outside world. Her father's death takes a toll on her body physically and emotionally, and makes her to never want to feel abandoned again. To keep from feeling lonely, Miss Emily drugged Homer and stashed his body in the attic after his announcement that he was leaving her.

She has a fear of being abandoned or alone. She lied about her father’s death for 3 days so they wouldn’t be able to take the body. In the story it says, “The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them her father was not dead.

However, she was the centre of furious gossip in the entire town especially when her relationship with Homer Barron started.

Throughout ages, men have dominated, and women have surrendered. In the 1800s, women were not as liberal as today. They were not allowed to express their sexuality. It was a patriarchal society, and women were considered a man's property. Women were idealized as being pure and virtuous. British doctor William Acton went so far to state that, “The majority of women (happily for society) are not very much troubled with sexual feelings of any kind. Love of home, of children, and of domestic duties are the only passions they feel." In William Faulkner's, " A Rose for Emily" the character Emily is faced with same old tradition. Miss Emily has been stripped of her sexuality and reality due to her society and her father.