“A rose for Emily” is a short story written by William Faulkner. The story is mainly focused on the character of Emily Grierson who may be considered as the protagonist of the story. Miss Emily may be described as a mysterious character that has a rather difficult life. She differs from all the other characters of the story as she doesn’t want to accept any changes throughout her whole life. Emily Grierson seldom leaves her house and doesn’t communicate with other people. When she is asked to pay taxes or is offered to install a new mailbox, Miss Emily refuses to do it as she doesn’t want to change anything in her life. All in all, it is possible to say that the main emphasis of the story is put on the themes of chivalry and tradition. Through Emily Grierson’s character Faulkner clearly shows how dangerous it might be to stick to conservative values and deny any changes or progress in one’s life. This theme is revealed mainly through the setting and characterization which is mostly indirect. The author the way the townspeople treat Emily, her upbringing and the place where she lives (the place where the action of the story takes place) as well as her relationship with Homer Baron.
Miss Emily’s inability to adjust to a modern way of life may be proved by the appearance of her house which may be viewed as the setting of the story as some of the main actions take place there. Therefore, its depiction plays an important role for the reader as it helps to better understand the character of Emily Grierson. Its depiction proves that Emily is a very traditional and conservative character. Her house was fading with time and wasn't well furnished. The townspeople are never invited to this house by the lady. However, while passing near this house, they always hear a distinct smell. According to their descriptions, it is a smell of dust and disuse. Miss Emily never did repairs or any other changes to her house. The fact that Emily doesn’t try to furnish her house or to do any repairs serves as evidence that she is too conservative. It shows that is hard for the lady to adjust to any kinds of changes. In fact, it is possible to state that Miss Emily’s house may be viewed as the reflection of herself. The house is fading and the same thing happens to Emily Grierson’s. Therefore, the depiction of Emily’s house allows to draw a conclusion that it is hard for the lady to adjust herself to a modern life and to accept any kinds of changes.
The main problem Miss Emily suffers from lies in the fact that she couldn't adjust herself to a modern world. As the narrator of the story claims, “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 1). However, the world keeps progressing and everything keeps changing. The simplest example which shows that Emily is not able to break the traditions is her refusal to pay taxes. She believes that her father loaned a sum of money to the town. That is why she is expelled from paying taxes. So, when the new authority wants to oblige the lady to pay taxes, she refuses to do it. Emily constantly repeats that she has no taxes in Jefferson. She believes that her not paying taxes is a tradition, a norm. Her refusal to accept anything knew shows the major conflicts of the story. According to Watkins, these major conflicts are “between the past and the present, the South and the North, the old and the new, the traditional and the traditionless” (Watkins 508). The same situation happens when her town gets free postal service. The townspeople attach mailbox with metal numbers. As usual, Miss Emily is the only person who refuses to do so. Again, such a behavior proves that she doesn’t want to change anything in her life. In fact, Emily Grierson wants to be different from other people. I think that Emily enjoys her status of being unique and different. She lives by her own values and leads her own way of life not playing attention to other people. Every year she spends less and less time in the public preferring not to leave her house. It is mainly her inability to adjust to modern style of life which prevents the lady from leaving her house and communicating with other people. She locks herself away from all the other people and practically becomes isolated from the whole world. It is clear that such simple examples as reluctance to pay taxes and install new mailboxes show the negative consequences of sticking to conservative values and inability to accept changes. Thus, isolation is the result of Emily’s inability to adjust to modern values and modern world.
Emily’s inability to accept changes in her life may be proved by her relationship with Homor Baron. At first, the townspeople felt happy for Emily. They believed that Emily would finally become happy and would no longer be alone. They were sure that Emily and Homer would get married. However, one day Homer Baron simply disappeared and no one in the town had ever seen him again. Each day Miss Emily’s hair was going grayer and grayer and finally she died in her dusty and gray house. When the townspeople visited her house, together with her body they found the dead body of Homer Baron. The fact that the woman keeps the dead body of her lover for such a long time proves that Miss Emily doesn’t want to make changes into her life. She doesn’t want to accept anything new and prefers to live in an old fashioned way. She couldn't accept the death of her father and doesn’t want to live alone without Homer Baron. So, the woman kills her lover in order to stay with him forever. She is afraid of being left by Baron and prefers to live with dead body instead. The woman desperately needs someone to be near her. I suppose that Miss Emily suffers from a fear of being lonely and miserable. At the same time, she is afraid of accepting new people into her private life. That is the main reason why the lady practically doesn’t leave her house. It also serves as evidence that Emily Grierson is a traditional and conservative person.
It is also worth of note that the structure of Faulkner’s story plays an essential role in revealing the traditional character of Miss Emily. Each part shows the way Miss Emily is becoming more and more alienated from the rest of the society. As Watkins states, the author “divided the story into five parts and based them on incidents of isolation and intrusion” (Watkins). Thus, each part of the text shows how Emily’s inability to accept changes made her feel lonely and miserable. Each part shows the negative impacts of refusing to accept anything new. It is possible to say that Faulkner have chosen such stricter of his story on purpose. Each part of the story emphasizes the fact that Emily Grierson is a traditional character and that she truly suffers from it.
Works cited
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily”. Flipped Out Teaching. 1930. Web. 4 Apr. 2016
Watkins, Floyd C. “The Structure of "A Rose for Emily"”. Modern Language Notes 69.7 (1954): 508–510. Web 4 Apr. 2016
Annotated Bibliography
Watkins, Floyd C. “The Structure of "A Rose for Emily”. Modern Language Notes 69.7 (1954): 508–510. Web 4 Apr. 2016
In his article “The Structure of "A Rose for Emily” analyzes Watkins analyzes the character of Emily Grierson through the structure of Faulkner’s story. The article is taken from a credible source and may be considered as trustworthy. Watkins’ article is useful for the paper as it helps to prove that the major conflict of the story are between the old and the new as well as the tradition and the traditionless. This article also shows that it is dangerous not to accept changes in one’s life. The author gathered a number of evidence and examples that explain why Miss Emily is a traditional character. Each part of the story intensifies the fact that Miss Emily’s desire to stick to tradition made her alienated and isolated from other people. according to Watkins, Faulkner’s story is very symmetrical and it perfectly proves how dangerous it may be to refuse to accept at least some changes and not to try to adjust to modern life. Such an in depth analysis of Emily Grierson together with the structure of Faulkner’s text, helps to better understand her character and her motives in the story.
