In the Story a Rose for Miss Emily by William Faulkner We Can Clearly Notice That the Central

Faizal Mohamed 064-444-995Topics for Research Paper

Prof: Mary ElsisiENG150ME

A lot of modern literature features outsiders as main or important characters. Writing about either "A Rose For Miss Emily," discuss how and/or why the central character is an outsider within her own community?

In the story “A Rose for Miss Emily” by William Faulkner uses characterization

to reveal the character of Emily. Miss Emily, the main character of this story, lives

for many years; someone who has withdrawn from a community to live in seclusion. "No

visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years

earlier. "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away,

people hardly saw her at all”. She is protected all her life, and her strict lifestyle leads to

problems and conflicts with her decision make abilities. Things get worse for Emily,

once her father passes away. The death of her father along with the shattered relationship

with Colonel makes things worse for her.. Though her father was responsible for her

becoming a recusle, her pride also contributed to her seclusion. "None of the young men

were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such" . Her pride has kept her from

socializing with other members of the community thus reinforcing her solitary. But Miss

Emily's father is still responsible for her being a hermit. Her father's over-protection is

evident in this passage, "We remembered all the young men her father had driven away,

and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her,

as people will" .

Her father robs her from many of life's necessities. She misses out on having

friends, being a normal "woman," and her ability to be happy. Emily is so used to having

her father be there for her, she figures that by keeping his body he can still be part of her

life. If he had not refuse the men who wanted to go out with Miss Emily, she may have

not gone crazy. Miss Emily may have wanted seclusion, but her heart lingered for

companionship. Her desire for love and companionship drove her to murder Homer

Baron. She knew her intentions when she bought the arsenic poison. "Then we noticed

that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head" .

Her deepest feelings and hidden longings were lying in the bed. Miss Emily's

pride resulted in the shocking murder of Homer Baron. She kept Homer's body so long

because she feels that she has finally accomplished something in her life. Next her past

was represented in Emily Grierson, Colonel Sartoris, the Board of Alderman, and the

Negro servant. Homer Barron, the new Board of Alderman, and the new sheriff

represented the present. Homer was the main representative of Yankee views towards the

Grierson and the entire South, a situation of the present. Emily held the view of the past

as if it were a rose-tinted place where nothing would ever die. Her world was already the

past. Whenever the modern times were about to take hold of her, she retreated to that

world of the past, and took Homer with her. Her room upstairs was that place, a place

where Emily could stay with dead Homer forever as though no death nor disease

could separate them. Homer had lived in the present, and Emily eventually conquered

that. Emily’s family was a monument of the past; Emily herself was referred to as a

“fallen monument.” She was a relic of Southern gentility and past values. She had been

considered fallen because she had been proven susceptible to death and decay like the

rest of the world. As for the importance of family, Emily was really close to her father.

He was very protective of her and extremely dominating. The entire town had a tableau

of the two of them, Miss Emily was a slender figure in white in the background, and her

father was a sprawled figure in the foreground, his back defensively turned to her and

clutching a horsewhip with the dark boundary of the door framing them. The town also

believed the Grierson held themselves a little too high for what they really were. Miss

Emily came off as rather snobbish and stuck up, seeming to be thinking that just because

she was a Grierson she was better than everyone else. The sense of community ties in

here because the locals basically narrate this story, remembered. All the people

whispered behind their jalousies about Miss Emily and her father.. It is mixed to better

show the confusion about time and reality, and how the people want to remember it.

At Emily’s funeral, the Confederate soldiers recalled courting Emily and dancing

with her when they never did such a thing. They remembered it as they wanted it to have

happened, and they can do that because no one can change the past. Faulkner succeeded

in writing a work of Southern literature that displays a romantic pull of the past and the

idea that submission to this romance was a form of death. Thematically, death conquers

all. The story of Miss Emily Grierson from Yaknapatawpha County is a tale depicting the

romance of the South combined with the story itself created a captivating atmosphere, a

world where no one wants to leave.

The death of her father and the shattered relationship with her sweetheart

contributed to her seclusion. Though her father was responsible for her becoming a

recluse, her pride also contributed to her seclusion. "None of the young men were quite

good enough for Miss Emily and such" (225). Faulkner uses the feelings of other

characters to show Miss Emily's pride. Her pride has kept her from socializing with other

members of the community thus reinforces her solitary. But Miss Emily's father is still

responsible for her being a hermit. Her father's over-protection is evident in this passage,

"We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with

nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will" (256).

Her father robs her from many of life's necessities. She misses out on having friends,

being a normal "woman," and her ability to be happy. Emily is so used to having her

father be there for her, she figures that by keeping his body he can still be part of her life.

If he had not refuse the men who wanted to go out with Miss Emily, she may have not

gone crazy. Miss Emily may have wanted seclusion, but her heart lingered for

companionship. Her desire for love and companionship drove her to murder Homer

Baron. She knew her intentions when she bought the arsenic poison. "Then we noticed

that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head" (260). Her deepest feelings and

hidden longings were lying in the bed. Miss Emily's pride resulted in the shocking

murder of Homer Baron. She kept Homer's body so long because she feels that she has

finally accomplished something in her life.

A Rose for Emily By: none (William Faulkner) In times of distress, trauma and

uncertainly, many people find a comfort in familiar surroundings, where they can close

out the world and relax. This was certainly Emily’s way of handling her trauma. All her

life Emily tried to escape from change. Even the posting of the new mailbox was

unacceptable for her. She acted as though nothing around her had changed her entire life.

Even though death and loss affected her, she seemed to try to avoid thinking about it.

Emily is unable to balance her traditions in modern times. But, the roots of her tragedy

lay in the fact, that neither cans the people who surround her in the town. In the story,

Faulkner presents us with a sad tale of a lonely woman, who is only met with

disappointment and grief in her search for love. Emily was a lonely woman. Miss Emily

came from a powerful family. She had experienced a controlling love from her father.

That love only demanded that she abide by his rules and his expectation of her in his

lifetime. Her suitors were all sent away by her father. After failing to marry, she lost the

only person who was her family, her father. After her father died, she met Homer Barron,

a Yankee, who was in the construction business in the town. Finally she had someone to

love. They dated and possibly were happy with each other, but the traditions, customs

and prejudices of the South doomed this affair to end. She could not allow this. Emily

could not have lived with Homer, but she could not loose him, her only love. So she

poisoned him with arsenic.

In conclusion, Emily needed someone to love her eternally, and someone to love.

She did not have any family members to love and nurture, to turn to for love or support.

The few family members she had thought she was crazy, but actually they were even

more proud of their position in the society. They prohibited her relationship with Homer.

They pushed her to do what she did. The town, the family, all the people were against her

love. She could not have Homer alive. This is why she killed him. This way he was hers,

only hers, forever: “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was an indentation of a

head. We saw a long strand of iron-gray hair.” In this story, you can't help but to feel

sadness for the characters. Emily was born into “position,” which her family, particularly

her father placed upon her. Her “position” was that of a Southern prominent family. It

demanded that she marry well according to the Southern culture. Emily’s “position” set

her apart from the townspeople. In her mind, and in mind of the people in town, it

became Emily’s inherited duty to meet the obligations of that “position.” Alone and

lonely, with the stigma of her fallen position, Emily chose seclusion rather than to face

the embarrassment she endured. The only connection she had with the townspeople was

her noblesse obliges. Emily was caught up in that culture. Had Emily been a stronger

person, she might have broken from the mold and lived out her own will, marring her

love and being happy. But she was not that strong. She succumbed to the insanity that

had crept upon her during the course of her life. The only roses Emily ever received

during her sad and lonely life were those that were placed on her grave.