In the community’s views, any deviance from the social norms results in diminishing success. Emily is seen as less of a person and is pitied due to her not getting married and having a reclusive nature. As Emily is introduced alongside her father, she stays in the back ground, “framed by the door, she frail and apparently hungered to participate in the life of her time.” (“Atmosphere and Theme”). At this young age, her father restricted her to the point where she was unable to live her life the way she wanted to. Her father stuck to the strict outlines of society and only wanted the best for his daughter, but also did not want to let her go. Emily continues to live under this oppressive nature until her father dies and even at that point, she
Emily’s Mental Deterioration After getting over the initial shock of finding out that the mysterious woman that everyone was talking about was going to sleep each night with a decaying body next to her, it makes sense for the reader to question her mental state. If the reader took a closer look at the town’s description of her, they will realize that as time went on, Emily’s will power began to deteriorate. When she was young, she was the topic of everybody’s conversation, however, she did not let that bother her and walked down the streets with her head held high. Emily took over the old house after her father’s death and kept a few servants around to keep the house tidy, nonetheless, the outside of the house was not kept in the best of conditions.
After her father’s death, Emily insisted that her father “was not dead… for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (Faulkner). This suggests that Emily was unable to accept her father’s death and that she had been experiencing severe symptoms of denial as a result of her trauma. This denial mainly stems from the physical abuse and emotional control her father had placed on Emily, both contributing to her isolation from society and leading to her eventual death. Despite the differences between the stories, both represent the severe effects of trauma and how it can lead to the tragic downfall of one’s
Since Emily is so off from the world, this makes the understanding of what she is dealing with even harder. If she was more outspoken with the people of the town, rumors would have not grown about her, and caused even more
While the narrator feels regret for not being able to raise her daughter right, she understands that mistakes will be made and her children can still grow up to be okay in the world. While Emily learns from her past and works towards a new future, it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a perfect child. In realizing that the narrator and Emily are very similar in their personalities as well as their young adult struggles, it is important to lean on family members for support in times of
Emily is filled with guilt and regret as her actions of disobeyment towards her mother had led her to substantial consequences that she will hold onto for the rest of her life. In conclusion, Emily is hurt with her own consequences and is now left helpless with her own thoughts and pain, although now she continuously grows as she is aware of the impacts of her decisions which allows her to gain lessons in a new
Not only that, as Homer becomes a popular figure in town and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons, it scandalizes the town and increases the condescension and pity they have for Emily. They feel that she is forgetting her family pride and becoming involved with a man beneath her station. Even though Emily is from the high class family, it does not mean that she is living up to the pleasant lifestyle. As a matter of fact, she is actually living a gloomy and desolate life, which is essentially the opposite lifestyle expected for Emily's rank in society by the townspeople. Although Emily once represented a great southern tradition centering on the landed gentry with their vast holdings and considerable resources, Emily's legacy has devolved, making her more a duty and an obligation than a romanticized vestige of a dying order.
Because her family was prominent in the town of Jefferson, Emily Grierson was watched her entire life and wondered about by everyone. The townspeople had a lot to do with Emily’s changing mental condition because they constantly gossiped about everything that happened in her life. It generally
Both Emily and Robert are prematurely judged by the narrators in both stories, and the assumptions are so far fetched from the reality. Miss. Emily is perceived to be a lonely old woman, whom nobody ever spoke with. Since they never talk with her or learn anything about what is going on in her life, the townspeople begin to gossip to make up for this. They knew her father had driven away any man from becoming close to her, and they just thought to themselves, “ poor Emily” (32).
Miss Emily comes from an old wealthy line of family in the deep south. Faulkner story is highly symbolic, enhancing miss Emily’s values and character. “Miss Emily is described as a fallen monument to the chivalric American South”(Allmon). Faulkner uses the setting of the story to show the emotional state of Emily. The female-male relationship between Emily and her father is strict, oppressive, and controlling; Their relationship has a major impact on Emily’s character Throughout the short story.
The narrator focuses a lot on Emily Grierson after her death. The narrator said multiple times they believed she wasn’t crazy. However, their actions proved to show the opposite. Emily’s father played a role in her isolation.
He also shows the relationship between Emily and her dead father and how Emily cannot let go of people that show a love interest in her or the people who look after her in that she must be attached to them even after death. Faulkner depicts an Emily that was once young and vibrant, who maintained the Grierson home and kept it in a pristine condition. Faulkner relays to readers that because Emily was unable to control her own destiny and was powerless under her father’s hand, she became a recluse and ultimately went into a downward spiral. After sensing and believing that her first real love will leave her, Emily purchases arsenic and it is believed that she will kill herself because there is no point in living if no one will love her
It is clear that in her era, Miss Emily was seen as traditional American Southern women, who lived to become an inferior women to man but was later a burden to her society. She was a lady who was secluded from society, lived a psychopathic life, which at the end, and was no secret for the town’s people. While Miss Emily was alive, she lived in a secluded home of a single father, thus leading her to be dependent upon him. She did not have much of a socially engaged life, for her father drove men away. When he finally died, Miss Emily told the townspeople that he was not dead, and finally, on the third day, let the town’s people buried him (William Faulkner 1105).
This ultimately characterize women as having less decency. During the life of Emily's Father, he doesn't allow her to date. Emily father thinks their family is
The Old South is very stubborn and set in its ways, as is Miss Emily. Emily is so attached to her southern ways and does not want to accept any change that she even keeps her dead lover in her home for years. She denies her father's death and tries to hold on to his dead body by insisting nothing is wrong. " 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.
From a very young age, she found herself being confined in her home with her father and their butler. There is no mention of her mother, so one can only assume that the mother was absent in Emily’s life. Emily’s father isolated Emily away from the outside world, thinking that no one would ever be good enough for her. This is where the reader begins to see the dependent and possessive nature. Being that she was sheltered away from the outside world, she had no friends, thus becoming dependent on her father.