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A Rose For Emily Changing South Analysis

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In his story "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner employs many forms of symbolism to highlight his convictions towards the South after the abolition of slavery. The author uses the story to critique the South's fixation on racism, its aristocratic social structure, and patriarchy, all of which lead to division and harm. Moreover, Faulkner uses Emily as a symbol of the changing South; as such, her actions throughout the story serve as a way for the author to portray the South's disinclination to denounce the legacy of slavery, even after the civil war. Her eventual death is a message to the readers that all remnants of slavery's legacy need to be erased to bring about lasting change. From the beginning, the racist sentiments toward Emily's …show more content…

Throughout the story, the author reminds the reader that times are changing and are leaving Emily behind. As Emily sticks to her old ways, "the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen" (Faulkner 2). This new generation will not uphold societal classism, hence the ever-increasing pushback against Emily's tax exception. Emily was the town's last upholder and victim of the old South's customs; however, the reality around her was changing rapidly. As such, her ultimate death is Faulkner’s way of ending the last link to the South's old and racist legacy. However, the author's final message did not conclude here. As revealed in the story, "The man himself lay in the bed... rotted beneath" (Faulkner 8). Decades before Emily's death, the story exposes the reality that Emily poisoned Homer Barron and kept his dead body within her house hitherto. Homer Barron had become too interwoven with the embodiment of the South's prejudice and perished. By revealing this story element, Faulkner conveys the message that getting too close to the beliefs of the old South can be detrimental, even if you do not practice

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-“So the next night, after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily 's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork,” (Faulkner II). -“When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad,” (Faulkner II). -“The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid,” (Faulkner

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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.

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Paloma Cerda Mrs. Koehler ENGL-1301-566 September 20, 2017 In A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, the story of Miss Emily is told through a very loose format. Through this narration, there is a long and drawn out suspense built up through little hints left by the reader without fully giving away the dark truth behind Emily and her house. Until the end of the story, the narrators ambiguity cleverly points the reader towards the climax of the story where Emily is discovered to be Homer Barron’s killer. This ambiguous element is important to the quality of this short story as it drives it forward and keeps the reader interested.

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The fear of losing the ones she loves around her is the biggest defeat to her, forming the purpose of the short story “A Rose for Emily.” There have been multiple instances throughout that would indicate what Emily’s next measurable moves would be for her unforsaken falling decline. Faulkner’s use of symbolism and foreshadowing would tie into effect of Emily's motives in the impending future of not completely changing after her father’s death, as well as the catastrophic murder of her lover Homer. The lead up to Homer’s tragic suffering would also play into effect of the literary genre gothic literature being used throughout the short story, as well as literary genre regionalism to show the person Emily once was before her decline of mental health of losing the people around her. It’s never easy letting go of someone we care and love about greatly, especially when we know ourselves that the time may be coming that we’re going to have to.

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The quote “only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores” (1) shows that her house was the last one standing in the neighborhood as if it were the last of a dying breed. Faulkner is trying to show that she was one of the final pillars left from the prewar South. Just as described above it was an “eyesore” in the literal view and conscious of the town, they no longer wanted to have their community’s reputation tarnished with the bloody stain of what the South once stood for. Miss Emily’s house staying the way it was and never changing relates to the mentality many had after the war and their stubborn attitudes towards Reconstruction. The town wanted to move on from the war and not to have the constant reminder of a darker time that Emily and her house symbolized.

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To compare, Faulkner shares a slice of evidence as to why Emily has an uncontrollable obsession for the dead, “After her father 's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.” (Faulkner) Given these points, her father becomes arrogant and isolates her from society, or anyone who is willing to take Miss Emily from him. When her father, the only man in the world who has loved her,

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“A Rose for Emily” is a dark, suspenseful Gothic tale in which a young girl is put on a pedestal by a town who sees her as haughty and scornful. Miss Emily Grierson’s father controls her and her love life, pushing away all people until he dies and Emily is left alone. As her life goes on the townspeople watch her and judge Emily, almost turning her life into a spectacle to be talked about. At her death, a gruesome sight is unfolded when her lover of over forty years ago is found decomposed in her upstairs room. William Faulkner effectively builds epic suspense in “A Rose for Emily” by the unchronological order of the story, the treatment of Emily’s father towards her, and her family’s history of mental illness.

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As the story goes on, Faulkner describes Emily’s death: “When Miss Emily Grierson died the whole town went to her funeral: the men out of respectful affection for a fallen monument and the women mostly out of curiosity” (Faulkner). Faulkner emphasizes that while men are caring and respectful women act only based on curiosity. Indeed, the role of women in the southern society is less significant than the role of

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Emily Grierson, the formerly wealthy bachelorette from a family of gentry, is portrayed through the second most unreliable lens, with the first being herself. Her actions throughout the story display a mind not all there, with her refusal to admit her fathers death and the murder of her lover Homer Barron. “A Rose For Emily,” a short story written by William Faulkner, is set in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s in a small southern town. It recaps the life of a reclusive Miss Emily whose trials and tribulations are often talked about among the people who live near her. Although all stories about Emily are accounts of gossip from the townspeople, which inherently are unreliable, the narrator builds credibility through various stories and memories

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She told them 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." (247) This stubborn act is not only disturbing but displays the true madness of not only Emily but the tradition of the Old South as

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Analysis of “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is the best short story because its plot, setting, and symbols are well formulated and incorporated into the story to effectively convey the themes of death and change, race and gender. A Rose for Emily is a short story regarding the life of Emily Grierson as told through the perspectives of the townspeople in a tiny old town in the South. The story begins with the awkward relationship between Emily and her dad, pre and posts his death, and further explores how Emily gets secluded after poisoning her “Yankee” partner Homer Barron and concealing his remains for more than a decade in her bed. William Faulkner exploits various literary devices to create various themes.

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Many critics have seen in Faulkner “a credible authority on the South, a writer of fiction who had something important to offer about the regions and the meanings of its past”. The story of “A Rose for Emily” is told by one of the townspeople. The protagonist is seen from the outside and described by a first-person narrator, who tells the readers his point of view and others’ from the town. The narrator and these people had always regarded the character from the outside.

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In William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily,” the historical context is important to understand. In order to fully comprehend the short story there must be some sort of understanding about the time period in which the story took place. This short story took place in the 18th/19th century during and after the Civil War in the South. In “A Rose for Emily” the historical context shows the social, economic, and the cultural environment of the background. Miss Emily was born during the Civil War.

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“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is written about the change from Old South to New South and Emily refuses to accept the changes by living in her own version of reality. An analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” will explain how Faulkner portrays the change in the social structure of the American South in the early twentieth century as a change from Old South to New South by showing the Griersons no longer hold power, the changes in the town, and Emily’s denial to change. In the New South the Griersons no longer hold power. Emily believes that her family still holds the power that they had in the Old South, so she never payed her taxes.

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