ipl-logo

A Rose For Emily Literary Analysis

562 Words3 Pages

In the story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, both the main character, Miss Emily Grierson and her house are characterized as “fallen monuments” I think because they have fallen from a high state of living, from her father, where everything was perfect but now with his death and absence, it has gone with him. Miss Emily now keeps to herself in the house. No one takes care of either her or the house, except for the servant. I found that a monument is a statue, structure or building or historical importance. In this case, Miss Emily is one because she somehow represents the past by not letting go of it, like when she refuses to pay her taxes, thinking, like in the past, that she is not required to because of her father’s standing in society. As a …show more content…

She was from a previous generation, believing that the past still existed, still with her. The house has been standing for so many years but, like Miss Emily, with age is decaying or not as it used to be. They both are forcibly trying to stay the same in a new world and generation that is changing. She stays in the house constantly, like she’s trying to hold on to the past and does not want to be part of the future going on outside the house. A monument stands out from other surrounding buildings, and like the house, it may be out of place. The town wondered what she ever did inside. They were afraid of meeting or visiting her because they did not really know her and were not sure how she could be approached. Or they just did not care, because like an old monument, is decayed and does not really have much importance as before. The house was like a monument for people to remember the Old South. I think that its relation to it would be that, for a while, they, the people from back then, also did not want to let go of the past. They did not believe in the new laws and held on to the old

Show More
Related
563 Words | 3 Pages

She had someone who took care of her plants, but other than that, the rest of the house was peeling and the once white paint that encircled her house began to turn yellow. The reader could view this as an example of how she feels about the public; she did not care for the town’s opinions of her so she neglected to keep up with the part of the house that they could see. Not only did she give up on her house, but based on the town’s description of her, she also gave up on herself. They described her skeleton as small and spare, which could be

Read More
833 Words | 4 Pages

In the short story, William Faulkner monstrously describes her house. It symbolizes her loneliness and isolation. It was a big, square frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies." (Faulkner). The house also shows her

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

He is by no means an admirer of Emily but has a split relationship with her. At first, he describes the ornate, old wooden house of the Griersons, which testifies as the last monument of the past splendor of the southern states. At the same time Faulkner characterizes the house resident Emily: a remnant of the old upper class, for whose obstinacy the narrator sometimes has sympathy. It is a relic in the midst of industrialized modernity with its cars and cotton factories. She is a victim of her stern father, who in a way is responsible for her turning in to the old maid she becomes known

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

The previous lavishness of the “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies…set on what had once been [the] most select street” (437) indicates that Emily came from a well-off family that was probably highly respected. The whiteness of the house can be taken to symbolize the innocence of her youth, and that as she got older her macabre habits manifested themselves and polluted that innocence, leaving the house dingy and tainted. The condition of the house when Emily dies is that of a worn down vestige to the past, “an eyesore among eyesores” (437), representing how the towns people saw her. She was a curiosity, a clandestine entity that could only be unraveled after her death when there was no one left to safe guard the dark secrets of her house. The house stands as a monument to a lost time and a testament to tradition that has no place in the modern era, much like Emily

Read More
780 Words | 4 Pages

Miss Emily and the house are both described as unsightly throughout the story this shows how the locals view them together as blemish on the newly progressive town. The town of Jefferson is trying to progress into the modern age, but Miss Emily is the nagging reminder that their community was not always the angelic and accepting environment they believe it to

Read More
377 Words | 2 Pages

In William Faulkner’s short story, A Rose for Emily, he portrays a power struggle between modernizing society and the ideals of the “Old South”. In this rapidly changing society, one individual refuses to conform to such change. Miss Emily, much like her house, stubbornly rejects change, in a desperate attempt to maintain the values of the “Old South”. Her house itself stands as a reminder of a past era. In a city that was moving towards a new age, the house stood stubbornly against conformity as a representation of the “Old South”.

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

The narrator speaks on how when Emily was alive, she “…had been a tradition, a duty, and an obligation upon the town…” (Mays 629). The reason why she was seen as a monument was because Emily’s father had been a very honorable man in town and she was the last descendant of the Griersons aristocracy. Colonel Startoris, a city

Read More
1166 Words | 5 Pages

The house had many symbols. First, the house was described as worn down but coquettish (557). You can tell by the way the town talked about the house that it was the only residence to have kept its old-fashioned ways. The house was the last residence in the neighborhood that was outdated. The house seemed lonely, like it was an outcast, just like Emily.

Read More
1591 Words | 7 Pages

Through lack of attention, the house has evolved from a beautiful representative of quality to an ugly holdover from another era. Similarly, Miss Emily has become like this; for example, she is first described as a "fallen monument" to suggest her former grandeur and her later grotesqueness. Like the house, she has lost her beauty. Once she had been "a slender figure in white”; later she is obese and "bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water with eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face". Both house and occupant have suffered the ravages of time and

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

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

Read More
647 Words | 3 Pages

The setting has a huge impact on the plot, the protagonist, Miss Emily, and suspense as the story goes along. The house being the setting is what drives the story and creates such a spooky story line. In the short story, Emily had lost her father in the big squarish frame house (Faulkner 1), which was the first death Emily had to deal with. The house is given creepy characteristics

Read More
442 Words | 2 Pages

The house is described as "an eyesore among eyesores" and "stubborn and coquettish" like Emily herself. The house is also described as being "lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps," suggesting that Emily's isolation is a source of pride for her. The house becomes a symbol of Emily's repressed emotions and a reminder of the way her father controlled her.

Read More
1439 Words | 6 Pages

This description shows the reader that over the time since it had been built in the 1870’s, this once pristine, immaculate house has become very rundown from lack of care over the years. The fact that it is a big house symbolizes that at some point in time it may not have been as empty as it is throughout this story. Before now, there may have been countless gatherings and friendly people get together in this house. When the story says that it “had once been white” (Faulkner 451) represents the idea that it really has been a very long time since this house was given some good tender loving care. The story then goes on to say, “But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps- an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner 451).

Read More
782 Words | 4 Pages

Faulkner wanted the reader to see the aging in the house because he wanted for it to resemble the rise and fall of slavery itself. The resemblance was more prominent near the end of the story when Miss Emily dies and the house is at its worst. Residents of the town rush in and uncover the secrets that lay within the old house. Just as when the south lost in the war and citizens of the nation started to uncover the secrets of slavery in the south. As stated in Tell about the south; voices in black and white, there were 2 blacks to 1 white person in the south and now they had to figure out how to live as equals throughout their lives.

Read More
1203 Words | 5 Pages

In "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner, the life of Emily Grierson is recounted through the story. Faulkner begins with her funeral, which the whole town happens to attend. Through a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that her father was very controlling of her. He would reject many potential suitors. Because of this remained single for most of her life even after her father died.

Read More

More about A Rose For Emily Literary Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document