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A Rose For Emily Mental Illness Essay

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Mental illness plays a big part in other peoples lives and it could cause them to be very emotional depending on what they’ve gone through. This could be a very bad effect on people and could cause them to do things they don't normally do, or it could even have an affect on their appearance and mindset. In “A Rose For Emily” William Faulkner starts off the story as a sad story as Emily’s father passes away, and she would tell people that it wasn't true and wouldn't let anyone take the body. She then doesn't leave her house for a few days and within that time she meets a man named Homer Barron and the spent all their time together ands she starts to fall in love with him but thats were it takes a turn.In his short story “A Rose For Emily” Faulkner …show more content…

Emily was compared to many different things, good and bad, according to her appearance as she kept herself isolated from the town.“She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue” (Faulkner) This quote shows how Emily was compared to things, even if they weren't good, because thats how people saw her amd how badly being isolated affected her appearance.Emily was compared to things in a good way as well even though most people saw her differently because of the changes she made. “When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church window” (Faulkner) This shows that even though Emily was changing herself just because of a recent problem that happened in her life, there was still good in it no matter how others felt. Emily was not only changing herself due to the recent death, but for herself because its what made her feel better whether others like it or not. She did what she felt was right for herself and made her …show more content…

Emily had found someone that she started liking named Homer Barron, but the towns people could tell that they weren't going to last very long as they started to talk about it even though they were happy for her.“At first we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest, because the ladies all said, "Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer." But there were still others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige.” (Faulkner) This being said shows how the towns people knew that even though it seemed that Emily had found someone to be with after such a long time, they all knew that it wasn't going to last and knew that eventually it would end. There was one point where Emily went to buy rat poison but wouldn't tell anyone what she was using it for. Some people started to suspect things thinking that maybe she was thinkoing about suicide or killing someone else.“After her purchase of the poison, the townsfolk speculated that Miss Emily was contemplating suicide. At this point, the narrator recalls the progression of Miss Emily's relationship with Homer” (Overview) The towns people knew that something wasn’t right whenever they found out about her buying the poison. Especially when she wouldn't even say what she was using it for. The people were a little concerned. This shows how people were starting to

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Mr. Grierson, Emily’s father, prohibited her from socializing with men because, in Mr. Grierson’s eyes, there was no man suitable for Emily. After being tired of being alone for so long, Emily decided to date Homer Barron. Homer Barron was a Northerner and worked as a foreman for a construction company. The older folks of the town were excited for Emily, there was even talk about marriage between the couple. However, the younger crowd did not believe Homer was that of Ms. Griersons high status.

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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.

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This causes someone to grow lonely and forces the mind to occupy itself. As demonstrated in Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the patients are taken out of their normal lives to be put in ward. Narrator Bromden expresses that “some of us who were Acutes when we came in, and got changed over” (Kesey 12). He illustrates that being surrounded by other insane people could drive one a to higher extent of instability than originally admitted with. Correspondingly, Faulkner exemplifies the mental instability through separation in his short story “A Rose For Emily”.

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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).

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In many situations, the people within the town notice Miss Emily’s odd behavior, but they choose to maintain peace with her instead of helping her when she clearly needs it the most. However, this need to preserve the respectful image of Miss Emily ultimately leads to her emotional breakdown of isolation and

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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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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

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However, after some time they no longer see Homer around and believes he has deserted Emily. In the end it is revealed that to preserve their forbidden love, as desired by the town due to their notion that she should remain single. "A rose for Miss Emily? A tribute to her, who kills not to be deserted, who clings to those who rob her of that which she has not, who shuts herself off from the world with a dead lover and lets the mad, mad world go by outside." (Skei) Being denied that which she so desperately desires does not make Emily hesitant to get what she wants despite all opposition.

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In Love and In Death William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, centers around a reclusive woman named Emily Grierson who is the protagonist of this story. Emily lives in Jefferson, Mississippi with her strict and over protective father who turns away any male suitor who shows any interest in her as he believes them to be unfit for his daughter. Emily and her father are regarded as upper-class southerners who live in a very nice home. The townspeople see Emily as a mysterious individual, often pitting her.

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Throughout the story, Faulkner constantly displayed how Emily isolated herself from the town of Jefferson, with a couple of exceptions of going out with Barron and shopping for arsenic and men clothing. Although Emily is distant from Jefferson, she somehow became the talk of the townspeople. Her father was the only close relationship that Emily had because he would not let anyone date her. Since her father died and left her all by herself, she had trouble accepting his death and letting go of his body. Now that Emily has fallen in love with Barron, she does not want to let go of him.

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She was alone, she was humiliated by the town, she had to hide away because she was not able to cope. In Tim O’Brien’s article he states, “After her death, Emily is reunited with the other members of her southern class …”, which means, in death, with the people she loved she will no longer be alone” (O’Brien

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As Faulkner is describing Miss Emily in the beginning of the story, They rose when she entered-- a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt…… looked bloated…. Eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face.” “Faulkner”. Faulkner dedicated a paragraph to describe Miss Emily. Throughout these details an image starts to form and the image makes readers feel as if they are experiencing this story.

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Emily seems to be the one who lets her neighbours see her public image. They see what she wants them to see. The first-person narrator is also a collective one, because there is always a “we” in the epic discourse, the narrator never says “I”: “people in our town”, “we had long thought of them as a tableau” and so on. Miss Emily creates around her a grotesque image: her house has a bad smell, it “has once been white”, the “garages and cotton gins had encroached” , she is very fat, her voice is dry and cold, etc.

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584 Words | 3 Pages

Emily is judged for loving a man who is less fortunate than her . In the following line the townspeople’s reactions to their relationship is obvious, “’Poor Emily’, the whispering began. ‘Do you suppose it’s really so?’ they said to one another” (102). The townspeople did not to much care for the relationship between the two because of the barriers set up by social class saying poor date the poor and rich date the rich.

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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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