A Rose For Emily Patriarchal Cultural Norms

The Effects of Patriarchal Cultural Norms on Females and Their Identities

Throughout the years, society has adopted a male-dominated society that leans in favor of males and normalizes the oppression of women. Though actions are being taken to create a community with greater equality, the effects of patriarchy linger. A patriarchal culture calls for the repression of females, leading to fractured identities. In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner describes the story of a traumatized woman who becomes lost in her sense of self. Throughout her life, men, specifically her father, micromanage her life, which results in a lack of identity and the development of child-like mannerisms. Similarly, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, through “The Yellow Wallpaper”,

More often than not, traditional cultural norms are oppressive towards females, resulting in restrictions on their individual progression. In certain cultures, it is expected that women stay in their “proper social sphere”, which focuses primarily on childcare and domestic tasks. Consequently, this sphere causes major limitations in the activities that women can and can not take part in, thus affecting their individuality. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Gilman illustrates the narrator as a hopeful woman, subjected to the rule of a male-dominated society and forced to undergo the rest cure because of her mental illness. While the story progresses, the woman grows restless as she pleads for other methods that may help cure her of her hysteria. Journaling allows her to feel more at ease, however, if her husband is near, she mentions that she “must put [the journal] away,—he hates to have [her] write a word” (Gilman 518). The men surrounding the narrator are essentially

Power structures derive from the previously described perilous cultural norms. These structures, specifically the patriarchal aspect, incite ill relations to femininity, associating it with being the weaker, submissive, more dependent gender. In “A Rose for Emily”, Emily’s father has great control over her character, thus resulting in her lack of independence and foreshadowing her self-isolation later on in the text. Keeping Emily on a tight leash her whole life, Mr.Grierson frightened away all of Emily’s potential suitors, instilling long-lasting trauma in Emily. Emily’s father continued to have a lifelong effect on her, as he established himself as “a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip” (Faulkner 582). Even after his death, Emily felt her father's presence and feared venturing out. Mr.Greirson clutching a horse whip is an allusion to his domineering perspective and the repressed state he kept Emily in. As time progresses, Emily’s character spirals into regression and becomes out of touch with reality, stuck in an old-fashioned state of mind. Though those surrounding her feel poorly about all that she has encountered in her life, nothing is done to help her. This continues to push the idea of the extent to which patriarchal power defines females in negative ways. Because Emily’s father exerted so much