Bipolar Disorder In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner depicts a crazy main character, Miss Emily, who shows signs of Bipolar disorder and PTSD. Miss Emily often acts very odd as if she can’t help it, leading the reader to believe there may be something wrong with her. Her behavior is also monitored by the narrator and other residents within the town. For years people have observed her lifestyle and noticed evident changes. These changes may be effects of Bipolar disorder or PTSD. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the person has uncontrollable mood swings, manic highs, and depressing lows. These changes may also impact behavior, as well as energy (Health Source - Consumer Edition). Bipolar disorder may also cause sluggishness that prevents the

She became very bored with life and had no desire to care for herself or her home as it became very dusty and old. She often sent her Negro out to to get food or other items she needed, but eventually that stopped as well. She also resulted to harm, as we can assume that she killed Homer at the end of the story. She may have also tried to harm herself with the poison to deal with the disorder, but we can’t be sure. We know about the lows since there were so many, but what about the highs? They weren’t very “manic” and occurred so far apart that I may be reaching. Nevertheless, they were highs. For example, she seemed to be very happy when she first met Homer (A Rose for Emily pg. 3). PTSD is brought upon after living through a very stressful situation or event. This can consist of anything from car accidents to various kinds of attacks. The effects often carry on through several months opposed to getting over it quickly. The occurrence may continue to haunt you throughout your life and make it difficult to live. Most importantly, PTSD can be triggered by the death of someone close to you. In this case, it would be Emily’s father in the beginning, or Homer towards the