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Emily Grierson Struggles

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In the story, “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner, Miss Emily Grierson’s struggle with her family, her town, and herself makes her do things that are out of the ”norm.” Her struggle makes her act inhuman and deranged. Emily is a living a very sheltered life. Miss Emily struggles, in this story, with herself and the society around her. Emily Grierson became very heartless in the eyes of the reader and even a little demented all because of her sheltered lifestyle, closed environment and, conflict with the townspeople. She knew that the people of her town were talking about her. However, she ultimately let their gossip influence her life. Some think that Emily’s actions were based on the townspeople’s attitudes toward her. Others may say that her father shaped her …show more content…

Homer Barron. Homer was “day labor." This was different for Miss Emily and the townspeople, because Miss Emily was a Grierson and she was not supposed to ignore noblesse oblige. Miss Emily disregarded it anyway. The reader notices that Miss Emily is proud of Homer. “[Brooks and Warren] indicate that her pride is connected with her contempt for public opinion. This comes to the fore, of course, when she rides around about town with the foreman whom everyone believes is beneath her." (Brooks & Warren 158). The townspeople were happy for Miss Emily. Homer was like the rest of them, a commoner. They felt that he brought Miss Emily down to their level. The reader could see that Homer made Miss Emily happy. This was also apparent to the townspeople. They could see that Emily loved Homer. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She was determined not to lose Homer the way she lost her father. “She is obviously a women of tremendous firmness of will” (Brooks & Warren 158). Miss Emily was going to get it no matter what it took to do it. The reader can see how firm she is when she goes to purchase the poison to kill Homer. “She completely overawes the

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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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Miss Emily has had problems keeping a lover.  Once she falls in love with Homer Barron, she finds out he does not marry anyone.   The big revealing secret after Miss Emily passes is that she murdered Homer to keep control over him.  

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Originally when the community found out Emily was interested in Homer, they were happy that she had found someone because she seemed hopeless. However, the happiness did not last long. The townspeople began to feel

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The townspeople overlooked her insanity because they believed she was only grieving. After this, she mostly hid in her house only coming out occasionally until Homer Barron and his crew of laborers came into town to build sidewalks. Homer and Emily began seeing each other even though people said she was too good for him

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Not only that, as Homer becomes a popular figure in town and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons, it scandalizes the town and increases the condescension and pity they have for Emily. They feel that she is forgetting her family pride and becoming involved with a man beneath her station. Even though Emily is from the high class family, it does not mean that she is living up to the pleasant lifestyle. As a matter of fact, she is actually living a gloomy and desolate life, which is essentially the opposite lifestyle expected for Emily's rank in society by the townspeople. Although Emily once represented a great southern tradition centering on the landed gentry with their vast holdings and considerable resources, Emily's legacy has devolved, making her more a duty and an obligation than a romanticized vestige of a dying order.

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The author states, ¨After her father’s death She rarely went out - said Emily began to isolate herself from everyone and the world. It was at this time that the town "could pity" her, and with her now "left alone, and a pauper" she was finally "humanized". The people of Jefferson did not once question Emily or consider her a threat to others because she covered up her absurd actions. Aside from her father, she meets with a blue-collar worker from the North, Homer Barron as her love interest.

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We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler's and ordered a man's toilet set in silver, with the letters H. B. on each piece” (Faulkner 82). Emily appeared to be preparing herself for marriage, and word spread quickly throughout the town. She began adapting to a lifestyle with her newfound love which enthralled those around her because she had so greatly tarnished her family name that had once strongly represented the old south’s traditions. This leads everyone to believe that Emily is finally taking on a life of her own apart from her father’s reign, and stepping outside the boundaries of societal norms. Once she begins to get comfortable, Homer takes matters into his own hands skewing her desired path to marriage that would once more reinforce tradition.

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This pushed poor Emily over the edge of insanity and led her to commit the heinous act of murder. In the back of her mind, she probably had only one thought if she couldn't have him, then no one else ever

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“We remembered all the young men her father had driven away” (453). Miss Emily’s father drove away young men interested in her, not allowing her to have a love life and therefore a life outside of him. This controlling treatment of Miss Emily by Mr. Grierson coincides with Emily’s fight to control her love life with Homer. “Because Homer himself had remarked - he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club - that he was not a marrying man” (454). If it weren’t for the fact that Miss Emily murdered Homer, he would have left her, therefore she used the murder as a way to keep him close to

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When Emily’s father dies and shortly after Homer’s disappearance follows, we see a depressed and a lonely Emily who never leaves the

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Miss Emily Grierson is affected by the time, the environment, and the society that surrounds her, forcing her to shelter herself from the harsh treatment that drove her to hide away within the walls of her lavish mansion. Faulkner describes her as “Thus she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” This estrangement makes her feel rejected by society and anxious that she will forever be alone. She truly wants to marry and finds comfort and a sense of hope with Homer Barron, a northerner, who is another victim of society’s cruel game of judgment. The community feels that Homer is beneath Emily in social status and condemns the relationship.

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Miss Emily didn’t let Homer Barron ever leave her. She had bought him a nightgown, jewelry, and wedding clothes. Miss Emily figured he was going to leave her and she didn’t want that to happen. OnceMiss Emily realized this, she took charge.

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Homer is a laborer from the North, that has come to the south as part of a modernization project of the town. Emily fancies herself in love with him and intends to marry him, however, Homer professed that “he liked men,” meaning he liked hanging out and would not be tied to one woman for the rest of his life (Faulkner, 2013, p. 2185). Again, one can note that even though Emily had plans for herself, she was not the decision maker. But her passivity, as the reader had come to expect, erupted into rage and she had to have her what she wanted, one way or another. So, she snaps, kills him and entombs him within her bedroom, illustrating her growing necrophilia.

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In addition, Emily developed a compulsively possessive and later deadly love over her sweetheart, Homer Barron. A man considered lower class to Emily who also had an attraction to men. This is demonstrated in “ "She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked – he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks ' Club – that he was not a marrying man.” The compulsive and powerful love can be shown later in the story when Emily poisons Homer with arsenic to prevent him from leaving her. The constant theme of death Faulkner reflects throughout the story is what displays gothic literature in this corrupt tale.

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Meeting Homer Barron was her biggest change from her old self, because her father did not allow her be in any relationships, but she went out in public with Homer “driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays from the livery stable” (454). Consequently, this was only because she was living in her own reality and believed that Homer would be the one to marry her. Homer was “not a marrying man” (454) and would not marry Emily, but she refused to accept the denial of marriage from him, so she killed him to keep him with her forever. She stayed within her house to keep herself in the Old South. When she told the men to see Colonel Sartoris, she was not aware that “Colonel Sartoris had been dead for almost ten years” (452) at that point.

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