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Essay On A Rose For Emily Grierson Death

2081 Words9 Pages

Trista Fassio
ENGL 3463
May 7, 2023

“A Rose for Emily”: A Symbol of the Death of the Old South

In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Faulkner uses “Southern grotesque” characterization to depict his character Emily Grierson. In this short story, Emily Grierson represents the death of the Southern aristocracy. The short story begins with the narrator informing us that Emily Grierson has died. This is followed with a present-day description of the street on which she lived. Many wealthy and high class families used to live on this street along with Emily. Now, the members of the families have all passed on and their homes were left to decay (Faulkner Pg 1). All that remained was Miss Emily Grierson (Faulkner Pg 1). The short story …show more content…

In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner used a gothic town full of hushed secrets, decaying structures, and the tragic Emily Grierson to depict the death of the Pre-Civil War South. The first time we were introduced to Emily she was described as something dead. First, a skeleton, and then, a water-logged corpse (Faulkner Pg 4). She represents the death and slow decay of the Old South. She was once a reputable woman from a proud family, but over the years she lost her status and her respectability. This is also represented in the decay of her home. Her home was filled with fine decorations and lavish furniture but it all became cracked and faded (Faulkner Pg 4). Everything was covered in a layer of dust and the home smelled of rot and mildew (Faulkner Pg 5). Everything about her character represents a slow …show more content…

Despite the title, the only other place the word rose was used in the story is when describing her bridal suite. There were faded rose colored curtains and lights within the room (Faulkner Pg 7). The faded rose color may have represented the loss of her chance to become a bride. Perhaps, Emily would have selected a rose for her bridal bouquet if she had married Homer Barron. Possibly, Faulkner simply felt empathy for his character. She was a young woman who was robbed of her future by her father. She was left in a big house all alone with no money and no one to care for her. She then descended slowly into madness. She was paralyzed by the past and what could have been, unable to accept the future. Maybe Falkner meant for his rose to be a token to Emily; for the life she lived and the one she never had the chance

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All though we only see it talk about the rose in the title and it does not mention anything else about a rose throughout the story we can still tell what that rose is a symbol of. The rose in the title is a symbol of how Emily has yet to find how to love herself. Emily’s father kept her inside that house forcing her to only love him. From the story we got that her father was the only love she knew. Which was why she did not want to let that go

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A rose for Emily Starts off with Emily Grierson's funeral, later on in the story it goes back to show Emily’s childhood and her relationship between her abusive father and her. In the short story, Faulkner uses irony, metaphors and other literary devices to show how emily is mistreated by her father, as well as her loneliness. After her father’s death, she doesn’t want to accept it which puts her at a mental breakdown. Even though she had an awful relationship with her father, when he passed away she still couldn’t believe his death which only made her isolate herself, almost depressed. People thought she was getting ill.

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Throughout the story, the main character, Miss Emily Grierson, shows signs of what appears to be some form of mental illness. Although Faulkner never states that Miss Emily has anything wrong with her mental health, he does provide enough evidence to support that she is not psychologically stable. In “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner portrays the main character as a mysterious icon of the small town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the story states, Emily’s father is an admirable figure in the city of Jefferson. After his passing, the townspeople show the same respect for Emily, as well.

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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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