Essay On Emily In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

An anonymous person once said, “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” In “A Rose For Emily,” Emily Grierson relates to this quote with the relationships of her father and Homer. William Faulkner writes of a young woman who is isolated by her father. She is later put on a pedestal by the townspeople; after her death, a dark secret is revealed. Emily is a victim of her father’s control and the townspeople, but she deliberately kills Homer. Emily murders Homer because he is the first person she is able to love and to spite the townspeople and her father. Emily is a victim of her father’s control and abuse. Emily’s father is so controlling that he does not allow her to have any lovers. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that much which had robbed her, as people will” (Faulkner). Because Emily’s father refuses to let her love anyone but him, she develops a toxic attachment to him. Emily’s father is depicted as a man who is extremely controlling of everything, even his own daughter. Emily’s attachment to her father leads to her being in denial about his death. “She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days...trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body” (Faulkner). It

Emily buys poison with no actual reason for needing it. “‘I want some poison’ ‘I want the best you have’ ‘I want arsenic’ ‘But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for.’ Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic” (Faulkner). Emily gives the druggist no reason for needing the poison, but he is intimidated by her and her family’s status in society he quits questioning her and just gives her the poison anyway. (-- removed HTML