Importance Of Social Interaction In Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

865 Words4 Pages

Humans are social creatures who crave social interaction. Being deprived of such results in horrendous consequences that may not be fixed. Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily is a prime example of one where alienation from social interaction drives a young women to insanity. Faulkner uses foreshadowing to tell the story in fragments. By doing so, he is able to demonstrate a personal conflict caused by Miss Emily’s southern identity, and in the end, show the importance of social interaction. Raised in the traditional South, Miss Emily and her father belonged to the aristocrat class. Her, like every other young women, craved for a loving husband and family. But, her wishes were crushed by her father’s dominance that exerted over her and the town. Every single time a young man tried to court her, he was driven away by her father. In his eyes, “none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily” (101). Thus, Miss Emily was trapped in this neverending emotionally abusive relationship with her father. Because he refused to let her get married and kept her confined in the house, she …show more content…

“Behind their hands; rustling of craned silk and satin behind jalousies closed upon the sun of Sunday afternoon as the thin, swift clop-clop-clop of the matched team passed: “Poor Emily” (102). All Emily wanted was to find the love she never received, but because of her high social class, the town refused to accept it. Still stuck in the traditional ways, ladies of the town saw her relationship with Barron as a disgrace and resorted to calling her family up in Alabama. And thus, she had blood-kin under her roof again. They forced her to buy all sorts of goods for Barron, such as the toilet cover seat and clothing. To make matters worse, it was heavily implied that Barron was homosexual, “he liked men” (102). Her last chance of love was slipping away with every passing