ipl-logo

Essay On A Rose For Emily Grierson

1583 Words7 Pages

Miss Emily Grierson, one of the most interesting characters the town of Jefferson has ever known. The story begins at her funeral, the town grieving over their beloved Miss Emily, but they’re mainly only there to discover what secrets have been hidden in the walls of her home for so many years. Emily came from a troubled home, she had no mother around and her father held their family to such esteem that he never thought any of the men who came to court Emily were good enough. So, leading a lonely life with only her butler around, Miss Emily rarely went out or contacted many people. She became an “obligation” with the town when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor in 1894, remitted her taxes. Emily never had to pay taxes again in her life even though the new generation of aldermen who followed knew she owed years of taxes. “I have no taxes in Jefferson,” she continually proclaimed to the new generation. …show more content…

Despite the slaves being emancipated and the North winning the Civil War, the south still hung on to their old traditions. “The South’s outdated plantation economy, based so long upon slave labor, was devastated by emancipation. Northern opportunists, known as ‘carpetbaggers,’ came in droves to take advantage of the economic chaos” (“A Rose for Emily”). Miss Emily still had a black servant named Tobe, which is somewhat representative of the South’s need to hang on to the past. The tension between North and South is shown in the town’s reaction to Homer and Emily’s relationship. Miss Emily’s opinions can be inferred in what the townspeople were saying about her and Homer Barron. “At first, we were glad that Miss Emily would have an interest, because the ladies all said, ‘Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer’” (A Rose for Emily). This demonstrates the thought process of the town as an older, aristocratic woman who is stuck in her antebellum beliefs would not think to even be acquainted with a Northern carpet

Show More
Related
1145 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
1217 Words | 5 Pages

Connor Coupanger English 102 Prof L.H. Roberts February 15, 2018 The Act of Two Murders In the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, and the drama “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, the authors created two female protagonists “Miss Emily Grierson” and “Mrs. Minnie Wright” their stories are both about woman and murder. In Trifles, Mrs. Wright has been arrested and investigated for suspected murder of her husband. Miss Emily in Faulkner 's story, kills a man who she was dating.

Read More
1123 Words | 5 Pages

In the 1930’s, as many of us may know, this was around the time of the Lost Generation and flappers who changed the country’s idea of acceptable morals. The south, being religious, it is common for many families to want their children to stay away from this form of corruption and stick to the idea of marrying and creating a family in God’s light. In most religious communities, then and now, it is almost taboo for a woman to be single or to be without children, through marriage of course, by the age of 30. This fear is what caused Emily to become assertive in her endeavors with both her father and Homer. You don 't hear of any other family members that had a strong influence in her life.

Read More
1094 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

It is clear that in her era, Miss Emily was seen as traditional American Southern women, who lived to become an inferior women to man but was later a burden to her society. She was a lady who was secluded from society, lived a psychopathic life, which at the end, and was no secret for the town’s people. While Miss Emily was alive, she lived in a secluded home of a single father, thus leading her to be dependent upon him. She did not have much of a socially engaged life, for her father drove men away. When he finally died, Miss Emily told the townspeople that he was not dead, and finally, on the third day, let the town’s people buried him (William Faulkner 1105).

Read More
767 Words | 4 Pages

As soon as Emily felt as if Homer didn’t feel the same because he hasn’t proposed to her she jumps into an unpredictable state of mind. Emily poisons Homer because she refuses to let him abandon her. Miss Brill I basically living a lie. She tries to avoid the fact that she is isolated. Miss Brill involves herself in many other lives that she is around, but she doesn’t converse with anyone.

Read More
1852 Words | 8 Pages

In many situations, the people within the town notice Miss Emily’s odd behavior, but they choose to maintain peace with her instead of helping her when she clearly needs it the most. However, this need to preserve the respectful image of Miss Emily ultimately leads to her emotional breakdown of isolation and

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

Because her family was prominent in the town of Jefferson, Emily Grierson was watched her entire life and wondered about by everyone. The townspeople had a lot to do with Emily’s changing mental condition because they constantly gossiped about everything that happened in her life. It generally

Read More
806 Words | 4 Pages

“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

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, the short story is written in a first person point of view by the community of Jefferson, which develops the irony that leaves not only Jefferson, but the reader in ‘awe.’ The community of Jefferson is left with a plethora of questions of Miss Emily’s mysterious lifestyle. Correspondingly, the community of Jefferson becomes very obsessed with Miss Emily. “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house…” (Faulkner)

Read More
691 Words | 3 Pages

When her father died we can see that she is controlling of him and would not release the body for burial. After she loses her father, it is as if she loses her sense of reality. It is as if maybe the old white house is beginning to represent the attitude and ways of Emily. The house is old, dark, and very dusty just as the townspeople think Emily is. Homer Barron is a construction worker from New York.

Read More
520 Words | 3 Pages

The world has changed so much, what was once at the bottom of the ocean are now some of the tallest points on earth. The Victorian view of life was accepted as a God creating a world in one week. This changed once the queen saw the orangutan and described it as “undeniable human.” No one could understand how new species could appear similar to those that were extinct. An expedition that Charles Darwin went on ending up changing how we view life as we know it today.

Read More
793 Words | 4 Pages

Kierrah Edwards ENGL 201 9/20/15 Character Analysis: Emily Grierson The short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner depicts how seclusion can certainly impact one’s life. Throughout the story, Emily gives off this “insane” impression. However, after fully reading the story, the reader can fully understand why Emily was the way she was. Emily Grierson was a very dependent person.

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

Homer worked for a construction company with niggers while Miss Emily came from a fortunate family. The reaction of the community is that she is better than him, not realizing that they should be able to love whoever they want, without any rules or social

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone in the town thought of Emily has a wonderful person. Some people even described her as, “a tradition, a duty and a care.” (#) The town admired her wealth and her social status. After the civil war, there is still a lot of racism.

Read More

More about Essay On A Rose For Emily Grierson

Related Topics

Open Document