Necrophilia In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

Throughout history, there have been numerous instances when people dwell on the past, never wanting to admit change. These individuals often convey a tenacious tone regarding modern revolutions. Consider the campaigning slogan of the 45th President of the United States of America. President Trump advertised that he would “Make America Great Again,” promising the American people that he would embrace the traditional systems of the United States. Implying that America is currently not great, and the only solution is to utilize past methods, has lead one to believe that he is a traditionalist. In the short story A Rose for Emily, written by William Faulkner, the main character Miss Emily Grierson is portrayed as someone who denies change, especially regarding family history and death. Such views on life may lead to additional abnormal behaviors. As the townspeople observe Miss Emily, the denial and shock of both her father’s death and recent history eventually results in the necrophilic

Regarding the first death introduced in the story, the father, Miss Emily illustrated necrophilic behavior. Even though is was not erotic, she was obsessed with the body, refusing to let the town officials bury it. Her personal relationship with her father was strong. In her house there was “a crayon portrait of Miss Emily’s father” that was “on a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace” (Faulkner 1). This obsessive behavior is then alluded when the townspeople discover a piece of Miss Emily’s hair next to the corpse of Homer in a locked room. With the motive to be someone’s lover permanently, “this killing is eclipsed in the imagination of readers by evidence of some sort of necrophilia” (Dilworth 251). Miss Emily’s deranged mind had a goal, and she fulfilled