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Privacy In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

525 Words3 Pages

"Colonel Sartoris, the mayor, . . . remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity"(Faulkner 803–4). The citizens of Jefferson are determined to take care of Miss Emily and how she is viewed publicly, but they are demolishing her privacy by doing so. The odd relationship between Miss Emily and Homer Barron also shows how public and private connects. According to Willow D. Crystal, William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" suggests how Miss Emily and the town of Jefferson are not only private and public but also how they connect. I agree, but I would add that the townspeople of Jefferson begin to feel like it is their duty to take care of her. Therefore, that’s how public and private connects.

Miss Emily distanced herself and became very private after her father died, so the townspeople of Jefferson made it their responsibility look after her. Crystal states, " the price of privacy for Miss Emily becomes the loss of that very privacy" (3). Miss Emily was so private that it cost her the exact thing she was trying to have, privacy. As claimed by Faulkner, "the …show more content…

Nevertheless, the citizens feel a need to help her as if they owe her something. In Crystal's perspective, " despite—or perhaps because of—her refusal to buy into the community, the citizens of Jefferson determine that it is their “duty,” their “hereditary obligation,” to oversee her activities"(3). The citizens of Jefferson are being so persistent that they did not realize that they were ruining her privacy and how she is viewed publicly. In other words, Faulkner asserts "Miss Emily’s house begins to emit an unpleasant smell, the town officials decide to solve the problem by dusting her property with lime"(803). Hence, the townspeople's effort to help Miss Emily obliterates her public image by treating her as a helpless woman who cannot make decisions for

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