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Societal Expectations In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner shows a society where customs and traditions play a major role. Emily is subjected to societal expectations that put excessive pressure on her. The society is such that anyone going down the uncommon path is specially chastised. Emily has dreams like every girl, she wants to find love and get married, but her father wants to keep her in the house to take care of him (“Authors on Their Work” 2013). Eventually, Emily seems to retaliate with force that causes unrest in the society too. But she also shows an acceptance of customs and it gains her a place in society, things seem to come back to normal once she does what is normal for the society. The starting of the novel already groups men and women into different categories, attending the funeral for different reason. Men are there to give their final farewell to a fallen hero while women are there to go through the things at Emily’s home. The women are portrayed as intrusive and controlling when Emily is going around with Homer Barron. In fact the ladies influence the Baptist minister enough to call Emily out. Their conversation does not bear fruit with the minister refusing to go back to her house, his wife informs Emily’s cousin about her wrongdoings. This theme continues when Emily’s …show more content…

They criticize men for not being practical, not too keen to act on things that they should act on and their being docile. This is depicted by the collective criticism of Emily’s housekeeper by all the ladies. Not only are there gender divides, there are divisions based on societal expectations and traditions. The hereditary responsibilities and the mention of Griersons as gross helps to create a divide between the society. The views of these people are usually collective views with no individual voice giving a different opinion. This collective group includes everyone but Emily, she is just a victim of their judgement and

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