Emily’s Analysis

A Rose for Emily is an editorial authored by America writer known as William Faulkner. This inscriber narrates a story concerning an event that happened in the fictional city located in the southern part of Yoknapatawpha. Indeed, the article is recognized as the first Faulkner’s short story to be printed in the national publication. Irrespective of the notion that rose is taken as a Homer, the actual interpretation of the work by William portray rose as a dried flower. On the other hand, the ‘Rose’ still stand for secrecy whereas in other areas it is demonstrated by the Greek fairytales as a gift of confidentiality and secrecy. Indeed, this paper provides a comprehensive understanding of Emily as explained by William Faulkner. 

There is confidential information proving Emily as a formidable force within the town. For instance, this lady appears as a classic outsider with the capability of influencing and limiting the municipality’s admittance to her actual identity. To illustrate, the house confining Emily from the surroundings represents the mind of a lady who makes the world look dark, dusty and shuttered. Still, the intense scrutiny of the town features Emily as a mysterious and muted figure. In one instance. Emily seems to have traits of a conventional southern eccentric such as excessively and unbalance tragic as well as being entitled to bizarre behaviors. In connection to the above information, this lady enforces her personal sense concerning conduct and law by failing to pay taxes and through intending to purchase poison. 

On another occasion, this lady goes against the national regulations and hinder the administration from attaching numbers in her house during the institution of federal mail service. Indeed, Emily’s actions towards the law contribute to sinister implications because she ends up taking the life of the man who she is not ready to abandon. Moreover, the author of this article consider Emily as a monument, and despite being pitied she also irritating because of claiming to live by her personal principles. In relation to the topic of speculation and gossip, the individuals living in the town seem to be angered by Emily’s action of accepting Homer’s attention devoid of firm marriage plans. 

Subsequent to purchasing the poison, the city dwellers believe that Emily will commit suicide; but her instabilities seem to direct her to a different place, which the final part of the story hints to be called ‘Necrophiliac’. The term Necrophiliac stands for sexual attraction to dead people. In a wider perspective, this concept denotes a powerful appetite to control each other in the context of a deep personal relationship. Furthermore, necrophiliacs are characters with the capability of controlling relationships and for this reason, they were successfully bonding with insensitive entities that do not demonstrate any will or resistance. In relation to the above information, Mr. Grierson is greatly influencing Emily’s activities and even after his death, this Emily momentarily controls him through declining to give up Grierson’s dead body. Nevertheless, Emily starts to command Homer, an object that she loves. Unfortunately, Emily does not manage to traditionally express her urge to own Homer and she, therefore, decides to take his life in order to obtain complete authority over him. 

Still, Emily is considered as challenging element in the town because she maintains her traditional practices. According to the quote, “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town. . .”( Faulkner, 1930), there is a clear indication that Emily is putting the possible efforts to ascertain the valuable customs are not interfered with despite many individuals trying to institute radical changes within the society. For instance, William portrays Jefferson as a character who embrace changes. Irrespective of Jefferson trying to commercialize on future, he still has a great attachment with the past since he perches on the edge of the beauty of  Grierson home as well as the town’s cemetery, the place where unknown soldiers of the Civil War were buried. Unlike Jefferson, Emily is traditional since she stays the same for many years but her fellow community members are transformed in a greater manner. Based on the above details, Emily has to multiply mixed blessings because she is recognized as a living monument to the past, hence, portraying the customs that individuals wish to honor and respect. Devoid of Emily having the above recommendable traits, she also acts as a burden to the society since she is fully eliminated from the external world and various nursing eccentricities that cannot be understood by other persons. 

Nevertheless, Emily is a terrible force in the community due to living in a timeless vacuum and environment of her personal making. To be specific, this lady appears not being affected by the reality, which continuously impends to break through her cautiously impenetrable edges. In relation to the above aspect, this lady resembles a symbol of the Old South whose charm and respectability decline through the years. Indeed, Emily does not take past as faint glimmer, but he considers it as an idealized and ever-present realm. As a result, her macabre bridal chamber is seen as an extreme trial to prevent transformation and stop time, but this success comes at the expense of human life. 

In addition, people believe that Emily is an intimidating power in the town because she shows authority over death by refuting the notion of death itself. To be specific, Emily’s bizarre connection with the dead bodies of people she loves is demonstrated in the first time during the death of her father. In this case, Emily seems to be unable to accept that her father has died and for this reason, she clings to control parental figure whose authority and denial is the only form of love she ever experienced. Still, when Emily’s Homer pass on she is still not capable of admitting the bereavement by claiming to have the power of bringing about the death. Although the aspect of murdering Homer makes it for Emily to control him, this death has actually distanced them. Otherwise, Homer and Emily’s grotesque marriage shows Emily’s annoying trial to link death and life, but the death emerges as the ultimate victor. 

On the other hand, there are several instances indicating that Emily is capable of getting away with many things. For instance, this character is controlling gaze of Jefferson’s residents as well as the narrator. Based on the above aspect, the individuals residing at the town established distorted and subjective explanation about Emily whom they know very little about her. Indeed, the above people attend Emily’s funeral because of homage and admiration, but they still want to fulfill their striking interest concerning the outstanding eccentric of the town. From the quote, “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” ( Faulkner, 1930), it occurs that people were unable to reveal Emily’s secrets. In connection to the above information, this reading indicates that one of the ironic postulations of William’s story is that in all theorizing and gossiping, there is no single person who has managed to highlight Emily’s actual nature. 

In addition, the narrator considers Emily as an ‘idol’, hence, providing her with traits that are emulated by most people within the town. Owing to the above statement, some people spy Emily as an avidly, thereby, being relegated to the role of a distant person taking on different character based on the whims of persons watching her. Indeed, this case shows that it was very hard for people to determine Emily’s aspect of existing beyond things that can be seen. As a matter of fact, the actual characters of Emily are only visible after her death.

To conclude, the author of A Rose for Emily narrates a story that helps the reader to understand Emily’s fate in an effective and efficient manner. In the illustration, this editorial describes Emily as a woman who is highly recognized in the town because of sticking on traditions whereas the rest community members have accepted to change. Conversely, Emily’s intimidating power is confirmed through her desire to control everything including dead bodies of people who she loves. Owing to the above information, Emily is an iconic figure whose actual life is understood only after her death. Indeed, William has carried out a vital task of presenting a horror case in a more creative manner. 

References

Allen, D. W. (1984). Horror and perverse delight: Faulkner’s” A Rose for Emily”. Modern Fiction Studies, 30(4), 685-696.

Fang, J. (2011). Working through Faulkner’s a rose for Emily—on character and character portrayal. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 1, 105-107.

Faulkner, W. (1930). A rose for Emily, 1-37.

Romdhani, M. (2016). Miss Emily Grierson’s psychopathy in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”: Overt disorder, covert order. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies (IJHCS)​ISSN 2356-5926, 3(2), 1513-1524.