A Rose for Emily

Divided into five sections that deal with the time present and time past so essential to the story of what turns a proper Southern lady into a tragic, perverse murderer and necrophiliac,

the story is set in a small town in the American South in the post-Civil War years, and the era of the setting makes the story believable. Emily Grierson is the spinster daughter of one of the town's first families, and as such a member of the aristocracy; it is her social standing û so important in the Old South û that enables her to behave in an imperious, high-handed way, refusing to pay taxes or to succumb to the moral conventions and expectations of the town. Her social standing has given her a public role, and it is because of this role that the townspeople protect her, and bend to her strong will. As Ray B. West, Jr. points out, "she is common property of the town, but in a special wayùas an ideal of past values." The very first sentence of the story is an indication of how the town views Emily. "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our w

. . .
he next few years it grew grayer and grayerà." (Faulkner 34). Davis contends that Miss Emily's death clarified the enigma of her personality. "A woman who, alive, 'had been a tradition, a duty, and a care," and thus "dear' in reveral senses of that word, is revealed, in death, to have been what for years she had been suspected of being, 'perverse.'" Emily's actions, however, are more than perversity or even mental illness. Deprived of access to emotional fulfillment, she acts fulfillment in a depraved way, but also in a manner that enables her to reject the role of victim. Both West and Strandberg argue that Emily's decisions and actions are heroic, and that the heroic theme is necessary to understanding the story's meaning and structure. Strandberg reasons that "the story's five sections are unified by the heroic theme announced at the outset of Part II: "So she vanquished them, horse and foot." He also points out that it is very important to Faulkner's heroic view of Emily that she does not rely on mere fantasy to fulfill her need for the status of wife and lover, a status that her society imposed upon her, albeit one she may have wished for herself. He commends Emily for obtaining "a palpable human body to ensconce within an
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Miss Emily, Homer Barron, Miss Emily's, Emily Grierson, West Strandberg, Michael Burduck, Rose Emily, Emily Homer, West Jr, Burduck Faulkner, miss emily, rose emily, homer barron, story miss emily, fallen monument, social standing, five sections, emily's death, heroic theme, miss emily's, burduck waited,
Approximate Word count = 1612
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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