Feminist Critique of A Rose for Emily

With a protagonist who is the epitome of the values of an ideal southern woman, FaulknerÆs (1931) short story A Rose for Emily readily lends itself to a feminis

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ng taxes. We are told it is a story that ôOnly a many of Colonel SartorisÆ generation and thought could have invented, and only a woman could have believedö (Faulkner, 1931, p. 426). We see that Miss Emily has mainly been a prisoner of her father and of the town for years, viewed as a monument of a bygone era. However, at one point in her life Miss Emily completely rebels against the limitations of the values and gender rules imposed on her by her father and the patriarchal social forces in town. She enters into a love affair with Homer Barron, a Yankee laborer that shocks the town. No self-respecting southern woman of Miss EmilyÆs generation would consider dating a northerner much less a day laborer. All of the ladies ignore the affair at first, thinking ôOf course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborerö (Faulkner, 1931, p. 429). Eventually, social pressures on womenÆs behavior make people refer to her as ôpoor Emilyö because of being with a northern laborer. Miss Emily rebels against the social values of this patriarchal culture. When she is seen with Homer Barron to the townspeopleÆs disdain, she retains pride and dignity as a real lady of the old south would under duress, ôIt was as if sh
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Approximate Word count = 1459
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)