A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner: Major Themes Essay

â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a short story written by William Faulkner and initially published in 1930. This is a story of an eccentric spinster, Emily Grierson, and her life. The strange circumstances alongside with odd family relationships with Emily’s father and lover are being uncovered throughout the story. Emily was manipulated and strongly controlled by her father and now, in the upstairs, she hides the corpse of Barron, her lover, which explains the gossips of the townspeople of Jefferson. The story is distinctive for the first person plural point of view; whereas non chronological description of the events further complicated the matter. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† has a lot of themes – the extreme psychosis of the heroine, the role of women in the South and their relationships with society, and, most importantly, the society of South overall. Due to complexity of the work and a lot of secondary themes present in the work, we will focus on the image and role of society in the story. Even though Faulkner does suggest a psychological cause of Emily’s sickness, a number of factors remain unexplained if one chooses to concentrate of psychological factors rather that of society. Firstly, this is plural narrator; secondly, the complicity of the town in the murder of Barron; thirdly, the awareness of the townspeople of the room that is locked in the house; finally, the title of the short story itself (Hamblin and Abadie, 2000). At the same time, the final macabre scene taking place in the bedroom tomb, which reveals Emily’s necrophilia, also suggests necrophilia of the entire society. Society lives in the dead, but still unburied past. Emily essentially becomes the sickness of the town inherited from the past, which is fostered upon the town by Sartois, who ordered the freed female slaves to appear in the streets and in such way symbolize submission to the whites: â€Å"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town,† (Thomas and Corbett, 1970, p. 9). The new generation does puts effort in shrugging off the burden, but it cannot, as Emily is part of the society and Emily’s pride is the pride of townspeople: â€Å"a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument,† (Thomas and Corbett, 1970, p. 9). Obviously, plural narrator sympathizes with Emily. The Grierson house is, in turn, the symbol of the past: as Emily is trying to retain what belongs to her at any cost and regardless whether it is dead or alive, the society – South follows the same pattern. Chronological order of the story is also destroyed by Faulkner – in order to extend the significance of the events that are taking place and at the same time reveal the human tendency to tie oneself to the past. In the story, the major heroes are being manifested in such a manner in order to become the symbols of the society without losing own individuality. The whole story is being composed of the controversies– love and hate, respect following contempt. The final paradox adds up to the complex image created throughout the story – on one hand, a rose is being offered to a woman with indomitable spirit who clung to the vision of dissolution; on the other hand – there is the omnipresent society with aging culture and corrupt materialism, society that gradually becomes impotent (Hamblin and Abadie, 2000). The analogy between Emily and the Old South is omnipresent in the story. Emily’s acceptance of the patriotic image and even family connections point out that Emily is the symbol of the old tradition. Author’s attitude towards Emily and culture is dualistic – society cannot live with the main heroine, as townspeople instantly spread gossips; and yet townspeople cannot live without Emily – the main heroine embodies the values of the South. Society in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is highly patriarchic and contributes to isolation (Curry, 1994). Once all beloved men left Emily, either by death of simply by leaving, Emily did not allow anyone to get close to her. Being unable to accept the reality – that people whom she loved were gone – Emily was isolated in the house. Emily is a perfect example of a women living up to, sometimes indirectly fighting with the patriarchal society. Interestingly, in the first paragraph of the story, Faulkner aligns the community; the second paragraph discusses the house from outside; the third paragraph then allows readers into the discussion of Emily’s past. Even though Emily did try to challenge the principles by going against of what is considered to be normal, she still went back to the past – preferring past but beautiful reality to what is going on now in her life. Emily, being the embodiment of the South, is a very strong woman. Despite her sticking up to the past events in attempt to find happiness, Emily had the whole town absolutely convinced that she could not hurt a fly. At the same time, Emily was capable of a murder. The image of society in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is created through the main heroine of the story – Emily, who is trying to live in contemporary society still sticking up the past. Values of the South are highly patriarchal; materialism is dead and death still does not allow letting in the future. Society of South is portrayed is being highly patriarchal, isolated, and degrading. Works Cited Curry, Renee R. â€Å"Gender and Authorial Limitation in Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily.† The Mississippi Quarterly 47.3 (1994): 391. Hamblin, Robert W., and Ann J. Abadie, eds. Faulkner in the Twenty-First Century: Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha, 2000. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2003. Inge, M. Thomas, and Edward P. J. Corbett, eds. A Rose for Emily. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company, 1970.