In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, several aspects of Emily’s life drive her to different extremes. Her actions throughout the story are heavily influenced by her surroundings. Emily lives a small, southern town set in the early 1900’s after the civil war. The traditional culture of this area and her town compels her to do certain things. The setting is a significant part of the story because it influences the main characters actions and contributes to the plot.
“A Rose for Emily” takes place in the early 1900’s. Early 1900’s culture and social normalities made the main character ,Emily, feel pressured into finding a husband and settling down. In the story, Faulkner illustrates Emily’s early struggle to find a suitable partner, “None …show more content…
This small town setting in this story highlights the criticism and judgement Emily faced from the other townspeople. This criticism leads to Emily feeling pressured to maintain her family’s image, and results in her living a very reclusive and secretive life. Faulkner uses a plural first person narrator throughout the story, and this draws attention to how the townspeople continually gossiped and speculated about her life. Since Emily comes from a respected family in the community, every aspect of her life was a discussion point. Emily is aware of this speculation, and because of it spends most of her time alone and out of public eye to avoid any negative talk about her circulating. Once Homer Barron begins to form a relationship with her, the reader sees Miss Emily go out in the public eye more often. Once he disappears, she is seen less. The narrator repeats several times that the townspeople now say “Poor Emily” in reference to Miss Greison’s lost lover (Faulkner 3). Emily felt that her relationship with Homer Barron would produce good publicity for herself, and in result spent more time in public. Once the town people assume that he left her, and begin to say “Poor Emily”, she returns to her more private lifestyle. Without all of the talk of a small close knit community, Emily would have more likely lived a less reclusive life, because she would have felt her every move would not be
“A Rose for Emily” takes place in the early 1900’s. Early 1900’s culture and social normalities made the main character ,Emily, feel pressured into finding a husband and settling down. In the story, Faulkner illustrates Emily’s early struggle to find a suitable partner, “None …show more content…
This small town setting in this story highlights the criticism and judgement Emily faced from the other townspeople. This criticism leads to Emily feeling pressured to maintain her family’s image, and results in her living a very reclusive and secretive life. Faulkner uses a plural first person narrator throughout the story, and this draws attention to how the townspeople continually gossiped and speculated about her life. Since Emily comes from a respected family in the community, every aspect of her life was a discussion point. Emily is aware of this speculation, and because of it spends most of her time alone and out of public eye to avoid any negative talk about her circulating. Once Homer Barron begins to form a relationship with her, the reader sees Miss Emily go out in the public eye more often. Once he disappears, she is seen less. The narrator repeats several times that the townspeople now say “Poor Emily” in reference to Miss Greison’s lost lover (Faulkner 3). Emily felt that her relationship with Homer Barron would produce good publicity for herself, and in result spent more time in public. Once the town people assume that he left her, and begin to say “Poor Emily”, she returns to her more private lifestyle. Without all of the talk of a small close knit community, Emily would have more likely lived a less reclusive life, because she would have felt her every move would not be