William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a short and hard story to tell. It is considered a Southern Gothic genre, influenced by the likes of European Gothic literature in its mystery and morbid feel. Southern Gothic writers like Faulkner were more interested in what appeared to them as anti-social southern behavior stemming from a social system built upon superficial tradition. Emily Grierson is the main character; she is portrayed as coming from a semi-aristocratic family allowing leeway for her quirkiness. The small town of Jefferson seems to experience growing pains but not just in the sense of population but primarily change in modernization. “A Rose for Emily” can be uncomfortable, strange, and intriguing.
William Faulkner was from …show more content…
How could a young, southern woman of ‘noble’ birth spend time with someone like Homer Barron; a Yankee from the north who performs manual labor, a big voice, and bad language? Having a father who had driven away every suitor, and now she’s left to make her own decisions, the town appears appalled, and fascinated with her behavior.
Throughout the story Emily has mourned the loss of her father, suffered the demotion of status to a pauper, and missed many amiable suitors. After Emily’s father passed away he left her the house, nothing else. Emily had then become the object of pity on the townspeople. Like all people, Emily grew older and more eccentric, and it showed. She became plump, baggy-eyed, and her hair turned iron-gray. “She passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” (William 6).
To add a bit more gothic suspense to the story, Emily purchases arsenic. This purchase has the town of Jefferson in a tizzy with expectation of a suicide since her Yankee suitor has left town. The ‘concerned’ women of the local Baptist church insisted that something be done. After the Baptist preacher approached Emily’s Episcopal congregation we are led to believe that there was no ‘Christian charity’ expected from them. The preacher’s wife then took it upon herself to write to Emily’s cousins in
William Faulkner was from …show more content…
How could a young, southern woman of ‘noble’ birth spend time with someone like Homer Barron; a Yankee from the north who performs manual labor, a big voice, and bad language? Having a father who had driven away every suitor, and now she’s left to make her own decisions, the town appears appalled, and fascinated with her behavior.
Throughout the story Emily has mourned the loss of her father, suffered the demotion of status to a pauper, and missed many amiable suitors. After Emily’s father passed away he left her the house, nothing else. Emily had then become the object of pity on the townspeople. Like all people, Emily grew older and more eccentric, and it showed. She became plump, baggy-eyed, and her hair turned iron-gray. “She passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” (William 6).
To add a bit more gothic suspense to the story, Emily purchases arsenic. This purchase has the town of Jefferson in a tizzy with expectation of a suicide since her Yankee suitor has left town. The ‘concerned’ women of the local Baptist church insisted that something be done. After the Baptist preacher approached Emily’s Episcopal congregation we are led to believe that there was no ‘Christian charity’ expected from them. The preacher’s wife then took it upon herself to write to Emily’s cousins in