What could possibly drive a woman all the way to the point of murder? In “A Rose for Emily,” a short story by William Faulkner, and Trifles, a play by Susan Glaspell, the reader sees two stories in which this happens. In both of these stories, the protagonist is a woman, and both kill the men in their life. In Trifles, Mrs. Wright kills her husband while Emily kills her boyfriend in “A Rose for Emily.” Both of these stories take place from the third person point of view and are re-told in the future after the deaths have taken place. In comparing both of these stories, the reader sees both of these women isolated themselves from the town and did not follow society’s norms; because of this, both women are almost pitied by the people in their
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Wright and Miss. Emily interact with the men in their lives. Since both of these stories take place after their deaths and not from the perspective of the respective women, the reader only gets bits and pieces of information. In “A Rose for Emily,” it is clear that the townspeople are well aware of what is going on between Miss. Emily and Homer, “Presently we began to see him and Miss. Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy” (Faulkner 312). However, the townspeople began to become very critical of Miss. Emily when they realized that Homer “drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club—that he was not a marrying man.” (Faulkner 313). With Miss. Emily knowing this about Homer, and trying to avoid the judgment from the town, she took steps to show the town that they were getting married, “then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss. Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece” (Faulkner 313). It is clear also by the narrator’s use of “we” versus “they” that the tone shifts when Homer is mentioned as well, Helen Nebeker states, “Juxtaposed with this we is the they of the older tradition-bound people who knew that even grief could not account for Emily’s lapse with Homer.” In Trifles, it is also conveyed that Mrs. Hale specifically did not like Mr. Wright, and that is one of the reasons
Wright and Miss. Emily interact with the men in their lives. Since both of these stories take place after their deaths and not from the perspective of the respective women, the reader only gets bits and pieces of information. In “A Rose for Emily,” it is clear that the townspeople are well aware of what is going on between Miss. Emily and Homer, “Presently we began to see him and Miss. Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy” (Faulkner 312). However, the townspeople began to become very critical of Miss. Emily when they realized that Homer “drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club—that he was not a marrying man.” (Faulkner 313). With Miss. Emily knowing this about Homer, and trying to avoid the judgment from the town, she took steps to show the town that they were getting married, “then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss. Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece” (Faulkner 313). It is clear also by the narrator’s use of “we” versus “they” that the tone shifts when Homer is mentioned as well, Helen Nebeker states, “Juxtaposed with this we is the they of the older tradition-bound people who knew that even grief could not account for Emily’s lapse with Homer.” In Trifles, it is also conveyed that Mrs. Hale specifically did not like Mr. Wright, and that is one of the reasons