Convicting Emily in William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” People go through many obstacles throughout their lifetime. Some people can handle challenges from obstacles quite well, while others cannot. Emily Grierson in William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily,” falls into the latter of the two groups. There are a few factors that are described in the text that could explain why Emily’s actions are that of a mentally-ill person. William Faulkner in his short story “A Rose for Emily,” provides ample evidence to support a diagnosis of schizophrenia for Emily, his protagonist, and her crime of murdering her last link to humanity.
The mental illness, schizophrenia, is a mental disorder that “affects how the person thinks, feels, and acts. Someone with schizophrenia may have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary; may be unresponsive or withdrawn; and may have difficulty expressing normal emotions in social situations” …show more content…
Sartoris “invented an involved tale” that claimed that Emily’s father loaned money to the town and preferred being repaid by the dispensation of Emily’s payment of taxes (363). After the next generation of government came to town, they believed that Sartoris’ (now dead) reasoning was all just a big hoax. They disregarded Sartoris’ directions and began mailing her letters to start paying her taxes again. After a few months of her still not paying, the new mayor and councilmen finally decided to give up and go to her house. The house appeared as if it has been vacated for quite some time since there was a smell of “dust and disuse” and dust rose from underneath the thighs of the men when they took a seat on her cracked leather furniture (363). This is either an indicator of Emily having a psychological problem like Schizophrenia or maybe just simply a cleaning problem since she actually had been living there the whole
The mental illness, schizophrenia, is a mental disorder that “affects how the person thinks, feels, and acts. Someone with schizophrenia may have difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is imaginary; may be unresponsive or withdrawn; and may have difficulty expressing normal emotions in social situations” …show more content…
Sartoris “invented an involved tale” that claimed that Emily’s father loaned money to the town and preferred being repaid by the dispensation of Emily’s payment of taxes (363). After the next generation of government came to town, they believed that Sartoris’ (now dead) reasoning was all just a big hoax. They disregarded Sartoris’ directions and began mailing her letters to start paying her taxes again. After a few months of her still not paying, the new mayor and councilmen finally decided to give up and go to her house. The house appeared as if it has been vacated for quite some time since there was a smell of “dust and disuse” and dust rose from underneath the thighs of the men when they took a seat on her cracked leather furniture (363). This is either an indicator of Emily having a psychological problem like Schizophrenia or maybe just simply a cleaning problem since she actually had been living there the whole