Analysis: A Deconstruction Of Emily Grierson

A Deconstruction of Emily Grierson In “A Rose for Emily”, Emily Grierson is presented as a matriarchal spinster whose self imposed isolation is of the upmost curiosity to the townspeople. She is a person who has stood the test of time in this neighborhood, the one constant in an ever changing world. Her character serves as an idol of sorts, the physical embodiment of everything the community once stood for, and now has lost. The story opens on her funeral, thereby beginning where we end, and continues to illustrate the woman that is Emily Grierson. Miss Emily’s character is revealed through the eyes of the townspeople, and in the end we realize the townspeople hardly knew her at all. Throughout the course of the story Emily never quite escapes …show more content…
In order to understand the actions of Emily, we need to understand the role her father played in her life. His constant isolation of her person combined with his belief that no one was good enough to associate with her ensured that her happy ending that he worked so hard for never came to fruition: “…Miss Emily slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horse whip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door” (Faulkner 624). Through the use of Faulkner’s imagery we can see the relationship between Emily and her father captured in this description. This is the image that comes to the minds of the townspeople when they think of “Poor Emily” and her father, almost as if he is guarding her, perhaps afraid that she will be tainted by anyone else’s influence but his own. The way in which his back is turned on her suggests that she is in some ways his captive, only now she knows better than to try and seek a way out, she is resigned to her fate. It can be argued that Emily experiences a form of Stockholm syndrome at the hands of her father and that his constant need to control her is justified in her mind by his fatherly love for her or the fact that they are all each other has left. By cutting off her access to the outside world he made it impossible for Emily to form …show more content…
Her love for Homer is inappropriate in two ways: the first being that she was above him in station and the second being that he was homosexual. Since his arrival to Jefferson he singled her out as a friend of sorts, often seen spending time with her driving throughout town. He possessed a vibrant personality that people gravitated towards and in the end that is what drew Emily to him and ultimately led to his demise. Emily knew he would not stay with her of his own free will so she thought of a way to hold onto him: “The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlast love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him…then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head” (Faulkner 628-629). The only way for Emily to keep him with her was to force him to stay with her which was accomplished by killing him. She kept his body as a constant physical reminder of that love she had come so close to having with him but could never actually hope to obtain. In this way she is a victim of her love, she finally finds someone to love after all this time only to have that illusion taken away from her when she find out that he is “not the marrying type”. The title “A Rose for Emily” can even be interpreted as a metaphor for this love she feels,