Socially Awkward Relationships In A Rose For Emily

In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily lives a life with almost no social interactions growing up. Until her father’s death, which was in her early adulthood, the only developed relationships she has are with her father and their house slave. Living with these very few relationships in her early life will ultimately affect her interactions with other people for the rest of her life. These interactions that Emily has with other people throughout the story can only be described as odd, but she doesn't know any better. Emily’s awkward relationships are due to the fact that she is socially awkward.
The actions of Emily reveal that she is socially awkward. An example of this from the text comes when Emily begins to seclude herself from …show more content…
An example from the story occurs when Emily begins to consistently be seen with Homer Barron, a northern day laborer. The people in town think this relationship to be odd considering the difference in class of Emily and Homer. They simply respond to the situation, though, by saying, “Poor Emily” (Faulkner 266). These thoughts about Emily show that the people in town understand that when it comes to Emily’s social skills that she is definitely lacking if she can’t uphold to the behavior her status requires her to perform towards lower classes. Another example occurs when the townspeople hear of Emily’s odd purchase of poison and their first thoughts are that she will use it to kill herself (Faulkner 266). After buying the poison from the druggist, no one truly knew what her intentions would be with it. The immediate response of the people in town once hearing of the peculiar event was that she would use it on herself. In many cases of suicide, the victim chooses to take their own life because they feel as if they don’t really fit into society and that they won’t be able to handle it. For the people to assume that she was going to use the poison on herself, many of them had to draw that conclusion from believing Emily to be socially awkward. A final example from the text happens when the townspeople complain of a smell coming from Emily’s house. Instead of …show more content…
Emily’s speech, and actions clearly exemplify her social awkwardness, as well as other characters’ thoughts and feelings towards Emily. However, it’s not her fault. Emily’s father destined her to a life of limited human interaction and a life cut off from the world outside her large estate. Perhaps Emily’s father was just trying to protect his daughter, or that no one was good enough for her. The one thing that is certain, though, is Emily’s obvious lack of social skills, which lead to her being socially