Emily Grierson, a Complex Character with a Complex Reality. In the short story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the main character, Emily, is very interesting. She lives in an alternative reality where the rules of the world are not applied to her existence. There is a principle in philosophy that states that the way a man thinks is strongly influenced by the way a man lives. This seems to be the case of the protagonist of the story. Emily Grierson seems to be mentally disturbed, but even when in her family mental illnesses were not uncommon, she was not born that way. Her relationship with her father, her isolation from the world and later on, the town relationship with her, shaped the actions of Emily until the day she died. Emily
…show more content…
Mr. Grierson controlled Emily throughout her youth but when he died She have a temporally control over him when she refused to give away his body. In the story we can read that “… she did that for three days, with the minister calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body …” (Faulkner 159). This need for control is going to be Miss Emily signature on her adult life. When she starts an amorous relationship with Homer Barron she is the only one that refuse to see the reality of that relationship. In the story we can read that “… we said, "She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked--he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks ' Club--that he was not a marrying man … (Faulkner 161)” Because of this we can understand that Homer had no intention to marry Miss Emily. That is why she poisoned him and kept the body in one of the rooms of her house. Emily here has gone deep in her alternative reality and will exert the ultimate control towards Homer kipping him with her and sleeping by his side every night. The controlled young Emily became an adult that needed to be in control. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the protagonist lives in her own reality where she is above her town’s laws. She is obviously mentally unstable and the reason for this can be reduce to three main problems. Her relationship with her father, her personal reclusion in her own house and the town relationship with her are going to be determinant factors in Emily’s
Mr. Grierson controlled Emily throughout her youth but when he died She have a temporally control over him when she refused to give away his body. In the story we can read that “… she did that for three days, with the minister calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body …” (Faulkner 159). This need for control is going to be Miss Emily signature on her adult life. When she starts an amorous relationship with Homer Barron she is the only one that refuse to see the reality of that relationship. In the story we can read that “… we said, "She will persuade him yet," because Homer himself had remarked--he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks ' Club--that he was not a marrying man … (Faulkner 161)” Because of this we can understand that Homer had no intention to marry Miss Emily. That is why she poisoned him and kept the body in one of the rooms of her house. Emily here has gone deep in her alternative reality and will exert the ultimate control towards Homer kipping him with her and sleeping by his side every night. The controlled young Emily became an adult that needed to be in control. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the protagonist lives in her own reality where she is above her town’s laws. She is obviously mentally unstable and the reason for this can be reduce to three main problems. Her relationship with her father, her personal reclusion in her own house and the town relationship with her are going to be determinant factors in Emily’s