The Women Who Lives in a Timeless Vacuum “A Rose for Emily” by Willian Faulkner focuses on the life and death of Emily Grierson, a tragic tale of a woman who is doomed in the effort to resist the forces of times and change. Emily’s story is told in flashbacks that reveal her life through the time before her death. Emily lives a reclusive life dominated by the patriarchal rulings of her father and her social values. Her upbringing is confined by the Southern social system and her father, the figure that she had become totally dependent and attached to. It is the judgment of the town and the death of her father that ignites Emily’s desire to control time. Thus, Faulkner illustrates Emily’s futile attempt to rule over time through the dire
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After Emily’s father’s passing, she was left to inherit her childhood home. Nevertheless, she insisted that “her father was not dead”. For this reason, she would not allow his body removed until ministers and doctors trying to persuade her to give up the body. This indicates the beginning of the deterioration of her sanity. It also reveals Emily’s attachment to the controlling paternal figure whose manipulate and rule became the only form of emotional connection she ever was known. This indication shows that, without her father to manage her very existent, she becomes confused and disoriented, unable to make decisive thoughts and decisions without her father’s guidance, and is unable to function on her own. Ultimately Emily’s mental health devolves as a response to losing the main figure of control and stability in her life. Later in her life, Emily gains another male figure to rely on in the form of her lover Homer Barron, reinforcing the theme of patriarchal control in Emily’s life. Emily feels her connection with Homer Barron is serious, however, Homer’s feeling towards her are not mutual. Emily comes to the decision of poisoning Homer and placing him carefully in the upstairs room in order to keep him near her. Emily becomes fixated on Homer’s body, the text showing indications of her sexually sleeping with the body. Emily’s act of keeping his lifeless body is her attempt …show more content…
The final portrait of Emily as an old woman, framed in the doorway while discussing her taxes, is a polar opposite of the portrait of her youth: “They rose when she entered – a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with tarnished gold head. Her skeletons were small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her”. (Faulkner, 1)
This passage presents her image as obesity overwhelms her small figure, displaying the outcome of seclusion over the year. The overall image, however, portrays her appearance as looking like “death”. This imagery is also used in the description of her death, showing “her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight” (Faulkner, 4). She died in the house “filled with the dust and shadows” (Faulkner, 4) with the decayed corpse hovering in her home. Not only has Emily been living with death in the form of Homer’s corpse, but something within her as died as well. Time and its inescapable changes already kill her long ago, taking away her youth and childhood, leaving behind an empty shell that holds the history of the Old South. In addition to Emily’s life, it is recognized that Emily became a symbol of the Old South, and when she dies, this lingering reputation dies with her. Finally, Emily herself has died, as no one can avoid
After Emily’s father’s passing, she was left to inherit her childhood home. Nevertheless, she insisted that “her father was not dead”. For this reason, she would not allow his body removed until ministers and doctors trying to persuade her to give up the body. This indicates the beginning of the deterioration of her sanity. It also reveals Emily’s attachment to the controlling paternal figure whose manipulate and rule became the only form of emotional connection she ever was known. This indication shows that, without her father to manage her very existent, she becomes confused and disoriented, unable to make decisive thoughts and decisions without her father’s guidance, and is unable to function on her own. Ultimately Emily’s mental health devolves as a response to losing the main figure of control and stability in her life. Later in her life, Emily gains another male figure to rely on in the form of her lover Homer Barron, reinforcing the theme of patriarchal control in Emily’s life. Emily feels her connection with Homer Barron is serious, however, Homer’s feeling towards her are not mutual. Emily comes to the decision of poisoning Homer and placing him carefully in the upstairs room in order to keep him near her. Emily becomes fixated on Homer’s body, the text showing indications of her sexually sleeping with the body. Emily’s act of keeping his lifeless body is her attempt …show more content…
The final portrait of Emily as an old woman, framed in the doorway while discussing her taxes, is a polar opposite of the portrait of her youth: “They rose when she entered – a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with tarnished gold head. Her skeletons were small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her”. (Faulkner, 1)
This passage presents her image as obesity overwhelms her small figure, displaying the outcome of seclusion over the year. The overall image, however, portrays her appearance as looking like “death”. This imagery is also used in the description of her death, showing “her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight” (Faulkner, 4). She died in the house “filled with the dust and shadows” (Faulkner, 4) with the decayed corpse hovering in her home. Not only has Emily been living with death in the form of Homer’s corpse, but something within her as died as well. Time and its inescapable changes already kill her long ago, taking away her youth and childhood, leaving behind an empty shell that holds the history of the Old South. In addition to Emily’s life, it is recognized that Emily became a symbol of the Old South, and when she dies, this lingering reputation dies with her. Finally, Emily herself has died, as no one can avoid