Ellen Goodman once said, “Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds. The most powerful ones are those we cannot even describe, are not even aware of”. In "A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner conveys the setting of a town fixated in it's ways. The inhabitants of Yoknapatawpha County value their heritage and customs. One particular lady, Miss Emily, is caught in the midst of a town whose generations are clashing and traditions are changing. Her father passes and she soon meets a young man, Homer Barron. The town does not think he is worthy of Emily just as her father would have thought. The old fashioned setting exemplifies traditional customs, unorthodox normalities, and outdated convictions.
The old fashioned setting …show more content…
In the 1800’s, the problems were not viewed as issues, they were viewed as regularities. In the town of Yoknapatawpha County multiple daily occurrences would be issues later on. For example, a resident, Miss Emily, arrives at the local drug store asking for arsenic; although the druggist says “But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for”, Miss Emily never states what she plans to use it for and leaves with a package labeled “For rats”(Beers and Odell, 775). In that era purchases like this were not uncommon but now in modern times she would not have have been sold the poison without proper explanation. The town of Yoknapatawpha is a perfect example of a fragmented society. Miss Emily had a lover shortly after her father’s death, unsurprisingly the town had much to say about her relationship with “a foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face”(Beers and Odell, 724). The couple could be seen together for a while but then “Homer himself had remarked. . .that he was not a marrying man," even after this the town said “She will persuade him yet,”(Beers and Odell, 725). Miss Emily could be seen with Homer “with her head held high” and “his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove," then he left(Beers and Odell, 725). The next time he was seen back in town the neighbors saw “the negro man admit him at …show more content…
Faulkner uses multiple narrators to show countless viewpoints. For example, when the issue came up about a pungent smell around Miss Emily’s house a man of the younger generation said “‘It's simple enough,’" he said, "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't. ..'”, Judge Stevens then said “'Dammit, sir, . . .will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" (Beers and Odell, 723). Even then the men did not inquire about the smell, instead “after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder” (Beers and Odell 723). This showed a clash in generations and viewpoints because the man of the younger, rising generation wanted to give her a notice to fix the smell and the member of the older generation did not want to be so blunt. Dilworth writes of the different viewpoints of the smell, for example, “the ladies blamed it on the servant's keeping the kitchen improperly”. Another narrator, the Judge, "supposed the source to be probably just a snake or a rat that [Tobe] killed in the yard"(Dilworth). Each narrator has a different view than the next. The setting builds as their views on life and traditions show. When Miss Emily first started to fancy Homer
The old fashioned setting …show more content…
In the 1800’s, the problems were not viewed as issues, they were viewed as regularities. In the town of Yoknapatawpha County multiple daily occurrences would be issues later on. For example, a resident, Miss Emily, arrives at the local drug store asking for arsenic; although the druggist says “But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for”, Miss Emily never states what she plans to use it for and leaves with a package labeled “For rats”(Beers and Odell, 775). In that era purchases like this were not uncommon but now in modern times she would not have have been sold the poison without proper explanation. The town of Yoknapatawpha is a perfect example of a fragmented society. Miss Emily had a lover shortly after her father’s death, unsurprisingly the town had much to say about her relationship with “a foreman named Homer Barron, a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face”(Beers and Odell, 724). The couple could be seen together for a while but then “Homer himself had remarked. . .that he was not a marrying man," even after this the town said “She will persuade him yet,”(Beers and Odell, 725). Miss Emily could be seen with Homer “with her head held high” and “his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove," then he left(Beers and Odell, 725). The next time he was seen back in town the neighbors saw “the negro man admit him at …show more content…
Faulkner uses multiple narrators to show countless viewpoints. For example, when the issue came up about a pungent smell around Miss Emily’s house a man of the younger generation said “‘It's simple enough,’" he said, "Send her word to have her place cleaned up. Give her a certain time to do it in, and if she don't. ..'”, Judge Stevens then said “'Dammit, sir, . . .will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" (Beers and Odell, 723). Even then the men did not inquire about the smell, instead “after midnight, four men crossed Miss Emily's lawn and slunk about the house like burglars, sniffing along the base of the brickwork and at the cellar openings while one of them performed a regular sowing motion with his hand out of a sack slung from his shoulder” (Beers and Odell 723). This showed a clash in generations and viewpoints because the man of the younger, rising generation wanted to give her a notice to fix the smell and the member of the older generation did not want to be so blunt. Dilworth writes of the different viewpoints of the smell, for example, “the ladies blamed it on the servant's keeping the kitchen improperly”. Another narrator, the Judge, "supposed the source to be probably just a snake or a rat that [Tobe] killed in the yard"(Dilworth). Each narrator has a different view than the next. The setting builds as their views on life and traditions show. When Miss Emily first started to fancy Homer