Society and peer relationships play a large part in any story. Its role is so large that we wonder if our experiences determine how we develop. In “A Rose for Emily,” the community’s role is essential in not only the events in Emily’s life but also the way the reader gets the information about Emily’s life. Any information that is received is from someone in the community that has either witnessed these events or heard the stories. What is told to the reader is virtually hearsay, making the account’s reliability limited. With what we know from this dubious information, the community can be seen as a source of both good and trouble in Emily’s life. Emily is a lady and is still seen as such after she is left without a fortune. Her father had
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This and the purchases Emily has made seem to indicate that the two did get married. After this, Miss Emily is rarely seen and the only one to leave or enter the House is her manservant, Tobe. Around this time, Miss Emily is also seen buying arsenic, which is unlikely for the rats that the pharmacist writes it is for. Later in the story, we find that a male skeleton is found in a bed in a closed off room. It is safe to assume that the man is Homer and that the arsenic is used to kill him. We do not know Emily’s motives in doing this, but we may find that Emily did care for him and found comfort in him after his death. It may have been that Emily was feeling unhappy with the pity of the community. Ladies aren’t to be pitied, at least not obviously, as shown with Satoris. This may have led Emily to actions in order to rid herself of this pity, using Homer as her means of escape but not wanting to lose the comfort and the friendship he brought her. She may also have started to make herself believe she loved him but knew that he wouldn’t marry her. In order for her to keep him, she may prevented him from ever leaving. We aren’t certain of these intentions because we can only see what the community knows. We can assume that Emily knew what the community thought of her and that this had something to do with why she behaves this …show more content…
This shows that the women didn’t necessarily care for her, she was just a piece for their gossip, a curiosity. The men saw her as an oddity, something that was always there and was a part of the town but wasn’t really something they cared about. It could be said that the younger generation cared little for Miss Emily and that the older generation only cared that she was a lady.
Overall, Miss Emily had been excluded from society for most of her life. The community itself, though it didn’t necessarily treat her cruelly, tended to keep her on the edge of her society. Emily tended to seem fine with this arrangement as long as she was treated in the way she felt she deserved. When she wasn’t she got testy. In the end, the community was good in the sense that it allowed her the comfort she craved, but it also led her to doing things that were eccentric or over the top because of how they treated her, both unkindly with gossip and allowing her to do what she wished most of the
This and the purchases Emily has made seem to indicate that the two did get married. After this, Miss Emily is rarely seen and the only one to leave or enter the House is her manservant, Tobe. Around this time, Miss Emily is also seen buying arsenic, which is unlikely for the rats that the pharmacist writes it is for. Later in the story, we find that a male skeleton is found in a bed in a closed off room. It is safe to assume that the man is Homer and that the arsenic is used to kill him. We do not know Emily’s motives in doing this, but we may find that Emily did care for him and found comfort in him after his death. It may have been that Emily was feeling unhappy with the pity of the community. Ladies aren’t to be pitied, at least not obviously, as shown with Satoris. This may have led Emily to actions in order to rid herself of this pity, using Homer as her means of escape but not wanting to lose the comfort and the friendship he brought her. She may also have started to make herself believe she loved him but knew that he wouldn’t marry her. In order for her to keep him, she may prevented him from ever leaving. We aren’t certain of these intentions because we can only see what the community knows. We can assume that Emily knew what the community thought of her and that this had something to do with why she behaves this …show more content…
This shows that the women didn’t necessarily care for her, she was just a piece for their gossip, a curiosity. The men saw her as an oddity, something that was always there and was a part of the town but wasn’t really something they cared about. It could be said that the younger generation cared little for Miss Emily and that the older generation only cared that she was a lady.
Overall, Miss Emily had been excluded from society for most of her life. The community itself, though it didn’t necessarily treat her cruelly, tended to keep her on the edge of her society. Emily tended to seem fine with this arrangement as long as she was treated in the way she felt she deserved. When she wasn’t she got testy. In the end, the community was good in the sense that it allowed her the comfort she craved, but it also led her to doing things that were eccentric or over the top because of how they treated her, both unkindly with gossip and allowing her to do what she wished most of the