In his story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner provides inside look on how the community is changing and what matters and is important to the uprising generations in the early 20th century. Faulkner tells the story “A Rose for Emily” in a way, as if the reader is in the story, directly in the community. It gives the ideal of Emily Grierson’s life to be pasted from generation to generation. “A Rose for Emily” examines the consequences of social discrimination mainly through the type of characters, setting, and point of view. Emily is from a very important and very wealthy family whose riches are declining in value throughout the world. Her life choices are very much determined by the fact that she is a woman. Her father dominates
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It is “set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of the neighborhood, only Miss Emily’s house was left” (130). The house is situated in stark relief between two industrial buildings and is a lone representative of the “old” plantation culture. Its declining and neglected condition parallels Emily’s financial and mental states and her position as the only surviving member of the illustrious Grierson family. Emily is as isolated in the community as the house is isolated in the neighborhood. Her retreat and relevance to society is emphasized by her symbolic occupation of an ever-smaller area of the house. The remittance of her property taxes and the decision not to confront her over the “smell” arises as much out of deference to her status, as from the town’s desire to hang on to its mythology. Her significance in the town is to provide a link to past glories and current social conventions. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (130). Miss Emily, her house and its secret, literally rot away and illustrate how the complacency of following unexamined traditions and prejudice can damage the well being of individuals and
It is “set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of the neighborhood, only Miss Emily’s house was left” (130). The house is situated in stark relief between two industrial buildings and is a lone representative of the “old” plantation culture. Its declining and neglected condition parallels Emily’s financial and mental states and her position as the only surviving member of the illustrious Grierson family. Emily is as isolated in the community as the house is isolated in the neighborhood. Her retreat and relevance to society is emphasized by her symbolic occupation of an ever-smaller area of the house. The remittance of her property taxes and the decision not to confront her over the “smell” arises as much out of deference to her status, as from the town’s desire to hang on to its mythology. Her significance in the town is to provide a link to past glories and current social conventions. “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (130). Miss Emily, her house and its secret, literally rot away and illustrate how the complacency of following unexamined traditions and prejudice can damage the well being of individuals and