A Rose for Emily: Status Quo In his short story “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner centers on a lonely Emily Grierson who was left traumatized by her father’s death, a woman was seen as a fallen monument and how she eventually gets away with murder. Emily Grierson gets away with murder because her social standing or high class status. Emily Grierson becomes too dependent on her father, so when he died it had a psychological effect on her. One author says “Dominated by her father and his rigid ideas of social status, she has been prevented from marrying during his lifetime, therefore, after his death she is left alone and penniless” (Fang). Being the daughter of an important man in the town and now one of the oldest members of
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Her neighbors complain to the mayor, judge Stevens who tries to blame it on Tobe who is of a low class unlike Miss Emily Grierson and assures them he will talk to him. They eventually sneak into her lawn, break open the cellar door and sprinkle lime which killed the smell after a week or two. It is because of her status that no one really suspects anything. The townspeople cannot complain to her about the smell let alone search for a missing Homer Barron who was last seen entering her home. An author says “And they condoned the killing by not publicly acknowledging it and by not investigating in order to prosecute the killer, whom they must have known was Emily” (Dilworth). The signs were all around, they knew she bought arsenic. They knew that her lover was last seen entering "at the kitchen door at dusk one evening" (127). Not too long from this the stench developed in her house or …show more content…
She just ignores him, the narrator says “Miss Emily just stared at him, back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (123). When the Negro delivery boy brought the package and she opened it, she on the box “For rats”. This was another point where she uses her status to twist the law again. She doesn’t even utter a word but the druggist who is of a lower class had to conform to her request however illegal it was. Homer Barron is a low class day laborer of no importance in the community and isn’t seen to have much value to the town. The fact he is from the working class is a reason why nobody really looks for him when he disappears mysteriously, he wasn’t important enough to raise an alarm whereas if it were Miss Emily it might have been a different case entirely. He is also a Yankee, a northerner and not seen as part of the society and this adds to his
Her neighbors complain to the mayor, judge Stevens who tries to blame it on Tobe who is of a low class unlike Miss Emily Grierson and assures them he will talk to him. They eventually sneak into her lawn, break open the cellar door and sprinkle lime which killed the smell after a week or two. It is because of her status that no one really suspects anything. The townspeople cannot complain to her about the smell let alone search for a missing Homer Barron who was last seen entering her home. An author says “And they condoned the killing by not publicly acknowledging it and by not investigating in order to prosecute the killer, whom they must have known was Emily” (Dilworth). The signs were all around, they knew she bought arsenic. They knew that her lover was last seen entering "at the kitchen door at dusk one evening" (127). Not too long from this the stench developed in her house or …show more content…
She just ignores him, the narrator says “Miss Emily just stared at him, back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (123). When the Negro delivery boy brought the package and she opened it, she on the box “For rats”. This was another point where she uses her status to twist the law again. She doesn’t even utter a word but the druggist who is of a lower class had to conform to her request however illegal it was. Homer Barron is a low class day laborer of no importance in the community and isn’t seen to have much value to the town. The fact he is from the working class is a reason why nobody really looks for him when he disappears mysteriously, he wasn’t important enough to raise an alarm whereas if it were Miss Emily it might have been a different case entirely. He is also a Yankee, a northerner and not seen as part of the society and this adds to his