a rose for emily

Zhenya Rao

Professor: Durso

English 28

Mar 10. 2016

Exploring the Story “A Story for Emily”

One of the most anthologized short stories in the literature classroom is “A Story for Emily.” William Faulkner (1981) demonstrates his surreal descriptions to examine a culture inept to manage its own loss and decay. He introduces his peculiar character Emily Grierson whose mysterious character underscores the ultimate theme of the most American horror film today (Bausch 174). Critics and readers, indeed, examine the profound theme how Emily relates with the society where she belongs. For some critics, Emily dwells in the shadow of the arrogant nature of her father of whom she learns. Although Faulkner successfully depicts Emily as a victim and an enigmatic woman in the story, he convince his readers that his story demands critical reviews and multiple readings because social illnesses that lurk within his minds.

Faulkner’s story demands critical reviews and multiple readings. This technique I assume informs the readers what happen to the main character. The element of flashback Faulkner uses effectively employs in the story-telling. I believe Faulkner

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intends to incorporate the first-person-plural narration “we” because he wants to include the people in the entire village. The use of “we” narration primarily includes the people of the town to witness Emily and her secluded and disadvantaged lifestyle. Perhaps, Faulkner wants to blame Emily’s father for his actions and his parental teachings and allow other people to know how Emily suffers (Perry 311). Perhaps, Faulkner tries to educate his readers and parents the problems and the consequences of being overprotective. For Faulkner, the story underscores a social problem not easily seen and noticed by many people. The problem of Emily is quite heavy, which people in the neighborhood fail to understand. As a result, Emily loses her mind and soon becomes necromaniac.

Moreover, Faulkner discloses Emily’s great theme of parental error and social illness that lurk within his minds. I can confirm how Mr. Grierson fails to establish a strong childhood foundation making Emily become problematic alone. Mr. Grierson’s sense of fatherhood is a failure because Emily turns into a different person, whom he less expects. She lives according to the dictates of the society. Most likely, Faulkner attempts to comment on this social behavior since the society remains a dominant force that criticizes the individual people. Some critics argue that Emily is a miserable symbol of humanity because of her inconsiderate personality and disapproving neighbors (Bausch 432). Critics, indeed, learn to inspect theories to help explain why Emily becomes too distant to people. I suspect that Emily gradually becomes self-approving and ruling wherein she wants to rule and command her own world (Thompson 76). I assume that her arrogant father is responsible of what Emily becomes.

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In the end, Mr. Grierson should consider his mistake in the world where he cannot fix.

Finally, Faulkner’s Emily deserves a critical understanding. It is not easy to abandon this piece of writing since it offers more than a page of the book. Indeed, I guess that this story tries to educate parents and the social world the error of parental abuse and injustice. Then, she is bizarrely unable to recognize justice in which she still dwells on the social flaws that turn her into a monster. Her obsession with the dead makes Faulkner’s story as an intriguing narrative that offers multiple analyses. Emily’s condition to kill a person in order to quench the rules of the society is an aristocratic nature that espouses her. Whatever the reason Faulkner holds, I think his story summons sympathy and understanding for her struggles in life.

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Works Cited

Bausch, Richard. Ed. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. New York, NY: WW Norton & Company, 2015. Print.

Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” In Malcolm Cowley (Ed.), the Portable Faulkner (pp. 433-444). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981. Print.

Perry, Menakhem. “Literary Dynamics: How the Order of a Text Creates Its Meanings. In the Analysis of Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’.” Poetics Today 1.1/2 (1979): 35-361. Print.

Thompson, Lawrence. William Faulkner: An introduction and interpretation. New York, NY: Barnes and Noble, 1963. Print.