A Rose for Emily Literary Analysis

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A Rose for Emily Literary Analysis

Faulkner’s most famous and popular short story, ‘A Rose for Emily” is a story which evokes strong emotion through the use of a good blend of plot, character, setting and other literary techniques to enhance the effectiveness of the story as a whole. The main character Miss Emily Grierson’s deranged behavior elicits many questions on the mind of the reader regarding her mental faculties. On a whole perspective, the story centers on Emily who is deeply admired by the community which is defined as a tradition or a fallen monument. On the contrary, Emily is a person who has a very dark heart given the way she handles her lover. The act of poisoning and killing her lover shows that she has a dark heart inside. The story is an exposé on the life of Emily who is a character that is aristocratic on one part in addition to harboring secret unspeakable secrets. Different literary devices are used to enhance the effectiveness of the message by making it be delivered in an easily understandable form.

Setting

The theatre upon which the story is based is in and old house and in an equally old town. The setting is comparably rich in Faulkner. He creates his town to be the auditorium of his story. Mississippi Yoknapatawpha is the setting upon which all the action takes place where it encompasses the last living days of Grierson. Major of the action that unfolds in the story is based on the situations that arose when their way of life changed drastically making them more confused on how to change their life to incorporate a new cultural perspective. On the essence of the time setting of the story, the story runs from the time Miss Emily Grierson was born to a time when she died of old age. As such, the story covers over sixty years of the life of the main character. Major events unfold during those years as depicted in the story. For instance, some of the major events that dot the time frame include the short illness and eventual death of her father and the time she met her lover during the summer to be specific. It was at this time that slavery had just ended and the middle class was gaining relevance by the day. Emily and her family were rich and with lots of slaves. As a result, the story quite compares the traditional versus the nontraditional and the conflict of the old versus the new. After the death of Emily’s father, their life is bleak since everything that they once held close to their heart was changed in a moment. Her father meant a lot to her as evidenced by the emptiness of life that she had to grapple with after he left. She is left to figure life on her own. This contributed greatly to her madness and a poor sense of judgment. For instance, due to the controlling nature of her father, she found it hard to live with Homer. She felt that she needed someone to lead her again that eventually causing her to kill him. Additionally, the author effectively depicts how Emily thrives in a world of timeless vacuum and of her creation. Literary speaking, the story is a rich blend of setting as it richly unfolds in the life of Emily.

Symbolism

William used symbols in a way that creates meaning and emotion in the story. There are different ways that the author has used to symbolically represent different aspects of the story. One of the ways through which the author achieves this is through the use of metaphors and allegory. Emily’s house just like the owner is a perfect representation of a world which is dying around her. The house was built during and after the era of reconstruction that was in the 1870s. Southern aristocracy was slowly diminishing. The house is an extension of the life of Emily. For instance, it owes its, “stubborn and coquettish decay” to the residents of the town. It depicts the tradition of both fortitude and preserving the culture that was seemingly getting out of the town’s people. Emily’s ‘house is an emblem of alienation, mental incapacity, and eventual death. For instance, the author notes that it is a shrine which still thrives it its past .

The past is a slave of the present time. The house depicts the past life which Emily was not ready to leave behind. Just as the house is ugly on the outside, the inside is not very different. The inside is purely nightmarish. Literary is was a tomb. Through this, the story gains relevance in an ever-changing cultural landscape. Many residents of the town were fascinated by the house just like the owner. It was a fascination to many. It is evidenced to a time when they sprinkled lime on the foundation of the property which would, in turn, counteract the stench of the foul that emanated from the bedroom of Emily which harbored a dead man. It is a struggle to leave the past as evidenced by the author. The past is, therefore, a symbol of oneness and togetherness. Each of the town people has their interpretation of the happenings in the bedroom of one of their neighbors. Ultimately, the death of Emily represents a time when the residents of the town had the freedom to pore into the secret life of Emily and understand her wildest notions and logics upon which her thoughts were centered on. Effectively, it was upon them to break the realm of the past and embrace the future.

In addition to that, the strand of hair is a symbol of love and the tricky things that people engage in in the pursuit of their happiness. Consequently, a strand of hair is effectively used by the author to remind of lost love. Moreover, it reveals the inner life of a woman who is committed to living life as defined by her way of thinking without the influence of the society and neighbors in general. She did not live with the approval of others. Symbolically, the strand of hair is an emblem of a person who undergoes a struggle of subscribing to the status quo. Emily lives in her world where she is not easily influenced by the definition of others, and it’s very shocking considering her definition of life. The narrator effectively uses foreshadow to symbolize a life of transformation as she passes through life. As a symbol of aging and change, the story shows how life has changed over time. Her hair grows changes slowly until it becomes a “vigorous iron-gray”. It is a representation of the fragility of life. Her hair becomes more grizzled as she ages.

Motifs

A motif is an idea or image that is recurring thus helping to develop the theme in a piece of work. Eventually, as seen in the story, this is achieved in through different ways. One of the major ways this is achieved is through the recurrence of ideas and images. The dust has been consistently used by the author to show the decay and decline that prominently takes place in the story. The dust as it is depicted by the author is in a perfect accompaniment of the life of the residents as it fades into uncertainty. For instance, when the elected city council members come to secure Emily’s annual tax payments, her house has a unique smell which resembles that of dust and disuse. It is an air of unconditional change and periodic laxity. Dust collects as the aldermen frequently move around the room. As it rises, it obscures the men from understanding the kind of life as envisioned by Emily. The dust serves to protect the main character of Emily from the men. As a result, the men cannot understand the relationship that Emily has of obscurity in the face of uncertainty. The true nature of Emily does not come out clearly since the presence of dust is oppressive. Despite being everywhere, it is more ominous here given the magnitude of the current situation.

Another motif that is prevalent in the story is the act of watching. The author of the story has used this motif to amplify the importance of the changing nature of events in the life of Emily. Emily is under intense scrutiny from the narrator and the general public. Consequently, the life of Emily undergoes a multifaceted and intense speculation from the neighbors. The towns’ people are often interpreting the life on one of them despite having little knowledge of her. Attending her funeral in full glamor of respect and honor show that the intention of the people is to satisfy their inner curiosity of the woman underscores the main point of loyalty to their own. However, despite all the scrutiny, they never get close to knowing the true nature of Emily’s life in any perspective. As a result, Emily becomes a figure that is observed only from the eyes of onlookers with a vague picture of reality. The author has succeeded in making the true nature of Emily a mystery to the people of the town. As a result, the story creates a feeling of emptiness and that of satisfaction on the mind of the reader. She is an idol of admiration and anonymity. Despite giving clues, she is a secret. They don’t grasp the true identity of Emily. It is only after she is dead that her true identity is revealed (Vanhelleputte, 16).

Irony

Irony’ Irony is prevalent throughout the text.one of the prominent instances of irony in the story is that of Emily claiming to loving Homer. Instead of death separating them, it forms their union. This is ironic. She murdered the man she loved to create a bond that lasted through eternity. Situational irony is where something happens in a story that is quite the opposite of what the reader expects. In the story, the reader does not think that the dead body of Homer is packed in the house. Following the death of Emily’s father and the hardships that follow, she is still well revered in the community. She is considered an upper-class citizen. Once Homer moves into the town, he begins dating Emily. He represents the north during the civil war era. It is ironical that Emily accepts a man with a very different cultural background into her life. Love is a beautiful thing that surpasses thoughts and traditions. Emily knows this too well and would like to experiment on it. She is not expected to court a man of that social background. The type of irony, in this case, is referred to as situational irony. It is very ironical given the turn of events. Faulkner effectively utilizes this device to bring about an air of uncertainty in the story. Effectively, this strengthens the relevance of the message. When something completely frustrates the expectations of the reader, it is a shift in the plot of the story. Shifting the story consequently brings about an insistence on a major theme. As a carpetbagger, he was not expected to court one of the most revered women in the town. The irony of the situation is that the Southerners were only expected to marry the southern men (Muecke). He broke out of this cocoon and ended up with a woman with deeper desires than he would provide eventually.

The narrator effectively exemplifies the use of the pronoun “we.” This effectively creates a different picture in the mind of the reader by incorporating all the thoughts of the people of the town. She is thus given the idea of a heroine. A collection of images is thereby created, thus creating a communal thought on a perspective. Effectively, the narration successfully creates a notion of communal consciousness and peculiar sapience. Being the only point of focus causes her to be the main character amidst the multitude of people with different vested interests. The narrator contributes to the development of the plot by impacting on the overall objectivity of the story. This is because, despite the first narrator speaking as a single narrator, he speaks on behalf of the people of the big town. Unity and togetherness are witnessed here. Consequently, the story takes an impersonal approach. Making it impersonal creates an air of imbalance since the reader is left to read the story in a multifaceted approach.

Effectively, the plot moves forward thus instilling more interest in the mind of the reader. The reader is thus left to make assumptions and thoughts. The author was objective in using the first person narrator and thoughts in the story. A major unexpected twist of events takes place at the end of the story. The author knew perfectly well that the end of the story would make all the difference. A difference not seen by the reader even without making guesses. The nature of Emily’s life is full of mystery and darkness. She us the only one who knows her deep longings which she cannot share with anyone. There are many ways of fighting hopelessness and she knew none of it. This effectively exemplifies the nature of Emily’s life. This creates an impact that is powerful encompassing the whole story.

The story is not driven by events. Instead, they whole point of the plot of the story is to reveal the character of Miss Emily and the circumstances of her life. For instance, she runs of from the people who are sent by the authorities to ask her to pay her tax. When the men come sprinkling to counter the horrible smell, she is seen watching them from a distance. The story is a reactionary story driven by circumstances quite contrasting the common nature of stories that are action driven. It is not sequential. Most of the actions that she makes sparks interest in the interest of the town’s people. On the other hand, the people of the town are left to explain the kind of life one of them is living. Her actions are simply for sparking interest in the minds of the people of the town. The story has been effective in detailing the life of a selfish and lonely woman. The use of motifs, imagery, irony blended in a perfect setting effectively conveys the major themes in the story of change and death. Death looms throughout the story. This is brought to life by using literary devices which effectively pass out the message in the story.

Works Cited

Muecke, Douglas Colin. Irony and the Ironic. Vol. 12. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Vanhelleputte, Michael. “The Concept of Motif in Literature: A Terminological Study.” The Return of Thematic Criticism(1993): 92-105.