Symbolism In A Rose For Emily Essay 2

Symbolism In A Rose For Emily Essay, Research Paper

William Faulkner & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; A Rose for Emily & # 8221 ; draws a graphic image of the South of the United States the bend of the century. It begins with the storyteller adverting the funeral of the eponymic Miss Emily. Faulkner & # 8217 ; s manner in uncovering the effects of Emily Grierson & # 8217 ; s life and the lurid disclosures of her decease is really interesting. The narrative construction of the piece is interesting in that it does non follow a typical chronological order. The inside informations of the narrative are revealed easy by Faulkner as he allows the sense of intuition to turn before uncovering the slaying of the Homer Barron by Emily. The storyteller begins his chronology with the funereal of Emily. The storyteller is non named and whilst looking omniscient in his cognition of events is clearly identified as a member of the community which surrounds Emily. The usage of the pronoun & # 8220 ; we & # 8221 ; when mentioning to the townspeople, as in: & # 8220 ; We did non state she is brainsick so & # 8221 ; The storyteller moves from the funeral back in clip to the juncture when the City Authorities effort to revoke her revenue enhancement exempt position. The narrative so flows backwards and forwards through clip uncovering important inside informations of Emily & # 8217 ; s life and fixing the reader for the daze of Homer & # 8217 ; s slaying. The narration is besides split into five subdivision, this allows for displacements in clip and reveals images of Emily at assorted phases of her life. The fact that Emily is revenue enhancement exempt is an illustration of the authorization she possesses over the townspeople even though she is distant from them. Faulkner uses linguistic communication that creates the position of Emily of an establishment. Equally early as the narratives 2nd line, Emily is described as a & # 8220 ; fallen memorial & # 8221 ; . She is besides described in paragraph three as & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; a tradition, a responsibility, and a attention ; a kind of familial duty in the town & # 8221 ; She seems to be the merchandise of an earlier epoch and surrounds herself with reminders of the yesteryear. After the decease of her male parent, his portrayal is given prominence in her house, and even remainders above her casket. The image of Emily seeking to keep back the invasion of new coevalss is shown in the description of her house which is built in the manner of the 1870 & # 8217 ; s despite being surrounded by new edifices. Faulkner writes: & # 8220 ; Merely Miss Emily & # 8217 ; s house was left, raising its obstinate flirtatious decay above the cotton waggons and the gasolene pumps & # 8221 ; ( ARE pg. 427 HIF ) When Faulkner describes Emily as an old adult female, he mentions a gold ticker she wears around her cervix. The ticker descends so low on the concatenation it is obscured by her belt. Although the ticker is unobserved its changeless ticking is hearable: & # 8220 ; & # 8230 ; they could hear the unseeable ticker ticking at the terminal of the gold concatenation & # 8221 ; ( ARE pg. 427 HIF ) This serves as a symbol of Emily & # 8217 ; s reluctance to detect the passing of clip as coevalss base on balls by, and the universe alterations. Emily seems to cleaving to a by gone epoch when her household were given prominence. The authorization to which I have referred, which Emily exerts over the townspeople seems to be the residue of the clip when her household had echt power. This authorization is ne’er more apparent than on the juncture when Emily buys arsenic from the pharmacist. It takes really few words for her to carry him to sell her arsenous anhydride. He is prepared to disregard Torahs to fulfill Emily. This serves as a precursor to the find of her suer Homer Barron & # 8217 ; s organic structure in her bed some 40 old ages after his disappearing. The slaying of Barron and his place in a matrimonial bed is the ultimate effort by Emily to hold the onslaug

ht of time, and the dangers it brings. Another event which foreshadows the demise of Homer is the death of Emily’s father. Emily’s reluctance to give up the body of her father mirrors the death of Homer. Her refusal to accept the reality of his death is another example of Emily’s fear of the passage of time. Throughout the piece Faulkner offers the reader images of Decay as generations succeed each other. Both Emily and her house are shown as decayed as if the great lie that has lain undiscovered in her bed has infected the house. Even the duplicitous Gardener’s voice is described as having:- “… grown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse.” It is like an old disused mechanism which is decayed with age. These images of decay reach their pinnacle with the gruesome corpse of Homer dressed for bed.Faulkner’s narrative uses the story of Emily Grierson to examine the working of the local community. The townsfolk seem to obey a sort of hierarchy within which Emily is highly placed. Both the city authorities and the minister are shown to be subservient to her at different times in the story. Emily is identified as an object of furious gossip, her courtship of Homer being of considerable interest to the townspeople. It is as if her story were a legend passed on through generations. This corresponds with the chronological shift as the reader is guided to different parts in Emily’s life. The details of the legend are collected in a series of incidents which build a picture of the events surrounding Homer’s death. In many ways the townsfolk are duplicitous in the death, they even surround her house with lime to counteract the smell, which hindsight tells us was the smell of Homer’s rotting corpse. It is interesting to note that lime is often poured into graves before a body is buried. In many respects Emily’s story characterises the whole of southern society at the time. Frequently Faulkner makes reference to the Civil war and the profound effect it had on southern society is alluded to at points in the text. I feel it is significant that Homer Barron is described as a “Yankee” from the north which defeated the south. It is another example of Emily’s belief that she is better than the society which she inhabits. In many ways the story reveals a form of corruption under the exterior of southern life. He reveals a world of hushed voices and shadows in which Emily’s actions have always been scrutinised. The most striking section of the piece is section five, in which Emily’s terrible secret is revealed. The description of the scene in Homer’s ‘tomb’ serves not only to shock, but also to reveal more of Emily’s character. In this section Faulkner talks of the way in which the old seem to regard the past: “…for whom the past is not a diminishing road but … a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches divided from them now by the narrow bottle neck of the most recent decade of years.” The scene of decay in Homer’s “tomb” is a symbol of the folly of Emily’s refusal to move on. The opening of the room reveals a stagnant world of decay which in many respects mirrors the decaying way of life at this time. I found “A Rose for Emily” to be a rewarding piece. I found the manner in which it is written and its confused chronology add to its menace and give it the characteristics of a well told myth. The way in which Faulkner represents the way in which time destroys is particularly effective. He seems to use the events of the story to place the whole of southern society under the microscope.