for ya sam

[iron_and_silver]

Febe Ramirez
English 3450.004
Dr. Clay
9 October 2001
“A Rose for Emily” Critique
A single gray hair brings to life the death that Emily Grierson lived. In “A Rose for Emily“, Faulkner shows us a tragic tale of a woman imprisoned in youth and later in habit by the rapidly changing society that was just outside her front door.
As a young lady, Emily was the embodiment of the typical southern woman in post civil war times. She was chaste, of the utmost class, dignity and respectful to her father. In her youth, we are told she was “a slender figure in white, “ but her father is described as a “spraddled silhouette.“ (Laurie Lanzien Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald, ed. Short Story Criticism 149) however typical Emily was, her relationship with her father was untypical.
Emily’s relationship with her father was her first taste of death in more than one way. He was a hard man who was already dead himself. He refused to let Emily marry and began a life of her own. She is described as a frail girl who was longing to participate in the life that existed beyond the darkness of her father. (Laurie Lanzien Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald, ed. Short Story Criticism 149)
When her father did physically die, instead of a freedom being gained, another layer was added to her neurosis. He had given her yet another taste of death. Her denial was born with his passing and her psyche was forever changed. Her physical transformation had also begun. She went from a soft angel type figure that was anxious to live to what would be a resemblance to a rotting corpse. In the story the narrator says, “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue.”
Years would pass, life would evolve, and Emily would remain as unchanged as the house that cradled her solitude. As much as Emily wanted to remain forgotten, there were outside matters that would not allow her to do so.
In the time of Emily’s youth, a man’s word lived beyond his own death. In the case of Emily, Colonel Satoris had given her such a word. Emily believed that the Colonels word meant she would never again have to worry of taxes. However, times had changed and this was proof Emily had not. When the new leaders tried to prove this to her, she would keep referring to a decade deceased colonel. In Emily's mind, she was given a man’s word and that word would never change. She could not grasp the idea why these simple men were bothering her. Her only response was to go ask the Colonel. The progressive board of alderman was confused also. How could they go ask a dead man if he had given his word? Besides, what did it matter, that was years ago and was not true today. This is a clear example of death (Emily) and life (the board) battling for superiority.
The outside world would again challenge Emily's self made death. This challenge would come in the form of a man named Homer Barron. Homer was the anti - death. He was a vibrant man, a Yankee, and had a disregard of class. He did not participate in the town’s gossip. He simply took what he wanted and enjoyed it for however long it lasted, not thinking about the consequences. He did not care for death nor had any fear of it. It could be assumed that Emily saw a flash of hope in him. Perhaps he would be the kind of man her father never was. Barron would never leave or imprison her. He could be the one who finally gave her life.
Life is fleeting though, and so was Barron. His presence from her side vanished quickly. Barron most likely had grown tired of her and wanted new experiences. He had changed just like life. The relationship was over. He was going to leave. He was becoming another version of her father. Death had struck yet again.
Emily’s relationship with Barron could best be described as follows:
“...her pride is connected with her contempt for public opinion. This comes to the fore; of course, when she rides around about the town with the foreman whom everybody believes is beneath her. And it is her proud refusal to admit an external set of codes, or conventions or other wills which contradict her own will, which makes her capable at the end of keeping her lover from going away. Confronted with his jilting her, she tries to override not only his will and the opinion of other people, but the laws of death and decay themselves.” (sic) (Laurie Lanzien Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald, ed. Short Story Criticism 158)
Emily’s decision to poison Barron was her final step away from life. She could have just as easily let him go and moved on herself. She could have had an awakening and rearranged her entire life. This was not to be.
She may or may not have foreseen Barron’s departure. When she purchased the poison from the druggist, it could have been a backup plan just in case he did leave. More than likely however, she knew that since she valued him so much, that he would have eventually left, just like her father. She would then have been thrust into her dark lonely prison once more. At least with his death, she would not have been so alone in hers.
However cold and twisted Emily Grierson may seem, it was the built up of sadness that eventually brought her to commit such an act. She was not inherently evil. She was simply a woman who had never known vibrant life. Her act was an attempt to have company in the only feeling she was ever comfortable in, death. In the end, some would say she died alone and dark. The truth would have to be that she left her town a giant discovery and took for herself a quiet peace.