A Rose for Emily
In William Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily," the rose symbolizes many things from love, to hate, to revenge, and her feeling of being neglected. Emily is living a sad life. When she is growing up her father isolates her, and after his death, she is still sad and miserable. Her father leaves her alone, completely alone, and "a pauper, she had become humanized." The greatest thing that a rose can symbolize is love, and Emily finds her "sweetheart" when the city contracts for the sidewalks to be paved one year after her father's death. Even though the women in the town can only say "poor Emily," at this single point in her life Emily is happy, but as soon as Emily's life seems to move forward where she can be happy and love somebody, the thorns of the rose appear, and Emily's life starts to shred. Emily, believing that Homer will marry her, finds the horrible truth that "he is not a marrying man." Homer likes men and a life of drinking at the Elk's Club, and again the town people say "poor Emily" when Homer leaves. Emily feels hatred toward Homer for humiliating her. As expected by the town, Homer returns within three days. Emily wants revenge as the thorns of the rose appear inside her. She wants Homer to be with her
The druggist also permits her to purchase arsenic without following protocol. By law Miss Emily was required to tell the druggist what she plan to do with the arsenic and she did not. The relationship with Homer Barron is also a conflict of the past and the present. Miss Emily, a Southern aristocrat, is the ideal of past values and Homer, a northern laborer, is a part of the ever-changing present. Homer is of machinery, a hearty laugh and a man's man. Miss Emily symbolizes the slow moving pace of the old south while Homer symbolizes progress of the fast moving pace of the new south. The final symbolization of the rose is neglect. Emily feels neglected by Homer, so she closes her front door forever to be with Homer and to wilt and die. The rose creates a great metaphor when comparing it to Emily's life. The title fits almost perfectly, but "The Rose in Emily" is more appropriate. This is a more becoming title because Emily's life starts out closed with her father then opens with Homer only to quickly wilt and crumble. Even though most of Emily's life is filled with the thorn of the rose, the few red moments that she has will last for eternity because a rose might die, but its love is forever there. William Faulkner aptly reflects the turmoil of the past and the present in, " A Rose for Emily". The conflict between the past and the present is symbolized in the beginning of the story by this description, " only now Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores". It is ironic that the same description " stubborn and coquettish decay" can be a description for Miss Emily as well. And just like her house, which had once been white and on a " selec
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1188
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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