Creative Writing: The Gum Tree

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is written about the change from old South to new South and Emily refuses to accept the changes by living in her own version of reality. An analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” will explain how Faulkner portrays the change in the social structure of the American South in the early twentieth century as a change from old South to new South by showing the Griersons no longer hold power, the changes in the town, and Emily’s denial to change. In the new South the Griersons no longer hold power. Emily believes that her family still holds the power that they had in the old south, so she never payed her taxes.

When Sal thought about her mom she thought about blackberries. And she always talked and wrote about Blackberries. This shows Sal loves blackberries. The last thing Sal loved about Bybanks was the singing tree.

In “Women’s Space,” the author also shows how the tinker feels by further explaining his actions: “On the way into town, Elisa sees the tinker's caravan up ahead, and her chrysanthemum sprouts on the ground beside the road. And although she tries to avoid both the sight of the plants and the unavoidable conclusion that what she values most highly about herself is of no consequence to anyone else, she is unsuccessful. At best, the tinker's careless discarding of the plants (he keeps the pot) implies indifference, at worst, disdain or rejection” (Skredsvig). Again, Skredsvig uses evidence to prove the tinker is set on Elisa/women to stay housewives. In “Everyday Use,” Walker describes how the daughter feels about her mother’s masculinity.

“‘Is it done?’ he asks, the responsible married man finding noise”… “What he meant was, our town was five miles away from the beach,” “…but we’re right in the middle of town, and the woman generally put a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street. ”(A&P by Updike, page 17) This indicates that their attire is very unfit to be wearing to be wearing in public nowhere near the beach. “…so the girls come to me.

I was shocked; it were as if it magically appeared. The bark was chipping and it looked sick. I reached up and pulled a leaf off the tree. I decided to keep it as a reminder of this amazing occurrence. We didn’t get many big trees in Oasis Springs, especially in the town.

Mrs. Larkin does not fit the mold of normal Southern Gothic female characters. Because of her husband’s death, Mrs. Larkin no longer depended on her husband or felt pressured by her community. Mrs. Larkin also went against Southern Gothic norm by not killing her garden helper. In Southern Gothic literature the female characters are usually killed not the

Nature can flourish without humans because they pollute the world with trash. In “There Will Come Soft Rains”, the robotic house reads a poem by Sara Teasdale. “Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, if mankind perished utterly;/ And Spring herself…. / would scarcely know that we were gone” (Bradbury 171).

In end of the book Mattie believed her mother was dead until Mattie found Eliza and she told Mattie that her mother had went to the farm looking for her. Mattie then wanted to go to the farm to see her mother. But she stayed back to help Eliza this is also when Mattie opened up the coffee house again. This was a big thing because when Mattie got back to town and went to the coffee house and mother was not there she believed her mother was dead.

There were no temples close by to go worship or even any specialty India stores to go buy groceries necessary to make traditional Indian food. What many Indians used to do to incorporate their religion in America, they would build a miniature shrine or temple within their homes. Also, the Indian community started to garden at their homes. They are able to grow vegetables that were not available at the typical grocery store. These were initial barriers, but through the years they have become less since there are Indian specialty in stores now and

Kingsolver comes from a small town in Kentucky called Carlisle. Carlisle is similar to Grace, a small bubble of unique culture isolated from the outside. Their hometowns are places where everyone is alike and no one leaves. Codi describes her town, “Grace hadn’t yet entered the era of parking meters,” (Kingsolver Animal Dreams 11). Both Grace and Carlisle are old time cities, without many stores or cell phone services which adds to their isolation.

Another day was so much like the one before, and the many before that. He walked the house and grounds, slowly, letting time pass as it must. Alone, present but not present, for can one truly be there if no one knows of it? Like the saying he’d heard more than once over the unmeasured time of his existence: If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? He ambled through the back yard, pausing under the tree from which he’d been hanged, cursing his tormentors, vowing to haunt them for all time.