Symbols In A Rose For Emily

Miss Emily was the last survivor of a once very prominent family in her small town. She was raised by her widowed father, whom was said to be crazy himself. In fact, the story says the whole family was crazy. Her father was said to be both a generous man who donated money to the city and a strict man who ran

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily Grierson is immediately introduced as an all-important character, pivotal to the history of the small town where she lived. The short story begins at Miss Emily’s funeral where she is described by the narrator as a “fallen monument.” A monument to what exactly? Well, perhaps to the fallen ideals of the pre-Antebellum era or even to the demise of the Old South. Faulkner continuously uses Miss Emily to represent the old southern values that dominated the South in order to bring to light the cultural shift that occurred after the Civil War.

As the traditional idol she is, Emily is the subject of the intense gaze and judgment of the entire town and the narrator representing it. Instead of connecting with Emily, the townspeople create distorted interpretations of a woman they know little about. They attend her funeral more to satisfy their own curiosity about the town 's eccentric than to pay their respects. The women came “mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant – a combined gardener and cook – had seen in at least ten years.” (“A Rose for Emily”)

She also has a sense of worthlessness and

Tudor Style poetry had a common theme was wonder and was used as an instrument for change. The literary works during this period were given categories known as major literary modes or “kinds”, which shaped aspects of the different literary works, such as subject matter, tone, values and structures. The major modes are pastoral, heroic, satiric, elegiac, tragic, and

William Faulkner is a well known author in the early twentieth century; his literary work “A Rose for Emily” is especially well known. Emily Grierson, the protagonist in “A Rose for Emily” is a woman in the short story that lives in Mississippi in the late nineteenth century. Emily, was raised in an “old” money household by her father, has a superior outlook on life due to her father filling her head with how significant their family is supposed to be considered. Throughout the story, Emily goes through subtle transitions in her life that slightly modifies the way that she is viewed by the readers.

With the new ways of living came many hardships. The beginning of the short story gives a description of the house and Miss Emily; both were in a rough state. The house is described as once being a “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavenly lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had been our most select street” (Faulkner 516). In the years following the Civil War the once glamorous southern home had begun to decay and turned into “an eyesore among eyesores”, much like the rest of the southern states (Faulkner 516). As the home was developing an unpolished exterior, so was Miss Emily, who was being described as once being seen as “sort of tragic and serene” to someone who is obese and pale (Faulkner 519).

This can be seen when she fees free in a confined room, or how her weak heart sets her free from her husband through death. The author also sets up a subtle melancholy tone to the story that leaves the reader thinking and analyzing the sad events that occurred in the hour. She also use her tone to point out the cruelty idea of marriage at the time and how Mrs. Mallard thought it was a crime which left her powerless because she was a woman. Throughout this short story symbolism is quite clear. For example, when Mrs. Mallard is characterized with heart trouble.

Alzheimer 's slowly takes the family member someone once knew very dearly and turned them into someone you only know because of memories. They become someone who fails to recognize their family members, they are not able to care for themselves, they are in their own world, alone, afraid, and confused. I was able to enter my grandma’s world when she lived at home. I was one of the only people who understood her in times of confusion, I helped her feel as if she were the amazing woman she had always been. My grandmother was later admitted into a nursing home when she became a danger to herself at home.

The late 1800s contested traditional American ideals and with the ending of the Civil War came recognition of previous social injustices. Imagine growing up in a family where all of your female role models were widows. Kate Chopin was raised in a unique situation that opened her eyes to the unsatisfactory condition of women at the time, prompting her to examine and unintentionally create the Feminist movement. Although this is Chopin’s recognition point, it should be noted that while writing she only considered herself as a modern writer who never doubted the potential strength of women. The Awakening took heavy criticism at the time but later served as motivation for a new generation of women who aspired to create their own social condition

Mary Shelley was born on, August 30th 1797, to William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft (Frankenstein, front page). She was married to Percy Shelley. Two years after she married Percy, she published her very famous novel, Frankenstein. Mary Shelley, lived a life full of disappointments which impacted her ability to write deep character developments, due to her numerous miscarriages, death of child, no biological mother, and her failed marriage. Mary never got to get to know her biological mother, as she died shortly after Mary was born which left her father to care for Mary and her older sister, Fanny.

She also had 1 brother and 3 sisters. Nannie and Louisa both hated James for him being a nasty and controlling father. Nannie also never had a good education and was not able to read well because James would force the children to stay home and work on the family farm rather than go to school. When Nannie was 7 years old she was going on a trip on a train

It is clear that in her era, Miss Emily was seen as traditional American Southern women, who lived to become an inferior women to man but was later a burden to her society. She was a lady who was secluded from society, lived a psychopathic life, which at the end, and was no secret for the town’s people. While Miss Emily was alive, she lived in a secluded home of a single father, thus leading her to be dependent upon him. She did not have much of a socially engaged life, for her father drove men away. When he finally died, Miss Emily told the townspeople that he was not dead, and finally, on the third day, let the town’s people buried him (William Faulkner 1105).

1. How are Boori Ma’s looks, voice, and personality described? Boori ma’s is a old homeless women, who have a knot hair. Also known as the sweeper of the stair, she is sixty-four yearsold and has a brittle and sadness tone of voices. Her personality would be the love to tell a story, which some would say “Boori ma’s mount is full of ashes”, her character is definitely pity and shame for thing that she doesn’t in part of (thrown away out of the apartment because of theif), another thing to consider is that Boori ma’s is often complaint and gumbling.

“Sometimes a man’s mind makes him see strange sights. What he sees can make him do terrible things to those too weak to resist. But in the end, sometimes the weak get revenge. ”- Edgar Allan Poe.