"A Rose for Miss Emily"

Paper Summary:

This paper details the plot as well as the unique personality traits of the title character, Miss Emily, in Faulkner's novel. The writer asserts that in this particular novel, the author wrote about what he knew, due to certain occurrences in his own life. The writer contends and explains that Faulkner's familiarity with small town life, as well as to events of the Civil War, lend to the exacting details, as depicted in this novel. This paper examines the manner in which Faulkner illustrates the passage of time, both on Miss Emily and her Victorian home, which also becomes a character in the novel. The writer analyzes the relationship between Miss Emily and her Yankee gentleman caller. This paper also focuses on Miss Emily's odd personality and behavior as well as her distinct outlook on life.

From the Paper:

"The whole town seems to know that Miss Emily is living out a fiction. She believes that for some reason she does not have to pay the property tax everyone else in town must pay. She says that at one time her father, "the Colonel," had a special arrangement. Nothing the town officials do can shake her from that notion, and in the end she gets away with not paying her property taxes. This sets us up to understand that Miss Emily is a "special case." She is a link to a more noble time in the town, almost like a living fossil. The town will tolerate and even approve of a lot of eccentricities from Miss Emily because she represents what they think was a better time for the town. Miss Emily has a "manservant," something that also reminds people of an earlier, and in the opinion of some, a better, time."

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