The Divine Miss Em

Paper Summary:

A superficial read of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" allows the story's first-person point of view - the voice of the townspeople of Jefferson - to overshadow the power of its heroine, Emily Grierson. The paper argues that rather than accept the narrow, exclusive evaluations such a viewpoint offers about the character of Emily, from physical descriptions of her to assumptions about her love life, readers should explore not only what the townspeople's narrative says, but also what it does not say. The paper shows that by avoiding Faulkner's intentional narrative limitations, we discover the depth of Emily's liberation; quite simply, she lives in accordance with her desires, thereby refusing to answer to others. Amid the gossip, judgments, and overt intrusions of small minds in a small southern town, Emily lives by her own rules, disregarding others as she pursues what she wants in life. The paper shows that, ultimately, Emily's alienation from society is self-imposed; therefore her isolation proves to be a triumph of womanhood and spirit.

From the Paper:

"Emily's lifestyle and social status in Jefferson further exemplify the free-spirited, unrestrained way she addresses the world. She is brusque with visitors who call on her with at least partially good intentions. (More important than offering Emily comfort or companionship are the townspeople's desires for glimpses of the mysterious house that nobody ever enters except for the servant Tobe.) For instance, Emily refuses to receive ladies who offer their condolences after her father's death and Homer's disappearance. She just as coolly dismisses the Board of Aldermen about her taxes, and she alone rebuffs the town ' s offer to put a mailbox and house numbers above her door when they receive free postal delivery. Without the benefit of an objective narrator, without knowledge of the internal processes of Emily's mind, we still feel the reach of her self -sufficiency."

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