"A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

Paper Summary:

The writer offers a background as to why Emily has such a domineering and seemingly eccentric nature. During her childhood she was overprotected by her extremely possessive and domineering father which prevented her from marrying. Emily becomes isolated from the rest of the town and she develops feelings of superiority over everyone else. Then she meets Homer and falls in love but cannot cope with the fact that he will not make a commitment to her and she kills him. Emily is mentally ill, but the powerful and cruel influences of these two men explains how she was led to murder Homer.

From the Paper:

"Although Emily Grierson, the title character of William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily" appears eccentric, strong willed, disturbed and demented, the reader still cannot help but wonder if some of the events in the story itself might also have contributed to her bizarre behavior, perhaps making it more justifiable, or at least more understandable.
"Emily has been born into a wealthy family, and overprotected by her extremely possessive and domineering father. She is sheltered far more than necessary, or normal. At 30, she is still single. During the period in which the story takes place, a thirty-year-old woman would have been an 'old maid'. This is no fault of Emily's, since young men do take interest in her in her youth. But all are forced away by her father. The core relationship between Emily and her father is symbolically described by Faulkner: "Miss Emily [is] a slender figure in white in the background, her father a straddled silhouette with foreground, his back to
her clutching a horsewhip..."(p. 33)"

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