"A Rose for Emily"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines William Faulkner's message in his short story, "A Rose for Emily", that wealth and a life of privilege can sometimes be the absolute worst things that can happen to anyone and that a life of privilege can sometimes be a prison.

From the Paper:

"Emily is no doubt a product of the environment in which she lives. However, while that environment experienced growth and change, Emily did not. This is evident when the narrator tells us that the Griersons "held themselves a little too high for what they really were" (Faulkner 454). It is interesting to note that even though this might have been the attitude of the town, the people still approached Emily with a sense of respect. This can be seen when the aldermen sprinkling lime around her house and outbuildings in her yard and "Miss Emily sat in it, the light behind her, and her upright torso motionless as that of an idol" (454). Another mention of the word idol occurs later in the story when they would catch her in the "downstairs windows--she had evidently shut up the top floor of the house--like the craven torso of an idol in a niche, looking or not looking at us, we could never tell which" (458). Here we see how the images associated with the Griersons seem to support the fact that the family was the closest thing to aristocracy the town experienced. Through default, Emily becomes a victim of this type of attitude."

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