A Rose For Miss Emily Analysis - 973 Words

William Faulkner’s most anthologized short story, â€Å"A Rose for Miss Emily† has been examined from nearly every point of view imaginable from the patriarchal, Old South notion of a lady to insinuations of incest. By focusing on the underlying military motif of the story, Miss Emily emerges with a different image that may shed new light on Faulkner’s classic tale. Miss Emily, revered by the men of the town as â€Å"a fallen monument† (Faulkner, paragraph 1), is buried among the soldiers who died during the Civil War battle of Jefferson. By identifying Miss Emily with the military occupants of the cemetery, rather than the other townsfolk buried there, it suggests that this is the peer group to which Miss Emily belongs. This description of her†¦show more content†¦She â€Å"vanquished them, horse and foot as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell† (Faulkner, paragraph 15). â€Å"Vanquish† is a strong term specifically denoting to overcome in battle. The addition of the phrase â€Å"horse and foot† is a reference to the cavalry and the infantry. Miss Emily has won a complete military victory over the town, then, and the narrator makes clear this has happened before. In addition to Miss Emily’s victories in the battle over the taxes and the battle over the smell, Miss Emily won the battle against putting up house numbers and a mailbox, the battle with the Baptist minister, and the battle against the druggist. Rather than obey the law and disclose the purpose of the poison, Miss Emily is compared to a flag that stands erect and straining in the wind, another image easily drawn from a battle field in which the victor’s flag waves proudly over the place of battle (O’Brien, 104). Faulkner gives us only one battle that Miss Emily loses to the town – the burial of her father. Although she fought valiantly for three days, the town’s forces prevailed, and her father was buried. However, it was done quickly, whether because of the decay of the body or the town’s fear of Miss Emily’s wrath it is not disclosed. What we do know, though, is that Miss Emily is painted with adjectives that could easily describe a war general: impervious, vigorous, iron-gray. She is described as an idol in a niche watching over the town.Show MoreRelatedA Tale of Terror 1087 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† a short story about the odd Emily Grierson, a once well-respected woman in a small southern town, takes readers into a whirlwind of a story leading up to a horrifying discovery about Miss Emily’s secretive demeanor. Through his characterization of Miss Emily, his descriptions of the setting, and his use of foreshadowing, Faulkner effectively develops â€Å"A Rose for Emily† into a horrific tale. 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The resistance to change and loneliness are prominent themes within â€Å"A Rose for Emily†. Faulkner uses â€Å"A Rose for Emily† to caution his readers that things are not always what they appear to be. The tone of â€Å"A Rose for Miss Emily†Read MoreWilliam Faulkners A Rose for Emily Essay1382 Words   |  6 PagesEmily’s Downward Spiral: An Analysis of â€Å"A Rose for Emily† In William Faulkner’s short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† the main character of the story is Miss Emily Grierson. To analyze and examine her character, it is almost impossible not to look at the psychological aspect of it. Through the narrative of Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† Miss Emily’s behavior and character is revealed as outright strange from any average standard of characters. A few days after they lay Miss Emily’s body to rest, theRead MoreThe Life of Miss Emily Grierson in Faulkners A Rose for Emily764 Words   |  4 PagesIn William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† is a short unpleasant story. 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After his death Miss Emily still conserved her title of a lady even if all the town folks knew that she didn’t have money left. Miss Emily took advantage ofRead MoreEssay on William Faulkners A Rose for Emily1539 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Faulkners A Rose for Emily As any reader can see, A Rose for Emily is one of the most authentic short stories by Faulkner. His use of characterization, narration, foreshadowing, and symbolism are four key factors to why Faulkners work is idealistic to all readers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The works of William Faulkner have had positive effects on readers throughout his career. Local legends and gossip trigger the main focus of his stories. Considering that Faulkner grew up in Mississippi, he wasRead MoreA Rose for Emily Analysis842 Words   |  4 PagesCritical Analysis A Rose for Emily Throughout life people face many hardships, including life and death, letting go is such a hard thing for these people to do. In the story, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner writes about love and the effect it can have on a person . Faulkner writes about how Miss Emily loses her father and he is the only person she has in her life. Later in the story, Homer Barron came to their town to fix the streets. People begin seeing Miss Emily and Homer together and believeRead MoreAnalysis Of Katherine Mansfield s Miss Brill 1633 Words   |  7 Pagesindividuals to discover particular similarities and contrasts between them, Katherine Mansfield s short story Miss Brill makes for a fascinating correlation to William Faulkner s short story A Rose For Emily. Although both stories appear to be not so alike, the connections they impart are of substantially more value. The distinctions in social contribution between Miss Brill and Emily Grierson can t exceed the similarities in their absence of social and emotional lives and their shocking conditionsRead MoreA Rose For Emily By William Faulkner1326 Words   |  6 PagesA Rose For Emily Fiction Analysis English Literature Essay In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner tells the story of an old and lonely lady stuck in her own timeframe. Her controlling father died some thirty years ago and she has never quite found her own ground. Her house has become the most hideous looking home on the once most select street in the city. Previously elegant and white with scrolled balconies, it was now encroached with dust and decay. The people in Miss Emily s city gossip about