A Rose For Emily
...of circumstance and the
times. Some people choose not to let circumstance rule them
and, as they say, "time waits for no man". Faulkner's Emily
did not have the individual confidence, or maybe self-esteem
and self-worth, to believe that she could stand alone and
succeed at life especially in the face of changing times. She
had always been ruled by, and depended on, men to
protect, defend and act for her. From her Father, through
the manservant Tobe, to Homer Barron, all her life was
dependent on men. The few flashes of individuality showed
her ability to rise to the occasion, to overcome her
dependency, when the action was the only solution available.
Like buying the poison or getting money by offering
china-painting classes. Life is sad and tragic; some of which
is made for us and some of which we make ourselves. Emily
had a hard life. Everything that she loved left her. Her father
probably impressed upon her that every man she met was
no good for her. The townspeople even state "when her
father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to
her; and in a way, people were glad
being left alone
She
had become humanized" (219). This sounds as if her father's
death was sort of liberation for Emily. In a way it was, she
could begin to date and court men of her choice and liking.
Her father couldn't chase them off any more. But then again,
did she have the know-how to do this, after all those years
of her father's past actions? It also sounds as if the
townspeople thought Emily was above the law because of
her high-class stature. Now since the passing of her father
she may be like them, a middle class working person.
Unfortunately, for Emily she became...
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