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Example research essay topic: Rose For Emily 1 St Edition - 2,013 words

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A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily might be interpreted in so many ways. Author stresses that A Rose for Emily is a ghost fairy-tale. On the other hand, the plot of the story has lack of any abstracts dedicated to a straight demonstration of ghost, therefore it is difficult to support Faulkner's point of view. In spite of it, the stories there are elements such as sense of times, few episodes, and some other evidences for Faulkner's tale.

The Griersons home represents a shift from old to new by having both past and present qualities. It physically contrasts with the newer community, showing how the old belief of passive women that the house stands for is being pushed out by the new ideals of stronger, more independent women. The house is old-fashioned and even decaying, having a style of the [eighteen-] seventies (Meyer, 75) that encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood (Meyer, 75). Standing out negatively in the community, the house mirrors the old belief of weak women; the community is disgusted by the home like it is disgusted by the thought of passive females.

Later on in the story, there is a smell from the house, which the town quickly destroys by spring[ing] lime [in the cellar], and in all the outbuildings (Meyer, 77). The town quickly and secretively does away with the smell of the home like it does with the old viewpoint of women. Mr. Grierson's social status fancy limited Emily's interaction with other men, thus resulting in her sexual repression and ultimately to her pathological case. She has been restrained for so long that when her father dies, Emily desires a lover to replace her father.

This displacement allows her to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will. After Mr. Grierson's demise, she went out very little in an attempt to isolate herself from her painful feelings. Therefore, all the ladies of Jefferson, displaying their usual custom, came to visit Miss Emily to offer condolence and aid. Miss Emily met them at the door, with no trace of grief on her face and denies that her father is dead. I see this denial of her fathers death, as not a deliberate repudiation of the idea or consciously dismissal from the mind, but rather her simply failing to perceive that he is dead.

I believe that this denial shades almost imperceptibly into a conscious or half-conscious process in which she screens out unpleasant thoughts and disagrees with reality. Although she was unwilling to give her father over, she broke down as the authorities began to resort to law. With her father as the only symbol of Emily's sexual relation, she had to adopt an alternate form for her affection. Though the Griersons home encompasses characteristics of the past, it also hints at the future, showing that it is in the middle of a transformation from past to present. No matter how weak the house seems, it is also stubborn (Meyer, 75), with a big, squarish frame (Meyer, 75) that demands to be recognized and respected. When Emily dies, the town enters the home, which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have to be forced (Meyer, 80).

The house is strong, and it takes the entire community to force it open. The town and the ideals it stands for force their way into the home, physically taking over the place; the new view, of powerful, self-sufficient women, takes over the last hint of the towns past. The house still looks old and ancient, yet it comes to represent a new idea and so it has made the shift, along with the community, to welcoming powerful women as a new part of their world. Emily is a woman that belongs in the past yet inevitably changes with the times, getting caught in the contradictory beliefs of past and present. Emily embodies a woman that the town does not want: old- fashioned and reliant on men. When the townspeople try to collect taxes from Emily, she turns them over to Colonel Sartorius, though he is dead; she cannot defend herself without a man for backup.

Because her father controlled her whole life, she cannot hand over the body for three days after his death. When she finally does, Emily had nothing left (Meyer, 77) and would have to cling to that which had robbed her (Meyer, 77). Totally under the rule of her father, she is weak and submissive, even becoming physically sick because the only person in her life has left her. A long time after her period of sickness, isolation, and the death of her father, Emily meets a fellow by the name of Homer Barron. He is a Yankee-a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face. The town had just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks, (Faulkner, 39) and Homer was coming for the job.

The essential Niggers and mules and machinery accompanied Homer, and his construction company, into town. Not long after his arrival, the town began to see him and Miss Emily together on Sunday afternoons. No one thought that Miss Emily could think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer, and forget noblesse oblige. (Faulkner, 41) This relationship denies the Grierson's social structure. It distorts the reflection of Mr.

Grierson's aristocratic ideal, his cultural ideology that shaped his perception of the world. Emily crosses that fine line that defines people and ranks them by degree. This corrupts the social taxonomy of the family name, which normally exists only if the various degrees of people are kept separate. Emily, in the realm of her imperfections, is doing the unthinkable. Her insanity begins to reveal itself from behind the walls of the decaying house and her fathers sexual restraint.

Emily's relationship with Homer came as a surprise to the local townspeople in more than one way. They were astonished because they had never seen Emily with men, besides her father, because of his strict rules. They also questioned why she was in a relationship with someone of this low social standing. The evidence of hers and Homers relationship pleased some of the locals, because it made Emily equal to them. Previously, Emily was perceived as an idol or a monument to be viewed with respectful affection. Even the aldermen, when they visited her to confront her about her taxes, stood as she entered the room as if she were a general.

This social status, that her father tried so hard to retain, was destroyed by Emily's relationship with Homer. Emily tries to mix oil with water by combining the people who are not good enough with the people who are supposed to represent the august names of the neighborhood. (Durr, 58) Emily and Homers relationship was not only an odd mixture because of her superior stature, but also because it was known that he was not a marrying man. Homer had remarked, as he drank with the younger men that he liked men. (Faulkner, 46) Emily's liaison with Homer suggests an eruption of sexual impulses that lead to an apparently willing fall, a tacit embrace of human equality both in her choice of a partner and in her admission of her sexuality. Her motivation for her infatuation with this man is subject to her suppressed interaction with the opposite sex and by her willingness to substitute someone for her dead father. Emily thinks that Homer will stay with her despite his bisexual tendencies. This suggests that she has reached the point in her insanity where she is unable to differentiate between reality and illusion.

As the construction ends, Homer no longer has a reason for staying in Jefferson. He must travel to find work. He leaves for some time, but returns to see Emily. Frightened that she might loose her one chance at love, she murders him.

In her illusion, there is no meaningful difference between a living lover and a dead one. Her actions are subject to her internal conflicting impulses. Emily's desire for the forbidden lover who will substitute for the father clashes with her introjection of her fathers prohibitions. Homers murder gratifies both demands. It not only satisfies the paternal superego that Emily has internalized; it also makes Homer more closely resemble the dead father who is Emily's actual desire.

After she killed him, she became even more isolated, than when her father had died. The townspeople did not see her for sometime. When they next saw her she had grown fat, and her hair was turning gray. During the next few years it grew grayer and grayer until it attained an even pepper-and-salt iron-gray. (Faulkner, 79) When Emily died at seventy-four, the entire town attended the funeral, in order to pay their respects, and primarily out of pure curiosity. Since she had been so isolated, very few people had seen the inside of her house. Their curiosity increased as they inched, snooping throughout the house.

It was already known that there was a room upstairs which no one had seen in forty years, so they violently broke the door down in order to find out what was in it. As the prevailing dust settled, there lay Homer Barrons corpse on the bed. As they stood there baffled by the scene, they noticed an indentation of a head on the pillow beside him. Examining the pillow closer one of them noticed a long stand of iron-gray hair. (Durr, 92) By examining this strand of hair, one can delve into Miss Emily's insane psyche. The term strand requires a deliberate cutting of the hair; therefore, the hair had not fallen out. The act of cutting off of ones hair (or locks of it) was, among the Greeks, a ritual gesture of grief and farewell of remembrance at the corpse or grave of a beloved person.

Since Emily's lover is named Homer, something Greek about the action involving him would be suggested. Subjected to the imprint of her fathers strict social fixation, Emily was forced to live an isolated life. This isolation caused Emily to build up sexual frustrations, which when he died, were unleashed. Denial sets in at this point, as Emily begins to show signs of insanity. She first denies that her father is dead, then she goes against everything her father had worked for, and becomes involved with someone who is definitely not good enough for their social standing. Her insanity continues as she murders this man, in order to keep him around.

In her psychotic mindset, she does not differentiate between life and death. Emily's tragic story is due entirely to her fathers screwed-up perceptions of how the world should be. Sorry I cant find the Bibliography, but its not that hard to make one up. Please, do not use at the University of South Carolina. Emily herself is caught in the middle of this shift in power for women, undertaking an adjustment, from completely under the whim of her father and Homer Barron, to being able to take on the community who, together, has tried to demand her to change. Faulkner's use of the Griersons home and Emily together symbolizes a critical issue dealt with during the time of the story and during the time in which the story was written.

A Rose for Emily comments on how one society dealt with these dramatic changes, and how ultimately America deals with these changes; both, in the end, push out the past and move on to the future, with a more equal society for women. However, there are still reminisces of discrimination against women, like the Giersons house was still standing, a reminder of the past and all the beliefs it stood for. Bibliography: Faulkner, William Casebook: A Rose for Emily Hence; 1 st edition, 2000 Durr, Ben; Corwin, Anne (Contributor) Miss Emily, The Yellow Rose of Texas Sunstone Press; 1 st edition, 2001 Meyer, Michael, The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 6 th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St.

Martins, 2002. pp. 75 - 81


Free research essays on topics related to: past and present, 1 st edition, homer barron, miss emily, rose for emily

Research essay sample on Rose For Emily 1 St Edition

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