William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. In the article “William Faulkner” it states he was, “regarded as one of America’s greatest and most prolific novelists” (“William Faulkner”). Faulkner came from an influential southern family. His grandfather, William Clark Falkner, served in the confederate army, wrote the novel The White Rose of Memphis, and owned First National Bank. Faulkner started out as a strong student, but as he aged his attention waned and his thoughts were elsewhere.
He quit school in the fall of 1915. A year later, his ambition seemed renewed as he started work as a clerk at his grandfather’s bank and began attending The University of Mississippi. Faulkner’s wanderlust lead him to enlist in the army during WWI. When he was turned away because of his small size, he hatched a plan to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. Despite his efforts, the war ended before he was sent into combat. Later on, he befriended Sherwood Anderson, who played a large role in Faulkner’s transitioning from poetry to novels.
After some traveling, he again returned to Oxford where he went on a writing rampage. He published six novels in a span of five years, but still struggled to find financial success. This was due in part to the Great Depression, and to the public’s general consensus that Faulkner’s novels weren’t comforting enough. He then married Estelle Franklin and had two daughters, Alabama and Jill. To support his family and pay his bills, he became a Hollywood screenwriter. In 1949, he received the Nobel Prize for literature.
The article “William Faulkner” summarizes with, “The trace that Faulkner left on American literature is extraordinary for its sheer volume and effect on the evolution of freedom in literary technique, as well as its quality in commentary on human nature at an abstract level” (“William Faulkner”). Faulkner died on July 6, 1962, in his home state of Mississippi. In Faulkner’s lifespan, he experienced the change and resistance to change that came about after the civil war. This particular ideal was a strong component in the setting of “A Rose for Emily. Both the north and the south suffered major changes after the war.
They were constantly torn between ageold traditions, and the new order of the world. In “A Rose for Emily” this is represented in many different ways. Emily’s old house is the only remaining one of her neighborhood, the new town leadership insists Emily pay her taxes, and the townspeople are scandalized by her and Homer’s relationship. The narrator tells the story from third person point of view to act as an outsider and show everyone’s perspective of the situation.
He tells the story in different phases of Emily’s life to show the most important, and strange, events of her life. The main characters in the story are Emily Grierson, the townspeople, and Homer Barron. Emily Grierson is an eccentric, stubborn, southern lady. She’s beautiful in her youth but as she ages she becomes less attractive. At one point, she’s sickly thin, and in her old age she’s become obese. Her family has a history of insanity and it shows in Emily too. As the story progresses, Emily becomes more insane. The townspeople are a constant judge of Emily.
They watch her every move and feel condescension towards her. In the story, it says, “Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town. ” Homer Barron is a foreman that’s come to Jefferson to pave the sidewalks. He’s from the north and is described as “a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice, and eyes lighter than his face. ” He had a big personality and soon knew everyone in town. He began seeing Emily on Sunday afternoons, when they’d ride in his buggy through town. The themes in the story are control, necrophilia, and death.
Control is shown when the townspeople try to force Emily into paying her taxes. It also comes into action in the relationship between Emily and her father. Her father chased away all of her suitors in order to assert control over her and make it so that he was the only thing she had. In turn, Emily asserts control over her father’s corpse by refusing to give it up. This is also a type of necrophilia. She finds happiness by being all-powerful and in control of a lifeless object. She shows this by refusing to relinquish her father’s corpse, and when she murders Homer and keeps his body in her upstairs room.
Death is another theme in this story. It’s shown in the way that Emily’s decayed house is the only one left standing. It’s shown when the townspeople come to confront Emily about her taxes and she’s described as “bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and that of a pallid hue. ” This is a description that’s often used to describe someone that’s drowned. It’s shown when she buys arsenic and in the scent of decay that the townspeople must cover up with lime. These three themes are shown in multiple instances throughout the story.
I dislike the story because of the constant judgement and condescension the townspeople felt towards Emily. I also dislike the ideal that Emily’s father completely ruined her life. It was a strange story and had a creepy undertone. I wasn’t surprised when they found Emily’s hair beside Homer’s corpse. I think the author wanted to show how much of an influence positive and negative relationships can have on someone’s life. While Emily’s father seriously injured Emily mentally, she could have been ok had there been someone there for her. The townspeople could have helped her had they not been so judgmental.
