An Interpretation of a Rose for Emily from a Feminist Perspective

An Interpretation of A Rose for Emily From a Feminist Perspective William Faulkner is one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century. And "A Rose for Emily" is a masterpiece of his short fictions. It is a novel with a predominant motif of love, even though it is neither passionate nor romantic but some sort of cruel and hysterical mixed with a strong sense of ambivalence. You can not help read the whole story with breathless interest and tend to read it one more time, also you are eager to tell the entire story to others though the ending is painful. And I intend to interpret the short novel from a feminist perspective and analyze the social roots that results in the tragedy of Emily, and points out that Emily is victimized by the critical patriarchal oppression and rotten southern tradition persecution. First of all, we can see that Emily’s father has an enormous influence impact on Emily. The narrator describes that “Miss Emily a slender figure in white” (chapter2) which indicates that Emily is pure and delicate, and “in the background “(chaper2) means that she is under control of her father and incapable to resist patriarchal power. “her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, “signifies his status and stable authority in the family. “(chapter2) his back to her “implicates that he does not care about Emily’s inclination and he is unwilling to communicate with her so he makes a resolution on Emily’s destiny.” and clutching a horsewhip” (chapter2) manifests that his manipulation and he will slash Emily if Emily does not comply with him. “Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron with his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove.” (chapter4) is another reflection of ineradicable patriarchy existed in the society, we can detect that Emily is devoted to her only attachment so that it is likely that it is facile of Emily to lose herself in the pursuit of love. But Homer Barron appears transient