Preview

A Rose for Emily Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1029 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Rose for Emily Analysis
Gabi Kuhn 4B
11/13/12

1) What is the point of view of the story? The point of view of the story is a third person. The amount of information the reader knows would be somewhat that of a typical townsperson, since we do not find out right away what is really going on inside of the house, or have a deep view into Miss Emily’s feelings. From this point of view, we see things as how they would appear to a townsperson or viewer.

2) What does the title of the story suggest about the townspeople’s feelings toward Miss Emily? Why do they feel this way about her? (Or: What does she represent to them?) Is there anything ironic about their feelings? The title of the story suggests that the townspeople have some sort of caring feeling towards her, since a rose is usually a symbol of care or love. They feel some sort of respect to her and her family, since they are the last remnant of the traditional south and the only ones who embrace it the most. The townspeople actually have a pity for her, because after her father died, the association of her being higher class lowered. Then, it was lowered the most when she started to spend time with Homer Barron because he was from the North and a day laborer, and thought Miss Emily should have been with someone of higher status, as she was brought up.

3) Describe and discuss the symbolism of Miss Emily’s house. The dust all over the interior of Miss Emily’s house symbolizes the traditional south which Miss Emily continues to embrace mentally through her actions and visually through the looks of her house. The traditional south ways are being abandoned, but Emily refuses to go along. The traditional south ways are old, and Emily wants to stay attached to them, so they linger throughout her home in the visual form of old dust. The portrait of her father symbolizes also that Emily does not want to adjust to the new times. He lived his life in the traditional times, and she did not want to believe that he was

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    7. What does the title of the story suggest about the townspeople’s feelings toward Miss Emily? Why do they feel this way about her? (Or: What does she represent to them?) Is there anything ironic about their feelings?…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    For example, “We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground”(3), which shows their wrong perception of her. Additionally, Miss Emily alienates from her neighbors because they are modernized, whereas she still lives in the past. For example, she doesn’t accept free postal delivery. The impact of grief on Miss Emily is evident when she doesn’t leave her house for six months, but the impact seems clearer, once the neighbors enter the house after she dies. Her house has faded rose colors and permeating dust everywhere. The color and dust show exhibits a bleak and miserable ambiance. Therefore, the author uses alienation to demonstrate that rich people lives are not easy and the effect of grief on people. The overarching message tells readers that people do not really know each…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The true meaning of the title of “A Rose for Emily” is only revealed to the reader when he or she also takes into account Homer’s sexual preference. At first, Homer provides Emily with friendship in light of her being moderately disliked by the town. The more time they spend together, the…

    • 798 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, Emily strikes the reader as a traditionalist who despises change. Her aversion to change is one of her key character traits and is also the main theme of the story. She is a good representative of the people from the ‘Old South’, who were firmly rooted to their old values and beliefs and were not keen on change. For example, “When the town got free…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A rose for emily

    • 577 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Throughout the story the narrator seems as though he is someone that is part of the town. He tells us of what is going on in the town through Miss Emily’s life. The narrator has obviously been following Miss Emily, and her many struggles, loves, and to the point where she no longer alive. In the beginning of the story everyone in the town get’s together to see what is in Emily’s house because they are curious to find out what really has been going on in the house.…

    • 577 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The narrator provides that Miss Emily is crazy in an obscure way. First the smell in which we can see in page 284, "will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" Second, when she wanted arsenic in page 286, "I want arsenic." Thirdly, how she never leaves her house in page 288. Lastly, she is crazy because when the townspeople went inside Miss Emily's house they found Homer lying in a bed decaying and found out that Miss Emily was sleeping next it in page 289, "Then we noticed that in the second pillow… leaning forward, that faint… long strand of iron-gray hair." We can infer that the narrators are just telling the story out of their observation from a first person plural point of view. The narrator is however very…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    understand this theme . A Rose for Emily 's key theme is the quest for…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily’s stubbornness and eccentricity on the story represents the refusal of the South to accept any change, till its last breath. Like Emily those of the Southern states for too long held their heads high when their time had long since…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the beginning the character Emily is portrayed as a cherished “fallen monument” that has left the town. The town holds her up as a respected figure that gets passed from generation to generation with the traits of being “dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” However, Emily is constantly confined throughout the story, first by her father and second by her community. Her relationship with her father is one that depicts the male dominated south, where her father maintains complete control over her life until his death. Because of this domination by her father, Emily seeps into physical isolation. The physical isolation then becomes a symbol for the slow disappearance of the previous culture Emily can’t seem to let go. Throughout…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A Rose for Emily Essay

    • 290 Words
    • 1 Page

    In a “Rose for Emily” one can feel sympathetic towards the main character, Emily. Her father is a very strict man who did not feel anyone was good enough for his daughter. He did not let her partake in their community or experience love. This left Emily emotionally unbalanced. As a result, Emily is a recluse who cannot deal with the thought of being abandoned.…

    • 290 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Miss Emily was a clear representation of the South. She gives us a personal aspect of the struggles the South encountered and the attempts the South made to be stable. We’re introduced to Miss Emily after her death. People viewed her as a powerless, secluded, lady who never interacted with anyone, and never left her house. She was the depiction of change. Miss Emily was a young beautiful girl with a father that protected her from anything. He controlled her life in any way he could. He was literally “a spraddled silhouette in the foreground” (Faulkner 1070). Furthermore, after her father's death Miss Emily was thirty and alone. She was in denial for three whole days that her father was not dead. This is the literal representation of the South and it’s loss of control and how they denied it to be true…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Irony -A Rose for Emily

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The actions of the town drove her to do what she did and how they criticized her for not being social when they were the cause of her being ostracized.…

    • 265 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rose for Emily

    • 629 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Miss Emily is first brought to life on page 85 where she is described as “a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain… leaning on an ebony cane”, the passage goes on to talk about her skeleton being small, and perhaps that’s why she looked obese, bloated, and that her eyes looked like “small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough”. Her voice is then said to be dry and cold. These words used to describe to Emily give one an impression that she is not a warm, welcoming, lady, but instead almost cold hearted and removed. The author continues to paint her this way as she is described only as a figure in a window and motionless in the shadows. The shadows and grim detail chosen to portray her bring mystery to Miss Emily as well as darkness.…

    • 629 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rose For Emily Symbolism

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the very beginning of the story, when the narrator is describing the house in which Ms Emily lived, we get our first glimpse of symbolism. The way Faulkner describes the house, then and now, actually represents Ms Emily's life. The paint and color of the house represents Ms Emily's conscience. Earlier, the house is clean and white, pure. As time goes on the house becomes decrepit, and sullied, much like Ms Emily's conscience. The "select street" that she lives on in the earlier years, which later becomes infected and surrounded by cotton gins and garages, represents her place in society. While her father was alive, and sometime after he had passed, Ms Emily was considered high class. Suitors were deemed unworthy to claim her. As more and more tragedy strikes her life, people no longer envy, but pity Ms Emily. When Faulkner describes her house as "lifting…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "A Rose for Emily," is the remarkable story of Emily Grierson, whose death and funeral drew the attention of the town. The bizarre outcome is further emphasized throughout by the symbolism of the decaying house, which parallels Miss Emily 's physical deterioration and demonstrates her ultimate mental disintegration. Emily 's life, like the house which decays around her, suffers from lack of genuine love and care.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics