Faulkner’s style of using lengthy descriptions adds depth and complexity to each of the characters and the scene. He paints Emily’s house as a “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street… Only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and…
1. What metaphor is used to describe Miss Emily in the first paragraph? In the first paragraph Miss Emily is described as a “fallen monument”, after she died everyone went to her home, not so much to pay respect, but, to see how she lived and see the inside of her house.…
Emily’s house represented stability when everything around her was unstable. The world around Emily was changing, but she,…
Emily Grierson is an allegory of the old south and its decline against the up and coming new south. According to the town’s people “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care: a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town…” (404). Emily refused to change keeping with her old southern traditions as the town expanded and evolved around her. This can be physically seen in her house which had once been a favorable place to live, is now dusty and decaying like her traditions. Once she has passed the citizens no longer have her as a hereditary obligation and can being distancing themselves and move farther away from the old…
“Alive, miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town.”(391) The social class and her father fettered not only her behavior but also everything of herself. Without him she could not do anything except stay at home. She had been isolated from the outside world and the people whose social class was lower than theirs. “only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps—an eyesore among eyesores.”(391) Her house was on behalf of her personality that she was noble, solitary and traditionally. Emily's decaying appearance matches not only the rotting exterior of the house, but the interior as well. Staying far away from people, gradually, she could not know how to get along with others. Being restricted by her family fame, Emily became much more autistic and did things unusual.…
The characteristics of Miss Emily’s house symbolize her appearance as she becomes decrepit with time and neglect. The house was a beautiful white decorated with gorgeous cupolas, set on what was the best street. Then it became a monstrous monstrosity. Miss Emily changed the same ways as her house did and she too became an eyesore. She had once been a slender figure and later she becomes fat and motionless. During Miss Emily’s death she had been referred to as a fallen monument, which could mean she was once something beautiful and…
In order to understand William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” you need to know a little bit about the author. Most of his novels take place in the state of Mississippi with colorful history and richly varied population. The frequent theme in his novels is the abuse of black people by Southern whites. “A Rose for Emily” takes place in the late 1800s in Mississippi after the civil war. The main character is Emily, who comes from wealthy background, but at the time of the story her family has lost its fortune. Faulkner uses a great deal of visual imagery that can illuminate Emily’s life. The author suggests that her father is a dominant character who does not allow his daughter to behave a certain way that would compromise their good name, and through these images one can see why these events lead the main character to a tragic end.…
Miss Emily Grierson was a woman who was born into what was perceived to be a rich family. She was raised in an upper class home that her prominent family owned. Her father was thought to be financially secure, but when he died, it was proven that the only thing that was left to Miss Emily was the house. She was in fact "left alone, and a pauper" (Faulkner 30). The mayor, at the time of her father's death, was Colonel Sartoris. After her father died Colonel Sartoris had "remitted her taxes" and he had "invented the tale, to the effect that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to the town, which the town preferred this way of repaying" (Faulkner 29). Ten years after the death of Colonel Sartoris the town approached Miss Emily and tried to convince her that she needed to pay her taxes. She defended herself stating, "See Colonel Sartoris, I have no taxes in Jefferson" (Faulkner 30). Miss Emily's refusal to pay the taxes even though Sartoris had been dead for many years showed that she did not have to follow the laws because she believed herself above the law.…
One could interpret the death scene of Miss Emily as symbolic. “And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows…” (Kelly, 163). Dust is a pile of dirt that keeps growing, if not taken care of; which is symbolic of the tragic life of Miss Emily. There is such a buildup of sorrow in her life, and she just keeps it hidden away inside her. The effect it had on her became so great that it drove her insane, literally. A shadow is something that lurks behind someone and never leaves them; which is symbolic of the shadow of the wrong Miss Emily committed, in murdering Homer Barron, lurking behind…
Emily’s house that is very similar to her is a structure of a memorial, the only remaining of a symbolic representation of the past. The house “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores (pg204). The house is an extension of Emily. It is a tradition but now it’s out of place because of the society that has changed around her. The house, like its owner, is an object of interest for them. They create their own interpretations of the inside of Emily’s torn down house.…
At Miss Emily’s funeral she is described as a “fallen monument” (90). This could be a symbol for her once being a beautiful important human being that had diminished while becoming old and not taking care of her image. The town in this story saw Emily as a powerful person because of her family. They had their large house that was very beautiful, but when her father dies she changes just like the house and becomes less regal with time.…
In the story “A Rose for Emily" Faulkner uses unconventional symbols. Symbols give readers a greater understanding of the setting and help define Miss Emily's…
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…
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…
Symbolism is often used in the story “A Rose for Emily”, but three main symbols particularly stick out. The word “rose” is important from the very beginning of the story as it first appears in the title. The word “rose” has various meanings, the first being the verb to rise. When a deputation came to visit they were showed in by Tobe, her “manservant” (pg 233), and “they rose when she entered” (pg 234). This shows a sign of respect for Miss Emily, a respect that may only be reserved for her because she is of higher class and seen as superior. This shows how she is treated specially because of the decaying social order that makes her higher class even though she is now poor. Another very important symbol is Tobe, her supposed “manservant”. Although slavery was over, African Americans were still treated very unfairly and although they could have jobs, their jobs often resembled what a slave might do and they earned very little…