A Rose for Emily and Barn Burning Written by William Faulker - Essay Example

?“A Rose For Emily and Barn Burning” The story of “A rose for Emily”, written by William Faulker, portrays the life of a woman who had gone through difficult phases of life which she had to cope up with. It revolves around Emily Grierson who was a young lady who lived all her life with her father. Her father was a proud man who believed that he was higher in status and superior to all the people in town, endowing the same beliefs to his daughter. The world of Emily revolved around her father and she was shattered when he died and she went into solitude. The town’s people felt sorry for her after the death of her father. They were curious about her way of living and they kept a close watch on Emily. She again suffered a major blow when she got close to a newcomer in town known as Homer Borron who refused to marry her. But she found out her own way to deal with the situation and poisoned him and kept his body with her for thirty years. This was discovered in the end when she died and his body was found in her house. On the other hand Barn Burning is a story revolving around a troubled man known as Abner Snopes. Abner Snopes has always been involved in troubling other people as he is accused from the very beginning of the burning the barn of Mr Harris. Abner Snopes is presumably suffering from sort of problem because of which he cannot compromise with the circumstances of his life. He has two a son named Sartoris who has a role to play in informing the authorities about the actions of his father. After being accused Snopes is asked to leave the city which he does in a timely manner. He joins the farm of Mr de Spain where he is again accused for ruining the rug of the owner. In the latter part of the story Snopes is again seen to be planning a fire on the barn of de Spain. His son Sartoris informs de Spain indirectly about the fire and runs away hearing gun shots in the end from the barn. The story “A Rose for Emily” presents Emily as a very stubborn lady who lives her life in her own way and finds her own ways to deal with situations. She constructs her own ways and methods to lead her life and does not care about the restrictions of society. This can be seen when Emily refuses to pay the taxes and the stubbornness she shows towards the pharmacist when she asks for arsenic without a prescription and does not abide by the rules. She also poisons Homer Barron when he refuses to marry her to keep him with her. This is against the norms of the society but she has her own way of living. Considering the other story of Barn Burning it can be seen that the character of Snopes is almost the same as that of Emily. It is seen that both characters face from some sort of difficulty in coping up with the matters of life. Emily has been left secluded all her life whereas Snopes even with a family cannot keep a control on his temper. Snopes also has a very bad temper as it can be witnessed from the story. He ends up revenging at different instances as shown by William Faulkner. He burns the barn of Mr Harris when he asked to pay a dollar for his hog entering into his premises and he attempts to burn the barn of Mr de Spain too when he accuses him of ruining the rug. This clearly shows that both the characters share certain characteristics which make them revenge. Both the characters are stubborn in their language and this can be witnessed in their actions respectively. It is because of this stubbornness that Emily ends up killing Homer Barron and Snopes hitting Sartoris. Isolation is a theme which can be found in both the stories of William Faulkner. Sartoris is an example of a character in Barn Burning who has been living in isolation from other children of the town. Same is the case with Emily who has been living in isolation because she was never allowed to interact with the people living in the town. Both the characters underwent a change because of the isolation that they were living in. Sartoris acts in a different manner as he betrays the loyalty promised to his family whereas Emily cannot withstand the isolation she is living in. Both the stories are based in the southwestern regions and revolve somewhat around the traditions. A rose for Emily is a story revolving around the past whereas Barn Burning revolves around the present. Emily is always secluded from other people and she believes in traditions as taught to her by her father. Even after her father’s death she does not interact much with the people of the town. She rejected all the ideologies of the modern world and lived by her own will. It is clearly seen in the story that Emily is against modern techniques when she rejects to have a mailbox outside her house. She believed in the past and the traditions lay down by her father and ancestors. Emily’s father can be blamed for the stubbornness found in Emily. The discrimination brought to her by her father had a negative impact on her whole life. But the courage shown by Emily in the story can be highly acknowledged as she showed bravery to cope up with the unfairness brought to her by life. On the other hand Snopes is seen to be running away from the past. He is a character who does not believe much in the traditions and is seen to mould his own present so that he can have a better future. His aggressiveness and stubbornness does not allow him to mould his future in a better way. William Faulkner puts the theme of compromise in both the stories with different circumstances. It is seen that many characters in the story are trying to compromise with the circumstances and some are successful while some are not. Snopes is a character who is not able to compromise with his circumstances and ends up burning barns whenever he is not able to compromise. Similarly Emily is also not able to compromise with her rejection from Homer because of which she decides to kill him. And lastly the character of Sartoris seems to be the most stable in both the stories as he is able to compromise with his circumstances in the end. He chooses the path of right over his loyalty to the family. Both the stories have a common theme of isolation and compromise which helps one to understand the characters well. William Faulkner’s sets both the stories on the lives of the southern people who were facing from similar problems in the previous times. The characters of both the stories have some similarities and differences which have been mentioned above. Emily and Snopes have a great deal of similarities as compared to the other characters. References: Top of Form The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Bedford/st Martins, 2010. Print. Bottom of Form Read More