Argument Paper: A Rose for Emily - Essay Example

Client’s 3 October Emily’s suffering in A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily is a short story written by William Faulkner and it waspublished in the year 1930. The story is divided into five parts and it opens with a very arresting event, Emily’s funeral. Emily is the main character in the story and the story is all about her life and how she lived in isolation for a major part of her life. The theme of death has been presented in this short story, how Emily becomes completely isolated has been shown in this short story.

It is a sequence of events which make her weak and helpless. The main theme in this story is the theme of death and absolute helplessness. The theme of death is of prime importance and it will be thrown light upon in this paper. “Faulkner’s most famous, most popular, and most anthologized short story, “A Rose for Emily” evokes the terms Southern gothic and grotesque, two types of literature in which the general tone is one of gloom, terror, and understated violence.” (A Rose for Emily) “When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to the funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old manservant–a combined gardener and cook–had seen in at least ten years.

” (A Rose for Emily). The worth of a person is realized only by the number of people who attend the funeral of that person and Emily certainly was very lucky to have so many people attending her funeral, she was misunderstood by the people of her locality and considered insane by the majority of people in her locality. Emily suffered a lot of in her life and in she hardly speaks in the story, this goes to show that she was in a shock because the person who she loved deserted her. No one came to her house for ten years; she had no social life and never spoke to anyone.

She only had her Negro servant at her house to speak to except him she never spoke to anyone in her locality. “This tale covers several decades in the life of the protagonist, Emily Grierson.” (A Rose for Emily). Her instable mind is presented in the story time and again, a classic example of this is when the tax collectors come to her house to collect taxes she confronts them by telling them to ask Colonel Sartoris about her taxes but in reality Colonel had died 10 years ago and she did not know about this.

This goes to show she was completely isolated and cut off from the society. Her father does not allow her to date men because he thought that no man was suitable for Emily, he had a lot of pride and she suffered because of the same when he died. She was left all alone when he died; she had no companion to look after her and to provide her with emotional support. Introduction of Homer: Homer was a fine young man who gets involved with Emily in the story; people of her locality spot her with Homer many a time in the story, people of her locality think that they would soon get married but it turns out the other way.

Homer was not interested in marrying her, he was interested in men and hence they don’t get married. Emily was already suffering from emotional trauma and this was too much for her to take and hence she bought arsenic from the medical shop and poisoned Homer. The other people saw Homer for one last time when he entered the Kitchen of Emily’s house. She was under a lot of trauma and kept the body of Homer in another room, she used to love and maintain the body of Homer and this was how she used to get emotional support for herself.

When she dies, the people break into her house and open the door which was locked for the last 40 years and they find a corpse of homer and “long strand of iron-gray hair.” This goes to show that she had sexual relationship with the corpse of Homer and possibly either she or her Negro servant poisoned her. Emotions and Love Life of Emily: Emily was not eccentric as thought by most people instead she needed love and support which she never got from anyone. Her Father never allowed her to date and she failed to find a suitable Groom for herself.

She was dejected and emotionally broken, then the twist in the story comes when Homer appears in the story, she goes around with him and believes that he would marry her and the people of her locality believed the same but she was utterly disappointed and emotionally broken again when she realized that Homer was not going to marry her because he was interested in men. She had no control over her emotions and she needed someone desperately to support her and hence she decided to poison Homer, she really can’t be blamed for this because she was emotionally broken.

She deserved better in her life, she had no support and without emotional support any person would go crazy. Had Homer married her, things would not have been the same. She would have lived very happily with him but destiny had something else in store for her. So to conclude it is very fair to say that she was misunderstood by the people of her locality and people should have made an attempt to communicate with her to make her normal but no one did so in the story and as a result of which she isolated herself completely from the society.

Works Cited A Rose for Emily (2011). Mead. Retrieved from: http://www.mead.k12.wa.us/mhs/Stedman/classweb/Short%20Stories/A%20Rose%20For%20Emily.pdf A Rose for Emily (2011). Cliff Notes. Retrieved from: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Faulkner-s-Short-Stories-A-Rose-for-Emily-Commentary.id-110,pageNum-5.html A Rose for Emily (2011). Literature Annotations. Retrieved from: http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=12442