A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner - Book Report/Review Example

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner Literature has a pivotal role in the progress and improvement of human life in the world and literary pieces offer fabulous lessons for human life, along with aesthetic experiences. One of the most essential illustrations of the instructive function of literary works is the celebrated short story "A Rose for Emily" by the American author William Faulkner. Extreme situations and experiences are crude realities of human life in the contemporary world, which is growing more complex than ever, and people encounter personal agony within increasingly desperate lives. While William Faulkner, in his "A Rose for Emily," offers an idea of the effect of the complexities of modern life, there is a greater lesson taught by the short story which helps one improve one's life in the modern context. "When one lives his/her life in the public eye it is often difficult to live up to everyone's expectations. These repressions often lead these people to use radical methods to fulfill their own needs." (Critical Essay). Thus, the short story by Faulkner portrays the idea that society's view on a 'celebrity' cannot only be powerful but also destructive and urges the readers not to depend too much on the public perspectives on personal lives as well as not to live according to the expectations of others. In the short story "A Rose for Emily", Miss Emily Grierson is presented as the socialite of her town and she naturally has an important social status or reputation she has to withhold. One of the main themes of the story is the effect of society on one's personal life and the story of Emily Grierson illustrates how people are made to use radical methods to fulfill their own needs in a society which expects its members to live according to a particular way. Emily in the story represents her family name as well as the people of her town and she was greatly a dominant figure in the society. "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her 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 Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor--he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron--remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity." (Faulkner, 2003, p. 392). Therefore, the society expects the main character to live according to a particular way which has been set by the tradition and the main reason for her mental torment has been her adjustment to the norms of social life. It is most fundamental, in a close reading of "A Rose for Emily", to realize that Faulkner describes a mental illness in the protagonist, i.e. necrophilia, which may be comprehended as an abnormal and excessive love for a dead human body. Psychologists explain that it is caused by a cumulative lack of love from one's family or community. "One of Faulkner's greatest stories, "A Rose for Emily" is a brilliantly wrought, emotionally charged, haunting portrait of the Southern psyche - a psyche tormented by conflicting feelings, impulses, and needs. It is the first story to deal with the village of Jefferson and its community." (Volpe, 2004, p. 98). In the story, Emily, the main character, murders Humor, the only man whom she had ever loved. In fact, the story deals mainly with the psyche of the main character who is conflicted by conflicting feelings, impulses, and needs, and the author is concerned with the relationship between individuals and community. ""A Rose for Emily" has two major characters: Emily Grierson and the community. They are complementary rather than antagonistic characters; Emily's personal history mirrors the community's collective history Faulkner portrays Emily with sufficient psychological realism to make her a unique, vivid character, but "A Rose for Emily" has two protagonists, and Emily's sick attachment for her father, her motivation for murdering her lover, and her necrophilia are meaningful only in the context in which Faulkner presents them: the context of the community's relationship with Emily." (Volpe, 2004, p. 99). Emily was not able to develop any real relationship with anyone due to her father's influence and it affected her destiny. Her mental illness was not caused by her upbringing and the example of her life and destiny teaches an important lesson about human being's relationship with the community and society at large. A close reading of the short story has contributed to an important realization of the main themes and concerns of the writer, and the meaning of the word "rose" in the title has a major influence in this regard. As against the normal meaning of the word 'rose', which is used to represent beauty, love, or passion, Faulkner used the word "rose" to signify that, 'Emily' deserves roses for her life. In the story, Faulkner never celebrates her life and she receives merely hate from others. When we later discover that she was not to blame for the hatred, we feel that she deserves roses from people. Living a pathetic life and never receiving love from anybody, Emily was pushed her to the very end of an extreme situation. The main source of her mental illness was her aloofness and she never had a chance to interact with people other than Homer, the only other man besides her father whom she actually loved. It is merely her disability to develop a clear understanding of the way of social life that Emily fails to make her relationships stable. To Emily, Homer was a whole new world that she had never before experienced. She was like a little bird in a cage until her father passed away, after which she was suddenly free. In my opinion, Emily killed Homer because she never had any experience of the relationship with people, and Homer was like a new world for her. Just as people can become obsessed with a new object or idea, Emily became obsessed by Homer, leading her to the ultimate state of over-possession: necrophilia. It is obvious that Faulkner included the word "rose" in the title because a rose represents love, which Emily never received during her life. In this way, rose can signify the idea of overcoming the hardness of modern life and if we give roses to ourselves and to others, the hardness of life will be softened. In conclusion, the short story "A Rose for Emily" by the American author William Faulkner has a great message to convey to the readers of the contemporary world. Thus, every individual in the modern context lives his/her life in the public eye finds it difficult to live up to everyone's expectations and the repressions of such a situation leads them to use radical methods to accomplish their needs. That is to say, the short story by Faulkner suggests that every person needs to create his own life according to the demands of the society and one's disability to develop personal relationships with the people of the society results in one's ultimate failure in life. Reference "Critical Essay." A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner. Retrieved May 19, 2009, from http://www.tqnyc.org/2004/NYC040522//shortstories/roseforemily/AroseForemilymain.htm Faulkner, William. (2003). "A Rose for Emily." The portable Faulkner. Malcolm Cowley. (Ed). Penguin Classics. p. 392. Volpe, Edmond Loris. (2004). A Reader's Guide to William Faulkner: The Short Stories. Syracuse University Press. p. 99. Read More