A Rose for Emily vs A Good Man is Hard to Find - Essay Example

Comparing "A Rose for Emily" with "A Good Man is Hard to Find" Short stories are brief works of literature that are frequently written by creative writers mostly in narrative prose. These stories mostly focus on self-contained incidents that influence human behaviors. The writers create characters that act imprudently in an attempt to evoke an emotional response from the readers. In order to achieve this, authors mostly use a number of techniques to communicate the intended message effectively to the readers. William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are no exceptions as they employ different techniques ranging from irony, symbolism to foreshadowing and narration. Their two books, "A Rose for Emily" and “A Good Man is Hard to Find", are two different stories based on the Old South. The stories have similar approaches regarding the use of literary devices to heighten the theme, characterization, and events and differ on the use of religion. In the two creative works of O’Connor and Faulkner, the protagonists are Miss Emily Grierson and the Grandmother respectively. The two women, in two different stories, share similar traits that stem primarily from their upbringing and actions majorly influenced by the social dynamics of their respective worlds. Both writers clearly and creatively portray the two women from the old South as resilient, aggressive and self-centered. These women are staunch believers and advocates of their ideas and tolerate no criticism of what they believe. Their urge to achieve their desires is high, and they are ready and willing to do anything in order to do this. In Faulkner’s story, Emily struggled and got Homer Barron as her lover. In the story A Good Man is Hard to Find, the grandmother got her wish of going to a different direction as opposed to where majority of the family member wanted. These two women are further portrayed as stubborn and only care about what is proper and efficient for themselves. Further similarity in the two works is evident where both writers reveal grotesque events. In the short story “A Rose for Emily”, depicts Emily as the sole surviving member of a once great family. When Emily eventually passes on, a badly decomposed body of her lover is found in her house. Faulkner confirms when he says, “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it and leaving forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner). Likewise, O’Connor’s story is equally gruesome as The Misfit and his two accomplices brutally murder members of the grandmother’s family in the woods. The grandmother is not spared either as The Misfit shoots her at a point blank range despite her numerous plea. Both incidences reveal ugly scenes in the Old South during the early days. While both stories have several similarities, O’Connor’s story contrasts Faulkner’s story as it has the aspect of religion in the Old South. During the encounter of the grandmother and The Misfit, her futile efforts to ask for mercy, their conversation with The Misfit turned religious. The Misfit said, “Jesus was the only one that ever raised the dead” (O’Connor). While the old lady replied, “Maybe He didn’t raise the dead” (O’Connor). O’Connor uses this to show The Misfit mockery of Christianity. He lacks a sense of human and brutally murders the old lady mercilessly. The two writers carefully crafted their multi-layered masterpieces by employing a series of literary elements to efficiently and creatively create interesting and significant themes in their works. In his attempt to bring out the central theme, which is search for love and security, Faulkner effectively uses symbolism. Symbolism is one of the leading literary technique used to make the readers understand the theme of the story. The story title “A Rose for Emily” is an example of symbolism. This title symbolizes the love that Emily never had. Her lover never gave her a rose that contradicts the typical norm that a man in love gives flowers and roses to his lover. In addition, Faulkner uses metaphor to show events that occurred during that period. Miss Emily`s house is a perfect metaphor that denotes the significant changes in Emily’s life. At the beginning of the story, the Faulkner says, “It was a squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated and with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies” (n.p). That statement is used to describe the state of once a beautiful house that deteriorated and remained a shadow of its old self. The vivid description of the house symbolizes changes in Emily’s life. At a young age, she was beautiful and had a real personality, but due to her sour love story she crashed completely and became different. Moreover, Faulkner uses irony where she portrays the lead character Emily as relic of a once great family in the Old South. Given that Emily is from a well-off family with high social status, it was expected that she would pay tax. However, this is not the case as the local authorities in the Old South wrote her notices of tax payment. In addition, this young lady from the wealthy and upper-class family, who is expected to be well behaved commits a heinous crime. She murdered her lover and retained the body in one her room. Those two acts are ironical since they are contrary to what is expected in the society. Faulkner uses these two scenarios to mock the upper social class and criticize the class difference in the south. Flannery O’Connor also uses literary elements in the short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find". This writer uses the element of foreshadowing in his writing. Foreshadowing is adequately indicated by characters in the story most notably the grandmother who offers more clue. The author shows element of foreshadowing when he writes about the newspapers article that describes The Misfit and his escape from prison. She centers everything on foreshadow to lead readers deceptively to a terrifying incident, characterized by the horrific actions of The Misfit. Use of foreshadow is mainly to prepare the readers of what is going to happen later in the story and also make the story enjoyable. Additionally, O’Connor emphasizes narrative technique telling the story from a third person point of view. She writes, “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida. She wanted to visit some of her connections in east Tennessee, and she was seizing every chance to change Bailey” (O’Connor). O’Connor uses this narration to inform and educate the readers. Narration by authors is utilized in an attempt give background information to the readers about what happened before. Also, use of such description in short stories can set the tone of the story. The author also employs the use of irony, which is evident when the grandmother, who staunchly advocated a family vacation, tries to convince the family otherwise. In her attempts, she uses the excuse of presence of dangerous an ex-convict in Florida who escaped prison. The grandmother says, “I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that a loose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did” (O’Connor). She does that in order to satisfy her desire of meeting her connections in Tennessee. It is ironical that the same grandmother who swore to protect her family leads them directly to The Misfit, the ex-convict. Evidently, short stories are educative and give moral lessons to the readers. Through the creative works of the two influential and sober writers ever to emerge from the Old South, we learn of the divergent view and characters of their people. The effectively bring out their message using useful and important literary elements such as foreshadowing and irony. The two writer also indirectly condemn and address the social ills and gruesome events in the society such as the brutal murder and mockery of religion. Further, they criticize the social class structure in many societies. These short stories are relevant to the majority of societies in shaping their view and thoughts concerning a specific thing such love and security in the society. Works Cited Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. n. page. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. O`Connor, Flannery. Good Man is Hard to Find. n. page. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. Read More