Girl by Kincaid and Rose for Emily by Faulkner - Essay Example

The two vignettes, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner speaks of the rearing of two very different girls from different cultures. On the surface, it manifests the characters’ qualities and feelings, but on further analysis, it shows that the truth lies deeper and might only come to surface by really getting to know the characters themselves. The writing styles of the authors are entirely different, but reflects the culture of the characters in the stories. Kincaid’s “Girl” shows a litany of “how-to’s” passed on from a Carribean mother, aunt or another elder to a young woman. It nonchalantly drones of chores and tips from the trivial things (“Don’t walk barehead in the hot sun.” ) to the practical (“This is how you grow okra---far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants.”) to the profound (“This is how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up.”). The mood of the text is that of a sermon delivered to an unwilling audience. The narrator’s active oration is like a burst of thoughts and emotions that have long struggled to break free, like a tidal wave finally let out. Its maniacal pace seems as if the narrator does not have enough time to elaborate on each tip. It captivates the reader to keep reading, as if to hungrily devour tiny bits of appetizers without actually feeling full. One gets a taste of a chunk of wisdom, and before the reader even gets to swallow it, another is on the way. Its sarcasm at the redundant accusation that the girl is “bent on becoming a slut” loses its sting, as a barrage of information gets thrown at her. Ironically, through the rather harsh bombardment of mini-lessons, the reader gets to feel that the girl is so much loved by the narrator, as she is shown much concern at how she is to live her life. Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a short story that holds the readers’ attention despite the fact that it tells of a rather boring tale of a woman who lives in a small town. The narrator effectively describes the characters in such a way that the readers clearly visualize them in their minds’ eye. It is about Emily, a white girl from an aristocratic family in the south, the Griersons. It chronicles Emily’s life from her girlhood, when her parents selfishly prohibit her from dating men, as it seems all men were beneath them. “the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were. None of the young men were quite good for Miss Emily and such.” Being so, Miss Emily has grown to believe that she occupies a special position in society, even to her old age when she refused to pay her taxes, having been privileged by a former Mayor who owed the Griersons favors. The narrator depicted a small town where the ladies had nothing better to do than gossip about the high and mighty Grierson family. They were like vultures, who, in their minds, keenly follow the drama that happens behind doors. Miss Emily has always been an enigma they desperately want to demystify one of these days. Miss Emily’s tragic fate and deep sorrow gets felt throughout the story that the readers get to sympathize with her character….only to be shocked at the end. Her assumed insanity was to be expected after all the things she has endured – the loss of a mother while growing up, the death of a father, the sudden loss of a charmed way of living….but not to the extent of murdering her lover and sleeping with his corpse until the day of her death. The two bodies of work are paradoxes. In “Girl”, the young lady, is not blessed with material riches and lives a simple life without any pretensions. However, she is blessed with a mother who teaches her the ways of growing up to be a fine young woman. She is assumed to life a full life, rich in experiences even if wanting in luxury. In “ A Rose for Emily”, the protagonist is born to wealth, yet had no mother to guide her in her growth. She was reared to think she was better than others, being a Grierson – “She carried her head high enough---even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson, as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness.” Miss Emily lived a pathetic, lonely and empty life. To the end, she clutched to her last hope of feeling real love. When Homer Barron was assumed to reject her in marriage, it was suggested that Miss Emily poisoned him with arsenic so he would not have a choice in the matter- “The body had apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace, but now the long sleep that outlasts love, that conquers even the grimace of love, had cuckolded him.”. Each family has its own way of rearing its children. The kind of rearing is heavily influenced by the culture it belongs to. The kind of rearing can also predict, more or less, the kind of individuals it produces as adults. The young girl in Kincaid’s vignette, belonged to a family expertly adapted to a colorful and rich culture. From the short text, she is predicted to grow into a wise and practical lady herself who is also adept at Carribean culture no matter what happens to her. This Latin American culture is known to be vivacious, celebratory and so full of life and color! Miss Emily, although reared in luxury, was not adequately trained to adapt to the culture she belongs to. Her elitist upbringing created an imaginary wall between her family and the real world. She is not adept at mingling with the masses (except for her lovers) and following their rhythm. She was not even trained to keep her own house in order…. how much more her own life? In application to reality, the world is likened to a library. Each individual inhabitant is a book that has its own story to tell. These books are meticulously catalogued in different categories. One needs to understand what the categories represent and upon choosing a book from a certain category, read the book thoroughly to fully understand it. Going back to the two stories, one needs to understand the culture the story is coming from and read and understand them thoroughly to be able to scratch the surface and get to know the truth that lies underneath…. the real character of the characters. Read More