Literature Analysis: Exploring Themes in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'

This essay presents a detailed analysis of William Faulkner's short story, 'A Rose for Emily'. It explores the central themes of death, change, and self-denial as depicted through the protagonist, Emily Grierson. The essay examines how Emily's inability to accept these realities shapes her actions and ultimately leads to tragic consequences. It also delves into the historical context of the story, highlighting the racial and gender discrimination prevalent in the nineteenth-century Southern society, as reflected in the language and societal norms of the time. The analysis includes discussions on the symbolism and the author's portrayal of characters within the story, and how these elements contribute to the overall message about the inevitability of change and the destructive nature of clinging to the past. The essay draws on secondary sources to support its arguments and provides a comprehensive understanding of the story's significance.

RUNNING HEAD: ENGLISH 0
A ROSE FOR EMILY: LITERATURE ANALYSIS

ENGLISH 2
William Faulkner was the Great American and a Nobel Prize winner who published
exemplary novels, plays, short stories and poetries. He was known for the novels and short
stories. He was considered the most celebrated authors of southern literature where he had
published several famous novels that included The Revivers, A fable. From his highly successful
short stories, one such story is a Rose to Emily, which revolves around the life of high status
young woman Emily.
Thesis- Death and change are the inevitable truths of life which made Emily Rose for its self
denial.
In the story, William Faulkner writes about the young woman Emily who is caught in the
cycle of self- denial, when her father accidently dies. The author weighs on the importance of
accepting the realities of life whether it is happiness or grief. In the story, through the life
account of Rose Emily, the author tries to capture the various aspects of the nineteenth century
where the racial discrimination was prominent in the patriarchy society as Emily was criticized
on various occasions (Afsar & Masood, 2018).
The story comes up with the hidden message that is concerned with the death and change.
The story starts with the funeral of Miss Emily and leaves the readers started in the end when the
Emily kills Homer. In the first part of the story when his father dies, Emily was unable to accept
his death and acted, as he was alive by holding on to his corpse. She was afraid of accepting the
reality of death. In the story, Emily is shown highly apprehensive of accepting the changes that
were brought to her in life, which is shown from the episode when she falls in love with homer
and kills him so that he does not leave her. Moreover, she never allowed any one to enter in her
house after her father’s death (Pratiwi, l Jihan, & Niswaty, 2019).
The story can also be analyzed from the racial grounds where the prominent
discrimination between various classes can be shown which are suggestive through the words
used in story that included ‘Negro’ or ‘Nigger’. The usages of such words are suggestive of the
discrimination posed to African American in those days. In another sentence that included
“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 Sartorius, the Mayor –he who fathered the
edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes, the

ENGLISH 3
dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity” (Kunte, 2016). Through the
sentences, it is cleared that Sartorius wanted to enforce rules in the African- American area
where they were seen as workers not the one available for socialization. It could be said that
there was strong prejudice in those days among the people. Such incidents were the proof that
the high degree of prejudice has been shown in every part of the story.
The another aspect of racial discrimination that is shown in the story is gender
discrimination which was visible in the incident of the Father death’s of Emily where it was
mentioned that when the Emily’s father died whole town visited at the funeral: “the men out of
respectful affection for a fallen monument and the women mostly out of curiosity” (Lewis,
2015). It means that women visited the funeral for gossips while men to gain the attention of the
woman. Through this incident, Faulkner tries to portray men serious and caring while woman
reluctant. This also shows the stronger side of the men.
In another sentence, “only a man of Colonel Satoris’s generation could have invented it
and only a woman could have believed it”. In the sentence, the Colonel has been considered the
ingenious or a man of godly existence while Emily is not even mentioned which is suggestive of
superiority of the male generation over female.

ENGLISH 4
Bibliography
Afsar, B., & Masood, M. (2018). Transformational leadership, creative self-efficacy, trust in
supervisor, uncertainty avoidance, and innovative work behavior of nurses. The Journal of
Applied Behavioral Science , 36-61.
Kunte, M. (2016). Reviewing literature on employee wellness practices. Journal of Strategic
Human Resource Management , 66-78.
Lewis, N. (2015). Speak Better Write Better English. New York: Goyal Publishers &
Distributors.
Pratiwi, l Jihan, N., & Niswaty, R. (2019). The Influence of Work Facilities on Employee
Performance at the Regional Financial Management Agency Secretariat Section of South
Sulawesi Province. Jurnal Ad'ministrare 6 , 35-44.