A Rose for Emily
Alicia Adame
Mrs. Demiter
English 113-801
04/19/2013
A Rose for Emily I chose “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner as my topic for my final research paper because I felt that it flowed very well, and I loved the twist at the end. Emily was an extremely private character therefore you had to rely on the gossip from the town to figure out who she truly was. I feel that the three most important elements in this story would be the themes, the tone and the characters. There are many different themes that can be discussed in “A Rose for Emily.” The most important theme that Faulkner wants to point out in his story is that of loneliness and isolation. Being completely isolated from other people can make a person go crazy as we clearly see in this story. Emily was isolated from everyone. Her father pushed any man that tried to pursue her away because he believed that his daughter was too good for them. Also, her father made it apparent to everyone in town that he believed his family was more important and should be respected in higher regard than anyone else in town. This made all of Emily’s neighbors pitty her and they often sat around and gossiped about her life. The way her father acted made everyone in the town basically turn their backs on her to where she had no friends. Finally, it appeared that a man was trying to pursue her after her father died but it turns out that he was not really all that interested in her. All of this isolation and rejection eventually brought Emily to her breaking point. She couldn’t deal with not having anyone to spend her life with therefore she killed Homer, the man whom everyone thought was pursing her, and kept his body so that she wouldn’t be alone. Another theme seen throughout this story is that of tradition. Tradition is something that many people take very seriously and trying to break a tradition can often put individuals into a state of uproar. Emily’s house was a part of the tradition. It represented
Mrs. Demiter
English 113-801
04/19/2013
A Rose for Emily I chose “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner as my topic for my final research paper because I felt that it flowed very well, and I loved the twist at the end. Emily was an extremely private character therefore you had to rely on the gossip from the town to figure out who she truly was. I feel that the three most important elements in this story would be the themes, the tone and the characters. There are many different themes that can be discussed in “A Rose for Emily.” The most important theme that Faulkner wants to point out in his story is that of loneliness and isolation. Being completely isolated from other people can make a person go crazy as we clearly see in this story. Emily was isolated from everyone. Her father pushed any man that tried to pursue her away because he believed that his daughter was too good for them. Also, her father made it apparent to everyone in town that he believed his family was more important and should be respected in higher regard than anyone else in town. This made all of Emily’s neighbors pitty her and they often sat around and gossiped about her life. The way her father acted made everyone in the town basically turn their backs on her to where she had no friends. Finally, it appeared that a man was trying to pursue her after her father died but it turns out that he was not really all that interested in her. All of this isolation and rejection eventually brought Emily to her breaking point. She couldn’t deal with not having anyone to spend her life with therefore she killed Homer, the man whom everyone thought was pursing her, and kept his body so that she wouldn’t be alone. Another theme seen throughout this story is that of tradition. Tradition is something that many people take very seriously and trying to break a tradition can often put individuals into a state of uproar. Emily’s house was a part of the tradition. It represented
Cited: Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." Roberts, Edgar. Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Glenview: Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. 91-96. Print. Shmoop Editorial Team. "A Rose for Emily Analysis"Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.