The title character
of William Faulkner’s renowned short story is depicted to be a tragic figure. A
woman who never had the chance to fully enjoy her life, she seemed to have been
extremely unhappy and as a result lived as a social recluse until the time of
her death.
Miss Emily Grierson
is described as having been born to an old aristocratic family hailing from the
south. It would seem that her whole life was heavily controlled by her father
who, as described in the story, seemed to be a very domineering person. He was
described in one portrait as a “spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his
back to her and clutching a horse whip” (2.10). Through this description the
readers can assume that Miss Emily’s father is a domineering and menacing
figure in her life, and the horse whip that he carried may symbolise his
control over the woman’s life. Also, his back turned to her may suggest of his
disregard for his daughter’s opinion on matters concerning her own life. Though
not directly stated by the author, all of these things seemed to have heavily
affected the way the title character developed.
In the same portrait,
Miss Emily is described as a “slender figure in white” (2.10). From this the
readers can easily imagine that in her youth she may have been quite beautiful,
even pure and innocent. She may have even had quite a number of suitors back in
those days, although unfortunately because of her father’s presence, they may
have been driven back.
Having a strict and
authoritative father such as Mr. Grierson, it is not hard to imagine Miss Emily
as a well behaved and reserved child. She seemed to have been very obedient and
held tremendous respect, if not fear, for her father. This can be assumed from
the following line, “So when she got to be thirty and was still single… even with insanity in the family she wouldn't have turned
down all of her chances if they had really materialized” (2.10). Even though
her father drove away all those suitors, it did not necessarily mean that she
couldn’t have done anything to thwart his actions. However, the line just goes
to show that she did nothing to stop him from preventing all those suitors to
get close to her.
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Because of her father’s domineering presence and control over her
entire life, Emily greatly depended on him spiritually (Qun, 67). She was so used to having his presence
directing her life that when he died she refused to acknowledge his death for
fear of having the sole guiding force in her life taken away from her. As a
result of her father’s death Miss Emily became more of a recluse than she was
before, shutting herself up inside her home and showing great rigidity to the
changes happening around her.
There was a brief
period in the story though when Miss Emily was described to have cut her hair
short “making her look like a girl - with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church
windows”
(3.1). Readers may interpret this as a sign of her will to break away from her
father’s domineering presence. Even though she was already thirty years old at
that time, Emily may have felt that for the first time she has finally gained
freedom.
This sense of freedom did not last however as later on as Miss Emily
grew older she was described as “a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain
descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane
with a tarnished gold head” (1.6).
Miss Emily was no longer the “slender young woman in white”
rather she was this small, fat woman clad in black. It would seem that time had
finally taken its toll on Emily, and life had finally overwhelmed her. The
description of the thin gold chain (with a watch) vanishing into her waist
seemed to suggest that time no longer progressed for the old woman, time had
taken a stand still for her and she no longer felt any growth within herself.
It can be concluded that Miss Emily had experienced a different kind of death,
long before the physical one took her.
Cited Works
Cummings, Michael. "A Rose for
Emily: a Study Guide." Free Study Guides for Shakespeare and Other
Authors. N.p., 2010. Web. 23 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides5/Rosefor.html>.
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for
Emily." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. N.p., n.d.
Web. 23 Dec. 2012.
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html>.
Qun, Xie. "Analysis of the
Changing Portraits in "A Rose for Emily"." Canadian Social
Science 3.2 (2007): 67. Web. 23 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.letras.ufmg.br/profs/marcel/data1/arquivos/Rose4.pdf>.
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