While Faulkner had many themes in A Rose For Emily, I found decay to be quite prevalent throughout the story. The town of Jefferson, the house, and Emily all grew old. Emily lost her mind and her looks. The house lost the beauty it once had due to old age, and the town of Jefferson changed from what she once knew. Faulkner wrote a really good but sad story about an old woman who loses her mind. A Rose For Emily shows the way in which we all grow old and decay. It’s really quite the bedtime story.
Emily is a traditional woman, staying the same over the years despite many changes going on around her. She represents traditions and honor. Emily lives in a timeless world of her own making. Life as she knows it is gone along with her sanity.
Emily’s house, like Emily herself, is a monument, the only remaining emblem of a dying world. Emily’s house also represents alienation, mental illness, death and decay. It is a temple to her living past; the past which she refuses to let go of.
This story made me think of haunted houses because Emily has the typical haunted house. She is the only one to ever walk in or out and no one ever sees, or hears anything from the house. It used to be the house on the block that everyone envied and now it is falling apart.
Emily resembles Boo Radley of To Kill a Mockingbird and Willy Wonka of the Chocolate factory. She is a characterization of the girl who is acclaimed for her beauty and allure in much literature. Or how her one love, Homer Barron, which the town believed had left her, was actually poisoned and left in her bed. No one knows the Emily that exists beyond what they can see, and her true self is only visible to them only after she dies and the secrets of her life are revealed.
I was so confused by this story and I am glad that I read Jamie's response, because it clarified a lot of things for me. Emily seemed like a vary tragic character. She locked herself into her world and didn't allow for any change. In the end, that is what killed her. She became too obsessed in her own little world to watch the world change. Change frightened her and so she refused to change. It was a lesson in flexibility. We have to learn to adapt to our circumstances, or we are doomed to be left behind by progress.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the theme of decay and dying, I read A Rose for Emily in high school and we focused a TON on the same insights Jamie gave.
ReplyDeleteWhat I got from this is that beauty and materials will not last. Beauty and things have nothing behind them. They will not support character and they will not sustain a happy life; shallowness and hollowness have no sustenance. Misery and decay grows from them if we do not know how to build ourselves with humility and a strong character behind the surface.
ReplyDeleteThis was the creepiest story. It seemed like a boring story about an old lady that had died... but I got to the end, and suddenly there is a skeleton in the bed. I was creeped-out and amused at the same time. I mean... he'd been dead for DECADES, and yet there was a gray hair in the bed next to him. Major ew.
ReplyDeleteWow. I didn't get anything out of this story the way Jamie did. The ending was wierd. I didn't like how she bought the arsenic and poisoned the guy. That was just one of the wierdest stories I've read in a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhy haven't I read this story yet?! From reading this post, I have decided that it sounds really interesting and deep, so I will read it right away! Sounds a bit dark and depressing though... :/
ReplyDeleteThis story is really just kind of creepy, but at the same time it makes you think. It doesn't have the typical fairy tale ending and has a drastic measure of situational irony. Did Emily really know what she was doing in her right mind, or is she simply a victim of her environment and situation, her family illness? Faulkner uses the creepiness to make a point and does so very well. If you're super confused on the story there's also an article in RFIW about "A Rose for Emily" that's a little more straightforward.
ReplyDeleteI know this is so off topic, but I just love that these books have lots of small articles instead of just one giant text we have to read. It makes it easier :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your response. I totally agree with you on the whole decay idea, your ideas were well-presented.
ReplyDeleteThanks for mentioning the theme of decay. It is definitely a prevalent and important one in this story. It's important that we have an understanding of which things last and which things don't, and structure our lives accordingly, so that we don't fall into the same things that Emily did.
ReplyDeleteI like the the parallel between Emily's personal decay in appearance and the decay of her sanity/life. Creepy but kinda (only kinda) deep. Nice job, Faulkner!
ReplyDeleteI, too, see the parallels between her decaying death and beauty. With that said, I really enjoyed the connection to Boo Radley of To Kill a Mockingbird. Both are pretty good stories
ReplyDeleteI agree. The story was just too weird.
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