a rose for emily
Authors traditionally use symbolism as a way to represent the sometimes-intangible qualities of the characters, places and events in their work. In the short story, "A Rose For Emily", William Faulkner uses symbolic elements to define and characterize Miss Emily Grierson.Faulkner uses symbolism to compare the Grierson house with Emily's life. This is emphasized throughout by the symbolism of the decaying house, which parallels Miss Emily's physical deterioration and demonstrates her mental disintegration. Emily's life, like the house, which decays around her, suffers from lack of genuine love and care.The eternal characteristics of Miss Emily's house parallel her physical appearance to show the changes brought about by years of neglect. For example, the house is located in what was once a prominent neighborhood that has deteriorated. Originally white and decorated in "the heavenly lightsome style" of an earlier time, the house has become "an eyesore among eyesores"(Faulkner 204). Through lack of attention, the house has advanced from a beautiful representative of quality to an ugly holdover from another era. Similarly, Miss Emily has become an "eyesore" for instance; she is described as a "fallen monument"(Faulkner 204) sy
Unfortunately, those standards are unattainable (Powell). "Even being left alone, and a pauper, and humanized"(Faulkner 207) Miss Emily held herself "a little to high" for what she was. mbolizing her former beauty and later ugliness. " As a lady might press a rose between the pages of a history of the South, she keeps her own personal rose, her lover, preserved in the bridal chamber where a rose color pervades everything. In fact she is hopelessly out of touch with the modern world-all of these things make them feel superior to her, and also to the past, which she represents. (Brooks, Warren 159) Finally, the whip symbolizes the strictness and control that Emily's father had over her. Once she had been "a slender figure in white"(Faulkner 207) later she is obese and "bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water with eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face"(Faulkner 205). Like a dried flower, it reminds her of the joy she had in her otherwise empty life. Perhaps the narrator offers this story as "a rose for Emily. She was fast becoming obsolete just as the "china-painting" lesson did. The domineering attitude of Emily's father keeps her to himself, inside the house, alone until his death. In her dreary existence, there was only one bright spot, one "Rose.
Common topics in this essay:
Miss Emily's,
Miss Emily,
Likewise Emily,
Rose Homer,
Emily Grierson,
Brooks Warren,
Grierson Faulkner,
Rose Emily,
,
miss emily,
William Faulkner,
story rose,
miss emily's,
story rose emily,
rose emily,
emily held little,
emily's life,
life emily,
emily held,
emily grierson,
emily's father,
house miss emily,
short story rose,
house miss,
|
Acceptance Essays
