Denying Change in William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily
William Faulkner's, "A Rose for Emily," is a short story about a woman of enduring character. Miss Emily uses the past to exert her will over the townspeople of Jefferson. She possesses an unrelenting outlook towards life, and she refuses to change.Miss Emily is from a well to do family, which has long since lost its fortune, but not its aristocratic thinking and bearing. She holds herself aloof from the rest of the town, because this is how she was raised. Her father was a very domineering man and controlled everything Miss Emily did, so when he passed away Miss Emily felt lost. Times are changing and all that Miss Emily knows is changing too. The only way for Miss Emily to survive is by holding onto the past and to continue to live the only way she knows how. When the ladies of the town call upon her the day after her father's death, they believe that Miss Emily will more "humanized", but this was not to be. She met them at the door and was "dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face" (31). She denies that her father is dead, because she has escaped to the past and doesn't want to
"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town. Another way that Miss Emily denies the present is when she refuses to accept the idea that the town wants her to pay taxes. Miss Emily has once again become aloof. The house in which she lives remains static and unchanged as the town progresses. Their relationship doesn't last and this makes Miss Emily realize that she will be alone again if Homer leaves, so she takes measures to ensure that he will always stay with her. Although the world around her has changed, her attitude and demeanor stay the same. By Miss Emily's refusal to accept the town's modernization, she has kept them from fully leaving their pasts behind. Although he is not in what the townspeople feel is Miss Emily's social class, she chooses to defy the very upbringing she lives by and see him anyway. The town continues to progress and the street that Miss Emily lives on has been modernized. When several men came to her house to talk to her about the notice she politely listened to them then informed them, "I have no taxes in Jefferson. Although the people of the town feel sorry for her, she refuses to live in the present and continues to stay safe in what she has always known. When the mayor of Jefferson writes her requesting that she come by his office in regard to the tax notice, Miss Emily simply returns the notice with a dignified note stating that she never goes out at all (29).
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