Faulkner brave characters11/11/2022 Also, Homer does not marry her to restore her home’s glory, making her a murderer. For instance, ego made Emily’s father reject Emily’s suitors rendering her a fallen monument for hitting thirty years while a spinster. The townspeople viewed the Griersons as egotistic, carrying themselves as “high and mighty” (Faulkner, 2012). Emily’s life has men standing between her and her happiness, her father, Homer Barron, and the patriarchal leadership in her hometown, Jefferson. Emily also fulfills this thematic purpose from her youthful times to her golden years. The story also conveys the theme of patriarchy, portraying women as in need of men to secure a respectable position in society. This story’s authorship packs it with a brawl of new versus old as a theme. However, thirty years later, the Board of Alderman, a new generation of leadership, views no one as worthy of tax exemption. The southern ascendancy postulates that aristocrat women be treated with gentility and etiquette, as Colonel Sartoris did by exempting Emily from tax. In other words, proper manners and practicality. This theme also speaks to the townspeople, divided between the old generation upholding the Old South precepts and the young generation who focus on progress. She represents the “old South” that is now gone, never to come back.įurther, her refusal to break the previous agreement of exclusion to tax with the new government indicates her struggle with accepting progress and change, hence clinging to her past life. Emily refuses to “…fasten the metal numbers above her door…” according to the law, even when the whole town embraces this change (Faulkner, 2012). The narrator presents Emily as a living monument of the past resistant to change. The Grierson’s house was once an aristocratic glory-filled home but is now faded in its previous glory, even though Emily still holds it highly. The Emily Grierson character fulfills Faulkner’s thematic purpose of communicating the tussle between tradition and progress. The Theme of Tradition Versus Changeįaulkner packs his story with numerous themes, primarily themes of tradition versus change and patriarchy. William Faulkner successfully delivers his themes using symbolism and functional characterization. Emily Grierson and Homer Barron are the central characters that the author uses to vehicle his themes to his audience. Also, Emily’s gray hair and the Grierson’s house make the story a symbolic meditation of the post-civil war times. The story revolves around the central character Emily, whom the author uses to fulfill his thematic purposes as an embodiment of the themes of traditional versus progress and patriarchy. William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a 1930 short story published as one of the collections of its author, These Thirteen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |