A Rose for Emily by William Faulkners - Coursework Example

Undoubtedly one of William Faulkner’s most famous short story, ‘A Rose for Emily’ exemplifies the Southern pride and the social dynamics that come into play in its setting. It is his first story to be published in a magazine with national circulation and it has been deliberated many times over (Towner, p.76). The reason for this is not mainly due to the popularity the story brings or the endearing cultural underlying theme that it possesses but the reality and the subtlety on which Faulkner, in his artistry, has created. The reader is then transported into the time just after the American Civil War when the clash between old traditions and the new revolution is dynamically in the air. Plotting ‘A Rose for Emily’ It has become imperative to take the story in its historical context for the reader to understand the implications and the attitudes of the characters, the townspeople in particular, to Ms. Emily Grierson and how it affects the entirety of the plot. The old tradition that encompasses the manner by which the people look at Ms. Grierson, sometimes with pity and other times with disdain marks the pull of the interest on which the characters create. It is also impossible not to take the ending as the focal point of the story and quite frankly the main reason for its relentless reputation over the years. The macabre ending gives a lasting impression on the reader and the perceived horror that the story implies. The author delicately induces to the audience the details by which the narrator suggests the events of the story. At one point as Emily went to the drugstore to buy poison, as she claims she would kill rats with, it insinuates that the pharmacist contains much ‘affection’ for her to be objective in the purpose of the arsenic. The man has thought it to be a means for her to commit suicide and thus the entire town thought it to be true. They all waited for the anticipated news of her death but it never came. It is worth analyzing though that there was no secondary explanation sought by the town when it finally came to be that she did not kill herself. The character is much entrenched in the structure of the town to question the events that did not ensue (Curry, par. 2-5). The town does honor her as in her femininity they refuse to point out certain issues. She appears to be present and concurrently absent in the representation. She remains an image that cannot be recapitulated through the narrator. There is in a greater sense a respect for her secrecy that the women convey to her as they would have requited for their own. The concern for the putrid stench that emanates from her house was indicative of this. Though they are bothered by it, no one was willing to go so far as to say it to her directly. This is why they have devised some plan to freshen the house best way they can without her ever knowing it (Curry, par. 8-11). This courtesy that they extend toward her is a sign more than that which pertains to her as a woman per se but to her status as a symbol of a life which the town has abandoned for the modernity of daily life. The Past and the Present in the Southern Context Joseph Urgo maintains that there is a difference between the existence of memory with regard to the present and the future. In essence, the reliving of events from the past and bringing them into reality at the present poses deliberation to the identity of the narrative. “It seems that Faulkners works become the gateway into a Southern past, where the shades wait for their stories to be told.” This passage demonstrates itself to be a quintessential definition of Faulkner and his writing. Here, Faulkner is portrayed as Cerberus, the keeper of the gates towards the kingdom of Hades and the underworld in Greek Mythology. He marks the pivotal point in capturing these stories that bewilders the readers and fascinates the past and perplexes the reader all at the same time. As an author, he documents the features of the long-ago and presents it without suppressing its nature. He in effect re-organizes the past without pretenses and imparts it clearly through his narratives (Lucero, par. 10-11). Much for Faulkner’s compelling stories such as ‘A Rose for Emily’ is the context on which the history of the South rings the tension of the characters and their action. The characters are more a truth that transcends the historical truth than the experience of it unto itself (Forter, par. 6). His writings may be deemed as characteristic of the movement towards white supremacy and patriarchy that is apparent in the history of the United States. This is of course a major conflict in the Civil War as the Union and Confederate soldiers battle it out in what proved to be a definitive war in history. Had it not turned out the way it did, there is no doubt that there are a plethora of concepts and rights that are instilled today that would have been taunted on the context of history. Faulkner and the Historical Imperative Maybe it is by irony or sheer will that Faulkner himself once said “it is my ambition to be, as a private individual, abolished and voided from history,” when most of his works divulges into the history of his surroundings for the most part. It may have become an imperative to disregard his life in the analysis of his works but it is certainly something that is worth the attention it discredits. Consciously or not, Faulkner incorporates his place of origin to most of his writings in a great extent far beyond the moorings he does not want it to take. The town of Jefferson, which is the setting for ‘A Rose for Emily’ is his own town rendered into his fictional work. His family history, as his origins did partake to some significant degree in the unfolding of the South’s history (Towner, p.1-2). In the funeral the old men are dressed in their Confederate uniforms to indicate their respect for the vast implication of history in their life (Knickerbocker, par.12). The Confederacy may have lost but their ideals remained, especially to those who lived during that time in history. Reading Faulkner compels for a re-evaluation of modernism in his context. He is at the core, a Southern writer and history proves to be the center for most, if not all, of his works. His narratives are characteristic of one that reverts back to the beginning (Aboul-ela, p. 142). It is imperative that the view of modernism is altered in the reading of ‘A Rose for Emily as it does not fit into the story lines by which Faulkner adheres upon. It requires informed criticism to comprehend the work fully. Literary criticism by causality is then nothing less of literary history in this context. In Yoknapatawpha, as with Jefferson, the setting for the story and of other novels and short stories by the author, interests and induces people to classify him and his stand as a Southerner in a time of racial unrest in the United States. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, this is what journalists wanted to know about him. The themes which are recurrent in his writings make it difficult and almost impossible to not categorize him in this level and label. It becomes that historical means is the main and necessary factor to analyze such works despite the availability of other more modern approaches to literary criticism. Faulkner criticism, in reference to his works has founded itself to be an inclined supposition exclusive to one of the greatest American writers of all time. An exclusivity that is well-deserved upon his vast contribution to literature (Peek and Hamblin, p.29). The Death of Emily “And now Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of those august names where they lay in the cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of Union and Confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson” (Faulkner, par. 2). While she was alive Ms. Emily Grierson stood for much of the past that the whole town has forgotten. Her house rotten and forgotten, ‘an eyesore’ as her neighbors put it is one that marks the end of a past they would to an extent rather forget. This rather implies the attitude of the people between keeping into memory the implications of the past and the curiosity that the woman upholds. The tax collection that they were unable to collect from her, despite its legality and necessity confirms the stance of Emily as an inherent categorization of a past that they could not dismiss. She represents an elastic notion of respect for history and culture that they have been accustomed to while the passing of time has deemed her gratuitous and even a sort of town nuisance. Either way, they are unable to confront her as the pride that is still abound in her persona still equips her and her contemptible opinion of other people. Her stature while she was younger as when her father was still alive remained set on her and all of the others knew that it is a part of her they can never abolish. Perhaps, the hope that they had for her to marry Homer Barron would have unsettled the excessive pride which is characteristic of the old rich of the South, and be that as it may that Homer is a ‘yankee’ altered her attitude drastically towards modernity and acceptance. This is why when he disappeared, remorseful as they were for what could have been, there was not much second thought for the discontinuance of what was perceived as an imminent marital union. The Historical Requisite The number of literary criticism that critics adhere to these days bounds many writings and categorizes them succinctly. ‘A Rose for Emily’ and its historical criticism make it imperative for the reader to be aware of history to fully comprehend what the story tells. It is an androgynous concept, in a manner of speaking, which makes for it as an essential reading in most academic setting. It requires knowledge of the past and it makes the reader appreciative of both the literary work and the history it contains. The story takes us back to a time in history and the social and cultural undercurrents that Faulkner has fascinatingly endorsed. It unmindfully entertains while transporting its reader to a portal of history that would otherwise have remained in history books. Bibliography Aboul-ela, Housam. Other South: Faulkner, Coloniality and the Mariategui Tradition. Pittsburgh, MO: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007. Curry, Renee R. "Gender and authorial limitation in Faulkners A Rose for Emily. ." The Mississippi Quarterly 22 June 1994. Forter, Greg. "Freud, Faulkner, Caruth: trauma and the politics of literary form.(Sigmund Freud, William Faulkner, Cathy Caruth." Narrative 1 Oct. 2007. Knickerbocker, Eric. "William Faulkner: The Faded Rose of Emily." Mr. Renaissance. 15 Mar. 2003. 17 Apr. 2009 . Lucero, Jessica. "Finding Faulkner: Man and Legend." Journal of Modern Literature 22 June 2007. Peek, Charles A., and Robert W. Hamblin, eds. A Companion to Faulkner Studies. United States: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc, 2004. Towner, Theresa M. The Cambridge Introduction to William Faulkner. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Read More