A ROSE FOR EMILY

Argumentative Essay: A Rose for Emily

Argumentative Essay: A Rose for Emily

Introduction

This paper aims to analyze one of the famous tales written by William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”. A Rose for Emily is a tale regarding Emily, an old woman, residing in Jefferson. The paper will discuss the argument that Emily Rose was dependent throughout her life on male figures. This factor predicts all of her actions in the tale, which is widely acclaimed by the critics.

Plot Summary

William Faulkner short story “A Rose for Emily” published in the year of 1930. The short story can be separated in five sections. In the first section, narrator of the tale recalls the death event of Emily Grierson attended by the whole town in her home, the place where no stranger entered for more than a decade. Once an upscale and elegant neighborhood, the house of Emily Grierson was last symbol of grandeur of a lost era. After the death of her father, Emily was waived the tax by previous tax mayor Colonel Sartoris, on account that once her father provided money to the town. However, with new administration of the town, several attempts were made to make her pay her taxes. She insisted the new administrative personnel to contact Sartoris and did not want to comment any more (Faulkner, 2007). After that, she began dating with Homer and fall in love with her. However, he was not a marrying guy, but she wanted to marry him. Upon realization that he intends to leave her, she poisoned him and preserves his body. After that event, she began to live alone and cut all her contact with society until her death (Faulkner and Robinette, 1983).

Discussion

Emily was the woman who throughout her life has been dependent on the male figures. This behavior of Miss Emily has been attributed to her father's over protective behavior towards her, which makes her dependent throughout her future. She was raised in a way to be dependent on the male figure i.e. her father. All of her future actions in the tale have been defined from her dependency on male (Tobe, Colonel Sartoris and Homer Baron) figures during her life. Although there were only few male figures in her life, Emily has been dependent on one and another and was not able to live her life without the men she met in her life (Ruthmann, 2007).

The first and most prominent male figure in the tale was her father who is the main cause of her male dependent behavior. Throughout her life, Emily was kept in her house by father behind closed doors so that no other men can see her. The people of the Jefferson town describing the over protection of her father as “Miss Emily slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door" Page2 ...