Rose for Emily

Introduction

For many years society has embraced the idea that the difference between men and women were biologically determined. Thou through traditions, media, and peers we act accordingly to how others view us. (Birk, 203-13) Each individual has pressure placed upon them based on their gender.

Our sex is determined by genetics while our gender is programmed by social customs. Some theories interpret that a women is tender and a loving mother while on the other hand men are aggressive hunters and are the dominant one of the family. People who support this theory seems to believe that men and women are happier when fulfilling the roles nature determined for them. (Birk, 203-13) Women are to be nurturing and men are to be providers by nature. An character gender role is shaped during socialization. Individuals learn the ways, traditions, norms, and rules of getting along with others. A persons environment has a big influence on the roles deemed accurately for men and women. In "A Rose for Emily," we see the effects of socially given gender roles for a women along with the same social perception. (Birk, 203-13)

For many generations status has been the envy and the demise of many people. William Faulkner intriguingly depicts status, society, and the role of women in his short fiction "A Rose for Emily." He implies status causes many upheavals in a community and demonstrates how the society of a region reacts to that status. (Birk, 203-13) He furthers his ideas with the thought of women as the instigators in a community and shows their inferiority to men. Emily is a woman that has had a hard life. Her family made it so that she was held in high regard in the public eye. She was not theoretical to come across relationships that were beneath her stature. The town, being the antagonist, drives Emily to her insanity because they will not allow her to lead a normal life, wishing her to follow the roles given to a woman of her status. She gives a split between gender roles and social roles because of these problems. She was expected to be the model lady for the town, yet when the days of her fathers passing came, she became the thing that the rest of the people shied away from, even after the help they tried to provide. (Gregory, p 1)

Our time and age now is much different now with women leaving to jobs, more than one usually, and men staying at home taking care of the kids. The man does not have to be a blue collared worker to be a man, and the women doesn't have to be a dainty weak being who needs to have someone to protect her. (Gregory, p 1) It is not a point to try showing that you are the head of the house anymore, because it has become a matter of bringing home the bacon. Once a man and women have gotten passed this small hindsight of gender ...