Society's Feeling in the Early 20th Century Towards Spinsters and "A Rose for Emily"

Introduction

Art and literature are meant to highlight the weakness, strengths, fairness and injustices that occur in a society. Therefore, the basic aim of any literature piece or writing in any era has been to highlight the events in a society that can have a strong influence on the various moral and social values. Hence, the literature history is full of such example that focuses on a concern that may affect the society and the overall practices that are exercised. One of such examples is the short story written by William Faulkner by the name “A Rose for Emily”. The short story was published first in the paper known by the name “Forum” in the year 1930. The story revolves around the character of Miss Emily Grierson. In fact, Faulkner has often described the title of the story as “allegorical”. This refers to the fact that the writing tells the story of a woman who has faced tragedy as a result of the various events in the society. Hence, overwhelmed by her story, Faulkner has tried to compensate her grieves by offering her a rose.

Discussion

The short story revolves around the character of Miss Emily Grierson and her heart touching tale of endurance, perseverance and tragedy. The story depicts of Miss, Grierson, an old noble spinster living in Jefferson falling in love with a Yankee by the name Homer Barron. The story further explains that Grierson did not marry her. Hence, later Miss Emily kills Jefforson, however, overwhelmed by the situation, sleeps with his corpse for next forty years. It is important to note that while interpreting this work very peculiar in nature, majority of the literary experts and critiques focuses on the extra-ordinary form of narration in addition to play with the time (Zhuo & Chang-liu, pp.21). Using the character of Miss Emily Grierson, the author has very explicitly highlighted of how the unmarried old women were mistreated and disrespected in the early 20th century.

However, it is important to note that this short story cannot be considered merely as an exploration attempt or experiment with the narrative chronology. In addition, William Faulkner uses various different aspects of life of the leading character that includes childhood, race, families, obsession, and the irrational societal values that were openly exercised in the South during the beginning of 20th century (Youmans, pp.115).

Hence, it will be fair to say that “A Rose for Emily” can be regarded as a very unusual social commentary. The story further discusses of the misconceptions and biased opinions in the society regarding the demands and the role of women in that era. The story explains of the ways and also the unnecessary meddling and intervention of the society in the personnel lives of the women who are alone and unmarried. It is essential to note that the pressure that the society enforced on such women resulted in a number of side effects that affected not just the ...