A Rose For Emily

Emily's Men

In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner tells the life story of a woman who is a product of a life of dominating male influences, her father, Homer Barron and the men of her community. Emily is a very complex character and upon first glance seems to be on the brink of sanity. But after delving into the story much deeper one will find that she is very much a product of her environment. Throughout her life men have impacted Emily causing her to do things which gave the townspeople a misinterpreted perception of her mental state. The men in her life, her father, who remains ambiguously unnamed, her lover, Homer Barron, along with the town's mens comments, were the main agents in Emily's ever degenerative mental state.

Coming from a wealthy, upscale southern family, Emily was expected to walk the straight and narrow and abide by the rules governed to her. According to Renee Curry, "Emily daily refuses to participate in the symbol-making of her as a precious lady of the Old South..." (411). In the South during the Post-Civil War era, a Southern Belle like Miss Emily was expected to attend social functions, mingling with women her age, building her social eloquence. This is a vital skill that every proper Southern lady should have acquired. Usually, the girls' mother would see to it that her daughter was properly educated in the Southern socialite ways.

Not having a mother to see to it she became a proper southern maiden, her father stepped in to parent her alone. Her father was very protective of his daughter and strict as well. She became very ridged and stiffened by the regiment he set about her. But the story only alludes to how strict he was saying that by the time she was thirty she was still not wed because of her fathers assumed refusal for all the suitors which presented themselves to the family (Faulkner 293). Even though one might think these types of actions taken by her father would cause disdain in Emily it only seems to tighten the bond between father and daughter.

Emily's father is a very straight forward character. A reader can get a clear and concise impression of him when Faulkner writes "Miss Emily, a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette with foreground, his back to her clutching a horsewhip. " (Faulkner 292). These statements show a very intimidating man, who will use force when necessary, protecting HIS pure young girl. In a sense, the role is later reversed when her father passes away. Emily tries to protect her father's body from being buried by the townspeople. She does this by standing between her father and the townspeople, clutching onto her denial of his death for three days. It is as if the stubbornness is inbred into her; he wished her to have no other man besides him, and she would have no other man besides her father.

Coming from a prestigious family, Emily held herself above the rest of the community. Believing that she was better than most, she would never dare to condescend to court with a lower class man. So, when she emerged from her mourning and hermit like lifestyle after some time the townspeople said "she was a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored

church windows - sort of tragic and serene."(Faulkner 293). It is in quotes like this that we become aware that "...the townspeople are extremely sensitive to Emily's psychological state,. When Emily tries to keep her father's corpse, they [the townspeople] believed that she had to do that" according to Laura Getty (235). The reader can see that Emily's fathers' death was the turning point in her life. This changes her from a subordinate into a free, independent woman able to court, able to love, and to ultimately never lose that love again.

In her own heart, Emily would not let herself become just another woman. To do so would bring her to the level of all the other townspeople (Klien 230). With her new found pride she knew she would not let this happen. But the townspeople, despite Emily's strong personality and solid upbringing, still considered her "poor Emily" (Faulkner 293). Comments like these caused Emily to regress back into her home and virtually cut herself off from the rest of the town for a few years. The only figure seen leaving or entering her family home was her manservant, Tobe, who faithfully kept her secret hurts from