Justified Or Not Emily Vs.Granny

Sometimes people are forced to do irrational things due to the circumstances they are

up against. I will play devil's advocate and defend these two characters, Emily Grierson

and Ellen Weatherall, by justifying their actions, to prove to you, the jurors, that they are

not criminally quilty but insane because of extenuating circumstances.

In A Rose for Emily, Emily had a big problem dealing with change. This is seen at

the time of her father's death, as well as when the new generation came to collect taxes.

After her father's death "all the ladies came to offer condolences and aid", but Emily

tried to play off that he was not dead. Many tried to enter but she insisted that nothing is

wrong. Finally, after three days, she let the community in and they took her dead father

(163). Another example of Miss Emily's inability do deal with change is seen when her

taxes are coming to be collected. The Colonel had granted Emily a pardon from taxes,

after her father's death. However, years later, the new generation insisted Emily must

pay her taxes. Her reply, "I don't have taxes in Jefferson. Go see Colonel Satosis."

(162). She had to have known that the Colonel had been dead for many years, but it was

her inability to deal with change that led her to say these words. As seen, with this

example Miss Emily was constantly trying to escape the past, but for her the past was

impossible to avoid.

Novellano 2

Furthermore, Miss Emily's father had a strong hold on her up till the point of his

death. Being the only male figure in her life, it was impossible to meet and date other

men. According to her father, "no one was good enough for his daughter. Many times

the town's people would see him appear in the foreground clutching a horsewhip (163).

After her father's death, Emily never knew another male figure, which concludes she was

completely reliant on the figure of her father. However, it is impossible to rely on

something that does not exist, thus she had to rely on someone else, Homer. Once he

entered he life, Emily had something to hold on to, something to care about, like how she

cared about her father. Homer became the male figure that was missing in Emily's life.

Since all her life she could not have any man she desired, she chose Homer. She was

completely satisfied with her choice and was determined to never let him go. Emily did

not care what the community felt about her. She carried her head up high as she drove

with Homer in the yellow-wheeled buggy on Sunday afternoons (164). In fact the people

were happy and believed, "she would marry him or at least persuade him too" (165).

However, Emily soon found out that Homer liked men (165) and he had no intentions of

marrying her. As a result, she went to the pharmacy to purchase poison but insisted that

she have arsenic with no questions asked (164). This statement shows that many women