"Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner: What makes Emily unable to have a lasting relationship.

Essay by deazn1High School, 12th gradeB-, July 2007

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In 1931, William Faulkner wrote the short story "A Rose for Emily." The story is about the townspeople talking about an eccentric woman named Emily Grierson. Emily lives alone in her mansion except for a few servants. She falls in love with a charismatic man named Homer Barron and ends up poisoning and marrying in him at the end because he would not commit to her. Throughout the story, Faulkner presents many examples of why Miss Emily Grierson is unable to have a lasting or normal relationship with Homer Barron or any man.

One reason is because of her father. In the story, it mentions about how in the past, her father was protective of her and chased away all the men she was with. So when her father died, she was helpless, with nothing but her money, house, and servants. With her father raising her protectively and now no one to guide her, it resulted in her inability to ever have a lasting or normal relationship.

Another reason is her inability to take care of herself and her property. Generally, women have themselves and their possessions fairly clean and tidy. Emily was described as "a small, fat black woman in black… Her skeleton was small and spare…" Throughout the book, the townspeople always seemed as she was falling apart. Even her house looked like a mess. "Only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay… an eyesore among eyesores." "They could see the leather was cracked; and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their thighs." The horrible condition of Emily and her property made her unbearable to many people.

Emily's house even smelled bad. After Emily poisoned Homer, she left the corpse to rot in her bedroom. Her next...