I don't really think the narrator feels sympathy for Emily. I see the narrator as one of the gossipy townspeople that only take interest in Emily for selfish amusement, and to interfere with her life. I see the townspeoples' comments "Poor Emily" more as a statement of pity that she couldn't be like the rest of them, than as a statement of real concern and sympathy for her. 3. I don't think that it's believable that the pharmacist would give Miss Emily the poison, because, as he stated, she had to state her reasons for wanting the arsenic by law, and she clearly refused to.
Her insanity drives her to challenge the status quo. "Miss Emily's story constitutes a warning against the sin of pride: heroic isolation pushed too far ends in homicidal maddness" (Brooks 14). Miss Emily, as many critics would have us believe, was not wholly responsible for her actions, her crimes. From her birth Emily is manipulated by a father whoe
” (311). The people of Jefferson were shocked, but nevertheless they only pitied Emily and gave excuses for her actions: “We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that” (311). This is where the people of Jefferson made a major mistake.
Emily is the protagonist of the literary because the whole story revolves around her. The towns people are considered the antagonist which means that they were opposed to or struggled against Emily. Like the time when she was around town with Homer Barron and then some of the ladies of the town thought that is was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The ladies of the town gossiped and speculated upon Ms. Grierson’s actions. Emily also suffered from a mental illness that would confuse her about date and time.
The community pities her but really doesn’t want to help her. Its almost like they talk about and keep an eye on her so that other people don’t find the “skeleton in their closets”. I like how the story is told, it helps us see how judgmental people can be in thinking they are helping someone else. Having the gossip tell the story brings more mystery into this short tale. I think that if they would have told it in any other point of view it wouldn’t have made as much of an impact on our society or southern society.
It is still a mystery how this could, or even did, affect them in such a way, but nonetheless the townspeople believed it was a result of witchcraft. The girls refused to point fingers, however rumors spread and accusations were made. Once a person was accused, their choices were to confess or be killed. During the trials, the girls sat in the audience and reacted to the actions of the accused. This was added to the so-called evidence against the accused, and often was the settling argument in their demise.
The two women are also suspicious that Minnie committed the murder but are reluctant to present evidence that could insinuate Minnie’s guilt. The story insinuates that Minnie have killed her
Then it went 30 years further back, to explain why she vanquished their fathers. This creates a little bit of mystery as well as going back in time to explain her. STYLE ANALYSIS “A ROSE FOR EMILY” !1 She never changed anything about herself and in doing so, made everyone in the town think she was crazy. “People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were… She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her,
Emily’s decline throughout the story, both physical and societal, parallels the decline of the South after the Civil War (Dilworth 111). Her death represents the death of the “Old South” and its ideologies (Arnsberg 42). The fact that Faulkner chose to characterize the South as a girl could be his way of saying the South is weak and should be pitied (Padget). This is also where feminism comes into play in “A Rose for Emily”. Upon the first reading, it seems as though Faulkner is criticizing the way the South oppresses women.
A Rose for Emily is a short story written by William Faulkner, one of the twentieth centuries greatest writer. This heart throbbing story is a tale about an old woman named Emily living in the small town of Jefferson. Set in the time period of the early nineteenth hundreds, The story, told in five sections, begins in section one by an unknown narrator telling how the town of Jefferson learns of Emily’s unexpected death. The narrator of this story is viewed as a general representation of the overall view of the town people of Jefferson. Throughout each section of the story, we learn of the heart throbbing life and times of Emily, as well as her relationship with the town, her father, and her lover.