Stereotypes In A Rose For Emily

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A Woman or a Stereotype?: William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” Is it possible women have taken their long fought battle for equality in positional roles in society for granted? Women have always struggled to defy men’s irrational concept of women as a figure of beauty and family. William Faulkner expertly highlights the gender roles of women in the society of “the old south”. The narrator’s identity in “A Rose for Emily” plays an active role in revealing William Faulkner’s treatment of gender roles as a display of the societal roles of women and the conventional standard of beauty. Faulkner leads the reader to assume that the narrator is a woman who lives in Miss Emily’s town. The narrator speaks on behalf of a group of catty townswomen,…show more content…
Faulkner hints at the idea of ideal women being creatures of beauty and alluring physique, but describes Miss Emily as the opposite. The narrator describes Mill Emily as a “small, fat woman” who “looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water”. (238). Not only is this comparison to a dead body ironic, considering the dead bodies of her father and Homer Barron she left in the house, it’s also a harsh way to describe a woman. Emily’s physical appearance is described in a tone as if her weight is repulsing or unacceptable for women. Another point the narrator makes as to the physical attraction of Miss Emily is her hair. The narrator describes her hair color as a “pepper-and-salt iron grey… like that of an old man” (242). Another ironic play on gender roles by Faulkner is his word choice. Women’s stereotypical household role is cooking in the kitchen, hence the word choice “pepper-and-salt”. Even more ironic, most people would say, “Pass the salt-and-pepper.” Phrasing it backwards feels unnatural, suggesting the unattractiveness of Miss Emily’s hair color. Also, females are supposed to be womanly, so comparing her hair to that of an old man seems offensive. When Miss Emily is seen again around the time she meets Homer, the narrator says her hair was “cut short, making her look like a girl” (240). Once again Faulkner is hinting at society’s idea of a perfect female as a mature woman, which Emily’s hair cut
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