A Rose for Emily The Use of Color In A Rose for Emily, one of William Faulkner’s works, tells a story of Miss Emily in a small town of southern America. She was a daugther of a super strict and controlling father who kept her in solitude until her death. Miss Emily was always thought of as a weird and mysterious person to her neighbors, but the neighbors confirmed their theories of Miss Emily when they found out that she had killed her lover, Homer Barron and slept with his body for forty years in the upstairs of her house. Faulkner uses complex plots and a mixed-up time sequence to approach a despairing and gloomy image of Miss Emily to the reader. However, Faulkner uses colors to represent certain moods and mental conditions of Miss Emily during the story The color black has appeared twice in the whole story, one is in the first description of Emily’s appearance, is when the officials went to her house to discuss the tax issue.
You could tell Lily was afraid of her father, seeing how she hesitated to tell him about events such as her birthday. Lily was also born and raised in rags, since her mother died when Lily was at a young age. After her mother died, Lily was stranded with a confused and angry father, and had to sew her own clothes, since it is all she had. These two stories already look the same, and both are only a fraction of the way in. Huck’s life was extremely terrible until he starting living with the Widow Douglas, which is the equivalent of when Lily went to live with the Boatwright sisters.
A Rose for Emily: A Literary Analysis Shanna Ockert A Rose for Emily is the story of an old woman who has lived in the town of Jefferson her entire life. The narrator illustrates the theme of decay in the town, Emily’s house, and Emily herself. The story begins with the town finding out about Emily's death, and throughout it we learn of the life of Emily, and her relationship with the town, her father, and her lover. At the end of the story we find out about the disturbing truth that Emily was hiding. As Emily grows older so does Jefferson.
Chanda Secrets First Log: Chapters 1~14(Part1) Plot: -The unknown disease took away Sara’s Life. -The feeling of Chanda’s family after the death of Sara. -Jonah changed into a whole different person. Response #1: At this pointing the novel – The death of Sara has been introduced, the relationship between Jonah and Mrs.Kabelo, Chanda’s mama gets worse. Sara is Chanda’s half-sister.
Roderick’s sister, Madeline, suffers from a similar disease but she is dying off, like “a flower without water”. When Madeline supposedly dies, Roderick and the narrator note the slight smile and flush of color on her face, making her seem alive. Roderick later claims to have heard Madeline’s faint heartbeat and breathing from the vault, leading him to believe that Madeline has not rested in peace but came back from the dead. At the end, Madeline walks to the narrator’s room and Roderick dies from the fright of the events he foresaw would happen. Madeline dies from the exhaustion of not having food for a week and then walking from the vault to the narrator’s room.
In many stories, some characters isolate themselves from society due to certain events which have occurred in their lives. In the short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily Grierson is the victim to such proceedings. In this case, Emily’s isolation and therefore loneliness is caused by the changing south, her father’s controlling demeanor, and by her own arrogance and uptight attitude. Emily grew up during a very awkward time in a changing community in the south. Her house growing up was once lively and grand, and stood elegantly beside others on what had been the most select street in town.
The town’s people | | |have received the news that Miss Emily has died. The story takes the reader through several periods of Miss Emily’s | | |life where we learn that her death is the culminating loss and not only the end to a family legacy and a home that | | |was such a permanent fixture in the town, but also a chance for a new beginning, a change, a chance to solve |
The house in which she lives in was once upon the select street of the town, but eventually it becomes constantly neglected and unappreciated. The “stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pump” (542) is a visible reminder of Miss Emily’s unrelenting attitude to submit herself to change, such as denying father’s death and not paying taxes. The house also symbolizes her physical and emotional disintegration, as well as becoming alienated from the town for a decade. When the Board of Aldermen confronts Miss Emily about her taxes, it is noticed that there is a thin gold chain buried in the folds of her clothing. There is a silence among the room and that is when “they could hear the invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold chain” (544).
A few routine visits from the townspeople, companionship from Homer Barron, who is found as a skeleton in her house upon her death, and assistance from her house keeper Tobe is the only interaction Miss Emily has with the outside world. In a community infiltrated with evolving social standards brought on by an ever changing political and technological country, Miss Emily is left as “the victim of southern tradition and culture” (Fang, 18). Her victimization, and ultimate ostracism, is a result of the community’s inability to perceive Miss Emily as anything but a “high and mighty” (Faulkner, 392) Grierson who became a “disgrace to the town” (Faulkner, 395) when the working class Northerner, Homer Barron, began courting her. The beginning and end of the story illustrates the townspeople’s almost indifferent opinion of Miss Emily’s death through the narrator’s recollection of events. From the beginning, the community depicts Miss Emily more as an unwanted object they wish to explore than a recently deceased person.
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. At the end of the story it is shocking how we find out about the disturbing truth that Emily Grierson was hiding. Overall, A Rose For Emily illustrates the theme of decay in the town, the house, and in Miss Emily herself. Symbolism in A Rose for Emily is presented through the important themes of tradition versus change, the power of death, and the symbol of watching. The theme of tradition versus change becomes very apparent throughout the story A Rose for Emily.