The story A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner in my opinion was a very interesting story. The story was about a old and troubled woman named Emily Grierson who, because of her father s death, had become one of the towns obligations and also one of it s problems. Emily was a very stubborn old lady who refused to pay her taxes because of a little tale that Colonel Sartoris, who was the mayor at the time, had told her. He told her that her father had lent the town some money and because of it, in a way of paying her back, all of her taxes were remitted.
Faulkner portrayed Emilys character to be very stubborn and by the end made people think she was crazy. He develops this through many things but the main thing was by her actions to different situations and the way she lived her life This essay is going to talk about the things she said, did and about what other people said about her. Emily Grierson is an old lady who is very stubborn. Faulkner manages to show this through different events that happen in the story and how she reacts towards them. One of the events that happened was when Emily received a tax notice in the mail telling her that she has to pay her taxes.
At this point in time Colonel Sartoris had been dead and there was no recollection in the cities files of what he had told her. Because she had refused to send any money to pay her taxes an alderman had shown up at her door to settle the situation. When he told her she had to pay her taxes Emily simply said I have no taxes in Jefferson. (Faulkner, 142) The gentleman continued insisting that she pay her taxes. Emily believed so much that she was right that she continued to say see Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson. (Faulkner, 143) This was the first time Faulkner showed how stubborn Emily could be.
She told the alderman to leave and that was the end of it. The second incident that showed Emily was stubborn and a little crazy was when she went to that pharmacy to buy some poison. I want some poison I want the best you have. I don t care what kind. (Faulkner, 145) This gave me the impression that she was a little crazy and that it was possible that she was dangerous. It also showed me that she could be very Emily did many things that made her character seem stubborn and crazy. When she received the tax notices in the mail she simply through them into the garbage or mailed them ight back without response.
This showed us how stubborn she was. Miss Emily would manage to make her self disappear for a certain period of time. This would cause people to talk because no one would know where she was or what she was doing. At the end of the story when the town people were walking around her house they finally found what had caused her house to smell as bad as it did. It was Homer Baron. He was laid down on a bed that was in a locked room. This was when they knew she was crazy because she murdered her one lover that she ever had. People in this town liked to gossip a lot about Miss Emily.
When she went to buy the poison from the pharmacy, the town was convinced she was going to kill herself and that she was crazy. When her father had died people called and dropped by the house to give Miss Emily their condolences. For three years she told them that he was not dead and that he was still alive. She refused for her father s body to be disposed. The town thought she was crazy. One of the things they talked a lot about was Miss Emily s servant that worked for her. They made racial comments about him for example when Miss Emily s house started giving off some sort odor.
People started complaining to a judge named Judge Stevens about the smell. All he could say was It s probably a snake or a rat that Niger of hers killed in the yard One lady who complained accused Miss Emily of smelling bad. Miss Emily was pitied throughout the town because she wasnt married. The reason for this was because every time a man wanted to have something to do with Emily her father would scare them away. When Emily started seeing Homer Baron people started to talk. She will marry him and She will persuade him yet people would say.
In conclusion Miss Emily in my opinion was a very troubled lady. All of her problems started the day her father died because in my opinion she couldnt cope with it. Through out the story Emily did many things like refusing to pay her taxes, buying poison and the death of her lover that allowed her town to believe that she was stubborn and crazy old woman. Miss Emily, the main character of this story, lives for many years as a recluse, someone who has withdrawn from a community to live in seclusion. “No visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier” (394).
Faulkner characterizes Miss Emily’s attempt to remove herself from society through her actions. “After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (395). The death of her father and the shattered relationship with her sweetheart contributed to Though her father was responsible for her becoming a recluse, her pride also contributed to her seclusion. “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such” (395). Faulkner uses the feelings of other characters to show Miss Emily’s pride.
Her pride has ept her from socializing with other members of the community thus reinforcing her solitary. But Miss Emily’s father is still responsible for her being a hermit. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away… ” (396). If he had not refuse the men who wanted to go out with Miss Emily, she may have not gone crazy. Miss Emily may have wanted seclusion, but her heart lingered for companionship. Her desire for love and companionship drove her to murder Homer Baron. She knew her intentions when she bought the arsenic poison. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow was the ndentation of a head” (400).
Her deepest feelings and hidden longings were lying in the bed. Miss Emily’s pride resulted in the shocking murder of Homer Baron. Faulkner’s use of characterization to describe Miss Emily and her intentions was triumphant in bring the story to life. Miss Emily’s pride was expressed through her actions, words, and feelings, through a narrator’s direct comments about the character’s nature, and through the actions, words, and feelings, of other characters. Miss Emily’s story constitutes a warning against the sin of pride: heroic isolation pushed too far ends in homicidal madness.
