A Rose For Emily (1982 words)
A Rose For EmilyThe Factors that Form the Character Emily Grierson
The characters in a work of literature are not only formed by their characteristics, but also by the story. There are many factors in a story which shape the characters. These may include the setting, mood, and theme. In William Faulkner’s ?A Rose for Emily?, the conflict between past and present, chronological order and generations, her physical appearance and the grotesque mood affect the way the reader views Emily Grierson.
In the small town of Jefferson, somewhere in the south, lived a woman named Miss Emily. After her father died, the Colonel pardoned her taxes. This caused conflict as she got older since there was no written record of this information. During the two years after her father’s death the only person that left the house was a Negro man that went to get her groceries and tended to the house. As time passed, Miss Emily’s neighbors began to notice a foul smell coming from her house. The judge refused to do anything about it, so men of the town would deposit lime around her house late at night. The smell went away after a few weeks. The town felt sorry for Miss Emily since she was still single at the age of thirty. When the women of the town called Miss Emily to offer condolences after her father’s death, Miss Emily told them her father was not dead. She said this for three days until she gave in and buried him. During the summer after her father died, a construction company began to pave sidewalks. She became close with one of the workers names Homer Barron. Miss Emily went to the drug store for poison. The people of the town thought she was going to kill herself with it. At this time Miss Emily bought a man’s toilet set in silver, a new outfit, and a nightshirt. Now the town knew they got married. When the people saw Miss Emily again she was very old. Soon after that she died in one of the downstairs rooms at the age of seventy-four. After a few days had passed, the townspeople explored her house. In one room was a man’s toilet set, and his outfit. They found the man lying in bed. Underneath his nightshirt he was rotted. Next to him was a pillow with an indent from another person’s head. On the pillow was a strand of gray hair.
A character’s physical appearance affects the reader’s feelings. When Emily Grierson, the main character, is introduced in the story she is pronounced dead. Immediately the reader feels remorse for her. However, this sorrowful view of Miss Emily soon changes. Her house is described as ??an eyesore among eyesores? (Faulkner 36). It was deteriorating, much like the way Miss Emily does in the story. The reader first knows of what she looks like when she has an encounter with members of the community. The people of the community describe her as being:
?a small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her waist and vanishing into her belt, leaning on an ebony cane with a tarnished gold head. Her skeleton was small and spare; perhaps that was why what would have been merely plumpness in another was obesity in her. She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from one face to another… (Faulkner 37-38)
She seems to have a scary appearance that is not pleasing to look at. The next time she is seen ??her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows-sort of tragic and serene? (Faulkner 40). She now has a demeanor that is more welcoming. The last time Miss Emily is described ??she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray? (Faulkner 44). Her hair was not an ordinary gray. It was ??pepper-and-salt iron-gray?? (Faulkner 44). The reader now pictures Miss Emily as being very old.
Faulkner uses the
