Emily Grierson Compare The Old South To The New South

Emily was growing old. Her hair was shortening and turning gray. Soon after realizing that “Homer was not the marrying man” and that he would much rather spend his time with young male mates, Emily decided to retaliate. In order to not lose what she thought was the love of her life, Emily went down to the nearest drug store and bought some rat poison and gave it to Homer. Homer died and Emily kept his body in the upstairs room where no one would dare to go.

Faulkner says, Emily buys Arsenic from the druggist and the next day Homer is seen entering her home and that was the last time anyone ever saw him or Emily for some time. No one but the negro servant left the house. (Faulkner 455) Emily kills Homer because she doesn’t want him to leave her. If he’s dead, he can’t run

Not only that, as Homer becomes a popular figure in town and is seen taking Emily on buggy rides on Sunday afternoons, it scandalizes the town and increases the condescension and pity they have for Emily. They feel that she is forgetting her family pride and becoming involved with a man beneath her station. Even though Emily is from the high class family, it does not mean that she is living up to the pleasant lifestyle. As a matter of fact, she is actually living a gloomy and desolate life, which is essentially the opposite lifestyle expected for Emily's rank in society by the townspeople. Although Emily once represented a great southern tradition centering on the landed gentry with their vast holdings and considerable resources, Emily's legacy has devolved, making her more a duty and an obligation than a romanticized vestige of a dying order.

The town was advancing with new ideas and as the next generation took charge, they required everyone to pay taxes, even Emily. Still rooted in the past, Emily tells them to go see Colonel Sartoris who relieved her from paying taxes. It is stated that Colonel Sartoris died ten years ago but Emily didn’t accept that. She insisted that they go talk to the Colonel. These were new changes in society that Emily was not accustomed to.

“We remembered all the young men her father had driven away” (453). Miss Emily’s father drove away young men interested in her, not allowing her to have a love life and therefore a life outside of him. This controlling treatment of Miss Emily by Mr. Grierson coincides with Emily’s fight to control her love life with Homer. “Because Homer himself had remarked - he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club - that he was not a marrying man” (454). If it weren’t for the fact that Miss Emily murdered Homer, he would have left her, therefore she used the murder as a way to keep him close to

Miss Emily comes from an old wealthy line of family in the deep south. Faulkner story is highly symbolic, enhancing miss Emily’s values and character. “Miss Emily is described as a fallen monument to the chivalric American South”(Allmon). Faulkner uses the setting of the story to show the emotional state of Emily. The female-male relationship between Emily and her father is strict, oppressive, and controlling; Their relationship has a major impact on Emily’s character Throughout the short story.

When her father died we can see that she is controlling of him and would not release the body for burial. After she loses her father, it is as if she loses her sense of reality. It is as if maybe the old white house is beginning to represent the attitude and ways of Emily. The house is old, dark, and very dusty just as the townspeople think Emily is. Homer Barron is a construction worker from New York.

The Civil War took place in 1861-1865. Since Emily was raised in the South, her family had the same values and morals of the confederate side. Emily’s family was very wealthy and owned a beautiful home. Unfortunately, after the South lost the Civil War they

She lived in an isolated world after her father’s death. Finally, she meets Homer; Homer was a man who knew what he wanted in life, and Miss Emily was not part of it. This drove Miss Emily to do the unthinkable, and she bought rat poison and killed Homer. Years passed, and no one knew that Miss Emily killed Homer and had him lying in the upstairs bed dead. It was intel her death that the towns people realized that miss Emily had become mentally ill with the death of her father and

The dust which is seen throughout Miss Emily’s house is a fitting accompaniment to the lost lives within the house. When the town officials arrive to try to come to an agreement concerning Emily’s annual tax payment, the house smells

The titled short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is set in the post-civil war era in a southern town named Jefferson. The story discusses the themes of race and social class through the characters, Tobe and Miss Emily. Miss Emily Grierson is a distinguished woman in southern society while Tobe is her black manservant. Tobe stays with Miss Emily until her death and suddenly disappears afterwards because their relationship is a remnant of the race relationship in the antebellum South: master and slave. He no longer has any obligations to stay in Jefferson because his duty to Miss Emily is no longer needed since she died.

Homer worked for a construction company with niggers while Miss Emily came from a fortunate family. The reaction of the community is that she is better than him, not realizing that they should be able to love whoever they want, without any rules or social

Miss Emily suffered from illnesses that even the town noticed, but out of a sense of “duty” they never offered to

From the very beginning we learn that Miss Emily Grierson did not go out of her house much, or if she did she did not have a lot of people over because everyone wanted to see inside her house when she died. The narrator makes the house sound like the yard is cluttered with years of historical items. We start getting an insight of Miss Emily’s life now she was traditional and there for a long time in that town. She would not accept charity from anyone even though her father made donations to the city and they were just trying to pay back his kindness. When the next generation comes in modern ideas also come in Miss Emily gets a tax notice, next a formal letter, then a letter from the mayor.

Miss Emily Grierson was raised pre-civil war, so she never knew anything other than living without responsibilities. She was raised by her father who fought in the war. Their family name was known by many as being a well-respected name. They had a big house that I feel represents Emilys