Outcasts In Society

That little orphan boy, that one family member who made an unforgivable mistake, or even that shy girl who sits in the corner of the room all endure isolation; although all of the situations vary, the people affected suffer the same harsh effects of isolation. Isolation does not only affect a person’s feelings it affects their view on the world, society and their interpretations of illusion and reality. For example in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, multiple characters suffer various different forms of isolation ranging in severity. Although self inflicted and forced isolation possibly could motivate distant and abnormal personalities, social isolation

The need to belong is universal, all human beings want to feel a sense of belonging to a group. This could be seen as an evolutionary response where people who were ostracised from groups or communities often had to struggle to survive on their own which is no mean feat. Humans are social creatures, even if they manage to live off the land on their own, without human interactions, they could have mental breakdowns and go crazy. Others who witness the social exclusion of that person would not want to go through the same fate as him and adapt to detect ostracism early.

Robert Smith once said “If you feel alienated from people around you, it's because no one tries to understand you.” Countless characters are terribly alienated from their own societies and their own communities. By using alienated characters (typically because of gender, race, class, creed or another characteristic) authors show values of a society. Mayella Ewell is alienated because of her family name, where she lives and how unsocial she is. The author of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, shows how the town of Maycomb has the assumptions and moral values of a social hierarchy, strong prejudice and are very concerned about their ‘image’ by alienating Mayella Ewell.

“A Rose for Emily” is a dark, suspenseful Gothic tale in which a young girl is put on a pedestal by a town who sees her as haughty and scornful. Miss Emily Grierson’s father controls her and her love life, pushing away all people until he dies and Emily is left alone. As her life goes on the townspeople watch her and judge Emily, almost turning her life into a spectacle to be talked about. At her death, a gruesome sight is unfolded when her lover of over forty years ago is found decomposed in her upstairs room. William Faulkner effectively builds epic suspense in “A Rose for Emily” by the unchronological order of the story, the treatment of Emily’s father towards her, and her family’s history of mental illness.

This pushed poor Emily over the edge of insanity and led her to commit the heinous act of murder. In the back of her mind, she probably had only one thought if she couldn't have him, then no one else ever

Authors of classic American literature often utilize a character’s development to establish a worldview or opinion. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby, Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald use their narrators, Huck Finn and Nick Carraway, to suggest an argument about American society. Seeking adventure, both characters embark on a journey, but their encounters with society leave them appalled. While they each have personal motives for abandoning their past, both end up interacting with different cultures that lead them to a similar decision about society and their futures. Ultimately, they stray from the dominant culture in order to escape the influence of society.

Both Emily and Robert are prematurely judged by the narrators in both stories, and the assumptions are so far fetched from the reality. Miss. Emily is perceived to be a lonely old woman, whom nobody ever spoke with. Since they never talk with her or learn anything about what is going on in her life, the townspeople begin to gossip to make up for this. They knew her father had driven away any man from becoming close to her, and they just thought to themselves, “ poor Emily” (32).

After reading A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, many people initially wonder why Miss Emily would murder Homer Barron. When reviewing the events of the story, it becomes apparent that she displayed symptoms, manifestations of her mental state in her behavior, of being socially inept and thus capable of this heinous crime. These symptoms are unsurprising, as her father represses her, withholding her from the public. Emily accordingly displays symptoms of this repression by evading authorities and the townspeople. Faulkner is trying to get the reader to go back and review this problem-the cause of Homer’s murder- by identifying the signs that this crime occurred and Emily’s symptoms of mental instability.

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.

There was a man who felt the pain of isolation because he was very opinionated. The majority of the people in his world do not agree with him, making him feel alone and want to escape. Sandra Cisneros’ House On Mango Street, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, all share the unexpected benefit of isolation which leads each character to the discovery of the need for change within themselves or within their societies. Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street, shows a want for change through Esperanza’s unfortunate upbringing. Esperanza feels isolated because she doesn’t have friends and she does not have anything in common with her family.

As the story goes on, Faulkner describes Emily’s death: “When Miss Emily Grierson died the whole town went to her funeral: the men out of respectful affection for a fallen monument and the women mostly out of curiosity” (Faulkner). Faulkner emphasizes that while men are caring and respectful women act only based on curiosity. Indeed, the role of women in the southern society is less significant than the role of

It is clear that in her era, Miss Emily was seen as traditional American Southern women, who lived to become an inferior women to man but was later a burden to her society. She was a lady who was secluded from society, lived a psychopathic life, which at the end, and was no secret for the town’s people. While Miss Emily was alive, she lived in a secluded home of a single father, thus leading her to be dependent upon him. She did not have much of a socially engaged life, for her father drove men away. When he finally died, Miss Emily told the townspeople that he was not dead, and finally, on the third day, let the town’s people buried him (William Faulkner 1105).

When Emily meets Homer Barron, a northern laborer who comes to town to pave the streets, she becomes infatuated with him as they begin to spend time together. However, their budding relationship is met with disapproval and criticism from the townspeople, who are opposed to a southern aristocrat being romantically involved with a working-class northerner. This disapproval intensifies after Emily's father dies, and the townspeople worry that she will lose her status in society if she marries someone beneath her social class. Emily's powerlessness in this situation is evident, as she is unable to assert her own desires and must conform to the expectations of others. Through this aspect of the story, Faulkner highlights the impact of societal norms and expectations on personal relationships and the ways in which they can be used to exert power over individuals.

Emily Grierson in the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner goes through depressing events in her life, but how she deals with these stressors is what is interesting. Ms. Grierson has to deal with the loss of her father. Additionally, the fact that her new found lover did not want to marry her and could leave her at anytime causes more stress. Both of these situations lead her to isolate herself from other people, fearing the thought of the town looking at her as weak. The loss of her father, her lover Barron possibly leaving her, and the thought of being weak, causes Emily Grierson to obtain the fear of abandonment.

She was in denial and had an obvious attachment to her father. When seen right after her father’s death, she had no guilt on her face, no remorse. Faulkner uses this to show how mentally deranged and schizophrenic-like Miss Emily is. She is imagining that her father is still alive and is keeping his corpse when he is obviously passed.