Week 6
Prompt 1: To what extent is "Rose for Emily" a response to the outcome of the Civil War?
OR
Prompt 2: Discuss Emily's motives when she bought the rat poison. How could this make her a fallen woman?
YES, Cite evidence. YES, back up your claim with not only evidence but a clear line of reasoning.
Brynn Klaber Week 6: “A Rose for Emily”
ReplyDeletePrompt 1: The Civil War: A battle between the North and South
The story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a response to the outcome of the Civil War, but to an extent. Much like the Civil War was a battle between the North and the South, the story can be viewed as a conflict between the North and the South. The main character in the story, Miss Grierson, represents the traditional South, while her love interest, Homer Barron, symbolizes the industrialized North. When Homer comes into the South, he begins paving sidewalks with new machinery that the Southerners have not been introduced to. Many of the townspeople are upset with Homer because they want to protect the South, and want to keep their town more modern and genteel. As Miss Grierson and Homer grow closer and closer, the women in the town worry that Emily is losing herself and her southern roots. This leads the townspeople to attempt to run Homer out of town, and he ends up “disappearing.” In the text the narrator states, “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time.” Foreshadowing is utilized in this quote to convey the idea that Miss Emily had something to do with Homer’s disappearance. Later in the story it is revealed that Miss Emily did indeed kill Homer, and it can be seen as revenge for what the North was doing to the South. All of the townspeople were upset with Miss Grierson for losing sight of who she was and her traditions, and they believed it was all Homer’s fault. Maybe getting rid of Homer was a way to expiate her mistakes, and make up for how the North was causing issues within the South.
Awesome job conveying how foreshadowing is represented in the text to convey the idea that Miss Emily had something to do with Homer’s disappearance.
Delete- Lilly Cox
Emily Beaupre
ReplyDeletePrompt 1: The Civil War; A Battle Between the North and South
“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner shows the outcome of the Civil War to a great extent. This short story is not only a story about revenge for Miss Emily but also the southern United States. Like the Civil War itself, the story can be perceived as a conflict between the North and South. Miss Emily, an aristocratic woman, is symbolic of the traditional southern values, while Homer Baron, a day laborer, symbolizes the industrialization and change of the North. When Homer comes into Miss Grierson’s town, he is harbinger of change as he begins to industrialize her southern town by paving the roads. Homer’s actions of brining in new machinery and progress into the South is mirrored to Northern carpetbaggers, who went into the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction benefiting only themselves, not the citizens of the South. Even though, the Civil War reunited the North and South, there was still heavy tensions between the two. This can be seen through the relationship of Miss Emily and Homer, a relationship that appalls the rest of the town. Even though the South was disgraced during the war and is very much decaying, very like Emily is, the townspeople still perceive Emily, or the South, as aristocratic and superior than the low status laborers and immigrants of the North, or in this case Homer. Furthermore, Emily’s refusal to accept the changes brought on by the North, such as an official mail service, reflects the challenge to the South’s transformation during Reconstruction. Instead of having the characters that represent the North and South build a relationship in harmony, Faulkner portrays Homer, who represents the North, as a catalyst for the fall of the last remaining monument of the old South; Miss Emily Grierson. When the “North” fails to follow the proper behavior of the South as Homer courts Emily around, someone way above his status, Emily, who represents the South, fights back one more time. Emily murdering Homer can be representative of the South attempting to resist the changes of the North. However, since Emily, the monument of the Old South, falls in the end, it shows how as much as the Old South put up a fight, the North was victorious not in only in the Civil War but by also transforming and changing the South there after.
You did a great job at analyzing how the Civil War relates to the characters in the story, and you used concrete evidence and examples! -Brynn Klaber
DeleteVery thorough analysis for the symbolism of Civil War in similitude to the characters!!!
Delete- Lilly Cox
Caroline Hunt
ReplyDeletePrompt 1: To what extent is “Rose for Emily” a response to the outcome of the Civil War?
“Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner illustrates the outcome of the Civil War to a great extent. The short story shows the internal struggle of Emily as she deals with the need for amends from her father as well as the conflict between the old Southern traditional ideals vs. the more modern Northern ideals. Miss Emily symbolizes the Old South as she is supposed to be the perfect southern bell. Homer symbolizes the North’s industrialization as he is a carpetbagger that traveled down to the South to influence reconstruction after the Civil War. After the Civil War there was conflict between the North and South as America struggled to unite. The north attempted to input its industrialization into the South, but was rejected by many southerners. In”Rose for Emily” Homer is attempting to input the more modern northern ideals like the mail service that are ultimately disregarded by people like Emily. Emily stands for those of the Old South who cannot move on and adapt to the new world. Emily and Homer also illustrate the tension between the north and south as they could live in harmony under one roof. This shows that the racist culture of the Old South and new North ideals cannot live in one country together therefore creating tension and foreshadowing the tension that still exists today. “A Rose for Emily” also shows the slow downfall of the Old South as Emily slowly deteriorated to her death just as the Civil War brought the eventual down fall of the Confederacy.
Nice job at capturing Emily's characteristics of the old south.
Delete-Thomas
DeleteI enjoyed reading your approach to this response. You really encapsulated Miss Emily's struggles as a person and related them to the Civil War!-Emily Ally
DeleteThomas Stewart
ReplyDeletePrompt 2: Emily's motive for buying poison.
I think Emily made the decision to purchase the poison because she had a plan from the start. She started to develop a strange mindset, leading her to behave in ways that was seen as very strange and unique by the rest of the town. After meeting Homer, she felt as if she wanted to spend time with forever. When she had the thought that he may one leave her day, this led her to take action and try her best to prevent that from happening. Many townsfolk were suspicious and predicted she was going to take her own life. However, the outcome was not what they had originally anticipated and it left all of the town in a shock. I think her main motive in buying the poison was so that she could use it to kill Homer, keeping him for herself. This makes her a fallen woman because she has committed a gruesome act that will impact her reputation as long as she is remembered. She will never be looked upon the same by the town and built an evil and sadistic name for herself. "The man himself lay in the bed." This quote references Homer and the reader can tie his death to Emily's purchase of arsenic. Emily wasn't sure if she could have Homer forever, so she decided to take action and gain control over his lifeless body after he was dead. The controlling nature of her father is likely what drove her to act this way, just in a much more extreme way.
Good job at capturing Emily's sentiments and characterizing her motive - Maddy
DeleteGrace Dunaway Week 6 Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the story is a response to the Civil War through the symbolism of Emily and her conflict with Homer Barron. The Civil War came about due to severe tensions between the north and south over the institution of slavery. These debates between the two regions had existed for a while before the war broke out, and conflict was inevitable as the north and south couldn't compromise any longer. Due to this dichotomy within the country, tensions were high and Southerners remained defensive over their culture post-war. There was an idea that emerged after the war deemed “The Lost Cause”, a term that described the romanticized view of the pre-war south that white southerners longed to hold onto. White southerners often wished they could go back to living in the traditional white southern society that existed pre-war, even after the war had finished. This idea is prevalent in Miss Emily’s life, as she embodies the “old south”. For example, she seems to live in the past and not keep up with the new norms in society, such as paying taxes or getting a mailbox. She states, “I have no taxes in Jefferson” and “refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it”. Both of these examples portray Miss Emily as very traditional and unwilling to let go of the past In order to progress, very similar to the way most white southerners lived post-civil war as very stubborn and unwilling to let go of their traditional southern society. Miss Emily’s conflict with Homer Barron also displays the conflicts that existed between northerns and southerners in America. It is revealed by the end that she had killed him, proved with “a long strong of iron-gray hair” next to his dead body. She even went and bought poison from the store, claiming “I want arsenic”, which was the clear cause of Homer’s death. To Miss Emily, Homer Barron was the complete opposite from her, as he was a “Northerner, a day laborer” and she was clearly from a southern family that had lots of money and power in town, as she was “a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town”. Miss Emily never had to work because of her family’s success, again proving that she was the direct opposite of Homer. Due to these opposing lifestyles, Miss Emily ended up killing what appeared to be her new love, which directly shows the conflict between northerners and southerners post-war. For her, killing a northerner that directly contradicted her southern way of living likely gave Emily a sense of control in her life and helped her preserve her family’s traditional southern society, away from the pressures and expectations of the north.
You did an awesome job analyzing how the characters relate to the Civil War, and provided important historical evidence as well as evidence from the story itself! -Brynn Klaber
DeleteI am impressed by your perspective on this prompt. You embarked upon the fact that the characters were raised in a time that was crucial to our society today. -Emily Ally
DeleteGreat explanation for Miss Emily.
DeleteGreat Job! I like how you included about how the characters were raised in a time that shapes our society today.-Carissa Boddie
DeleteLilly Cox
ReplyDelete(Prompt 1)
“Rose for Emily” obtains a drastic response to the outcome of the Civil War. This piece of literature is a direct analogy for the battle between the North and the South during the Civil War. Not only is it a representation of the internal conflict felt within Emily as she is managing the need of compensation from her father, but also the conflict among the Southern US. Emily intends to be perceived as the ideal southern rooted woman; therefore, symbolizing the Old South. On the contrary, Homer is a direct representation of the North as he is a carpetbagger who influenced reconstruction to the South post the Civil War. Unity was difficult to be met after the Civil War due to the North trying to implement their industrialization onto the South; unfortunately, getting denied by southerners. In similitude to these efforts, Homer is mutually trying to implement more northern ideals such as the mail service; unfortunately getting denied by southerners such as Emily. Emily is a direct representation of southerners who have no optimism of adapting newer and modernized lifestyles. Homer and Emily also are a direct representation of the tension between the North and South because they’d have no ability to live within the same walls. This is an analogy for the unfortunate racial oppression of the old South and new North and therefore their inability to live within the same area. Conclusively, it was confirmed that Emily did kill Homer. This can be interpreted as an analogy for revenge because of what the North was doing to the South.
I agree with your response and that the story obtains a response to the civil war. -Carissa Boddie
DeleteAndrew Plate
ReplyDeleteWeek 6
Prompt 2: Emily’s Motives for Buying Rat Poison
In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily”, Emily’s motives for buying rat poison originate with her father. Emily’s father, Mr. Grierson, was an affluential man, but he was also incredibly controlling and especially when it came to his daughter. Mr. Grierson “thwarted her woman’s life” and made conscious efforts to prevent Emily from ever marrying. This proved to have drastic effects on Emily and her wellbeing. After her father had died, Emily met a man named Homer, who she loved dearly and even went as far to saying “She will marry him.” While she loved Homer very much, her father was still in the back of her mind and she may have been worried that Homer would eventually leave her. This is the reason I think she purchased the Arsenic. She ultimately uses this to kill Homer so he can never abandon her and leaver her heartbroken. A fallen woman is the term used to describe a woman who has lost her innocence and is no longer under the grace of God. Emily is seen by the community as a fallen woman when she kills Homer with the arsenic she purchased. For most of her life, her father’s reputation has preceded her and in killing Homer she has brought a new reputation upon herself where she is in the spotlight. Her reclusive and dark ways have been brought to light in the community and her acts will not allow her to ever regain her innocence.
I like your analysis of her relationship with her father and how it affects her actions.
DeleteThe motive Ms. Emily had for buying the arsenic was to kill. Most of the townspeople thought it was for herself, but the reader later learns that it was used to kill Homer. The textual evidence that shows what people thought was her motive is best seen in the dialogue between her and the druggist. “I want some poison,” she said. “Yes, Miss Emily. What kind? For rats and such? I’d recom —— ” “I want the best you have. I don’t care what kind.” The druggist named several. “They’ll kill anything up to an elephant. But what you want is —— ” “Arsenic,” Miss Emily said. “Is that a good one?” “Is … arsenic? Yes, ma’am. But what you want —— ” “I want arsenic.” The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a strained flag. “Why, of course,” the druggist said. “If that’s what you want. But the law requires you to tell what you are going to use it for.” You can tell he's worried she's going to use it for herself from his uncertainty and hesitance to sell it to her without hearing her motive. The reason he probably thinks this because she is already seen as a sad lonely person by the rest of the town. People have noticed that she never comes out of her house now and that she holds herself in a way that doesn't make her seem ok when she does come out. The reader knows she uses it for something else when Homer disappears. It all comes together at a certain point when the reader realizes there was a perfect formula for disaster in Emily’s life. She had a strange past which led her to be a little off in the present, she was already acting strange, she bought the poison, and Homer had disappeared while he was seeing her. At the end of the story it is confirmed that she did in fact kill him when his body is found in her house. -Winston Eskridge
ReplyDeleteEmily Ally
ReplyDeleteWeek 6
Prompt 2
Miss Emily purchased the items before Homer made it clear that they would not be married and then bought the rat poison. Emily's main reasons for killing him were because she was angry that he had turned her down, and that she knew that this was her last, best chance at matrimony. There were no other men in the town in whom she was interested, and no other prospects were likely. Emily had already exhibited her fondness for keeping those she loved close to her, even in death, when she refused to allow her father's body to be interred. Miss Emily Grierson, a refined lady and all around appreciated by her locale, had died. They see and regard her as "a tradition, a duty" or "a fallen monument.” Nasty rumors circulate around Miss Emily as she begins to isolate herself. Opposite of what the townspeople had thought of her, we realize eventually that Miss Emily is a woman who not only poisons and kills her lover, Homer Barron, but she keeps his rotting corpse in her bedroom and sleeps next to it for many years. She even managed to keep the corpse of her own father for a few days before giving him up for his funeral. It’s as if the entire time she spent in solitude, her mentality wears down. And only after her death does the community find out her morbid behavior. Miss Emily is likely to think of herself as still on the pedestal, or, even if she does not, the habits of generations of her family and the influence of a clearly dominating father keep her firmly fixed on the pedestal in her own mind. There is no one suitable for her to marry, and her father appears to have chased off all men, either because they were unsuitable or because he wanted her to take care of him. All of these dynamics lead to a sad life and death for Miss Emily.
Your blog really expanded Emily's whole character in my eyes. Despite not learning much about her, you were able to really characterize her as a person, and make her seem more human. Good job!
Delete- Regan Allen
DeleteThank you for your insight!! -Emily Ally
DeleteA rose for Emily, Hank McAlister
ReplyDeletePrompt 2
In the story “ A Rose For Emily”, by William Faulkner, the character Emily buys rat poison to attempt to kill someone. It is shown in the story that Emily was a necrophiliac. This could be one of her motives to buy the rat poison to attempt to kill her significant other, it shows that she wants him dead in order to make love to him. However, there is not only one motive for her to kill her Significant other, as seen in the story, it is shown that she has most likely killed before, or if she didn't kill, she attempted to hide the death in order for her to keep the body in her possession. She has been living alone for a large portion of her life and could have been scared of change so she attempted to murder someone in order to remain alone. In another perspective, she could have had a plan all along to kill someone and she bought the rat poison to do it because she thought that would be the easiest way. Another reason could be that she was scared. She could have been scared her significant other and in an attempt to control her fear she could have killed him.
Prompt 2:
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose for Emily”, Emily buys the rat poison to kill Homer because he would not marry her, making her appear to be a fallen woman because the townspeople see her relationship with Homer as adulterous and beneath her. The townspeople disapprove of Emily’s relationship with Homer, saying that “of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer” and that she was forgetting her “noblesse oblige”, all the while calling her “poor Emily”. This disapproval is heightened when Homer tells people “that he was not a marrying man”, and thus Emily has fallen from grace, even unable to get someone of Homer’s status to marry her. It is for this reason that Emily buys the rat poison to kill Homer. She does not want to be seen as a fallen woman, unable to get a man who others considered beneath her to marry her. Emily “had been to the jewlers” and she purchases “a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece” as well as “a complete outfit of men’s clothing including a nightshirt”. This leads the town to believe the two have married, and Homer is not seen again. Emily was able to convince the townspeople they had gotten married by making these purchases and killing Homer, in an attempt to restore her position and no longer be seen as a fallen woman.
Prompt 2:
ReplyDeleteEmily’s childhood and adolescence were shaped by her controlling father, who facilitated the places she went, her relationships, and even eventually her future. He is the reason she was a social pariah, and alienated by her own society she was on top of financially. Following her father’s death, Emily had no close friends or relatives to comfort her or be a friend to her. She was entirely alone. All she had to herself was her father’s corpse, which she kept in her home until it was forced away from her by concerned townsfolk. It is from the beginning of the story that Emily was already showing to the townspeople that she had no problem spending time with loved ones after their death, foreshadowing the ending of the story. Emily later falls in love with Homer Barron, a man considered strange and unholy by the town because of his self-proclaimed attraction for men. Emily is devastated by the fact that he will never love her the way she loves him, and resorts to murder by poison. This is her final tear away from the sane world, as she has committed an act so heinous, the people who live around would never be able to see her same again. Realizing this, she locks herself in her home, only accompanied by her servant, until her death. Emily preserved Homer’s corpse, keeping it in laying peacefully in a bed so that she was able to rest next to it every night, undisturbed by his unattraction towards her, or any judgement from the town. In her home, Emily was safe from the world, barring her door shut to normalcy forever. (Regan Allen)
Make sure you are leaving your name with your comments; otherwise, you don't get credit.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose For Emily”, Emily buys arsenic because she is a lonely woman. Emily’s only family and friends were her father up until this point in time. After her father’s death, she hoped for someone to replace him in her life and be a person to share her remaining time with. An independent woman during this time period is a very rare thing. During the beginning of the story, especially during Miss Emily's younger years, it is almost unheard of to not marry a man and have him be the bread-winner and take care of his wife. Miss Emily breaks this traditional ideology because she does not get married and stays alone all of her life, however the townspeople believe she has found her husband as a man comes to stay with her. During this time, Emily has to find out that her would-be husband is actually gay, and she has failed at another relationship. The druggist is scared of Miss Emily because she purchases Arsenic, a poison that has the strength to kill humans. When the druggist asks her why she needs it, she does not answer, thus making the druggist very scared of her, and her intentions to poison anyone. Because Emily has failed at another relationship, and all eyes of the town are on her, she decides to poison the man who had been at her house for some time. By poisoning and killing him, the townspeople believe that Emily has found her soulmate, however she was simply a failure. She failed to find love, and because of the building pressure from the townspeople, she felt forced to kill this man, and keep him with her forever. On top of this, the man is found in Emily’s bed rotting after she is dead. This likely means that Emily herself also believed she was a failure, and she figured the only way to keep a man in her life and have some emotional support was to kill this man.
ReplyDeleteCharlie Jones
Week 6 Prompt 2
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose for Emily” there was a built-up suspense that was captured during the entire story. There were small little hints to lead the reader the foreshadowing of Homers death. One of the biggest elements is one of time people can get lost in if she is older or younger. When she is younger, she is less secretive but when she was older she was really secretive. Emily had a plan from the start after having this ideal of this Southern belle she always had all this attention drawn upon her. Her only family seemed to be judgmental of her and her father ran her life and ran away any type of potential husbands. He did that until her passing. She got tired of her and her home being the center of attention as the townspeople were noting and minding her business for instance when they talked about hoe “the top part of her house was boarded up” the towns people where such bias when it came to her. They could not find a real ground of if they had good or not. When Homer when into the house for the last time he did not know it was his last time. She bought this poison to shut the rumors up about her potential husband being gay but also to get the attention off her. He was most likely going to run away, and she would not allow it. There were little things that lead to this such as this “horrible smell” that engulfed around her house that everyone else went and attempted to fix it. The judge even wen on to say “you wouldn’t tell a woman she stinks to her face” this also demonstrated the towns bias. Grieving really messed with Emily’s head because how could she lay next to her dead husband or dead person due to this “long gray hair[found on the pillow beside her]. This can demonstrate how she had thought this out. Not only that it sheds a spotlight upon societies ideas ad how scary it is to think of how powerful a woman can be when given the opportunity.
I agree with the evidence you used for the foreshadowing of Homer's death.
DeleteFaulkner uses Emily Rose to display an old, unforgiving South through many analogies and symbolizations. Miss Rose’s old, confederate-style house was the last in her town that shows of a lost era. The story also takes place in Jefferson, Mississippi, a city in the deep South. However, this could also symbolize the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, who led the Confederacy during the war. The narrator then goes on to describe how a previous mayor freed Emily of paying taxes. This particular mayor’s name was Colonel Sartoris. This is a clear play on Colonel, a military rank, symbolizing that the mayor who “graciously” let Emily avoid taxes was an ex-Confederate soldier. Continuing on, the death of Emily’s father could represent the death of the Confederacy, as Emily refuses to acknowledge her father’s death. The most notable example of Miss Rose symbolizing the South is the man she was supposed to marry, Homer. Homer is a Northerner who came into the town to ‘modernize’ the city by adding sidewalks. This would clearly anger Emily, an old Southern belle, who seems to hate Northerners and the modernization of her city. The murder of Homer can also symbolize the start of the war, as the South turned their back on the North. This is also shown through the word Civil in the war, as like Emily and Homer, it was a nation divided; brothers against brothers, fathers against sons, husbands against wives. Due to all these symbolizations, I believe it is clear that William Faulkner was attempting to symbolize a fat, old south through his description of Emily Rose and her strange actions.
ReplyDelete^^ John Biesecker, Prompt 1
DeleteMary Claire Haldeman
ReplyDeleteWeek 6, Prompt 1
A “Rose for Emily” is, to a great extent, a response to the outcome of the Civil War. The Old South was characterized by its dependence on agriculture, foremostly cotton. It was completely reliant on slave labor to uphold its economy. The wealth in the South was disproportionately held by the hands of few: the planter elite. The North, in contrast, was characterized by its booming manufacturing and industrialization. By 1860, the North provided 90% of the country’s manufacturing output. Slavery was abolished, and the economy of the North relied on low-wage factory workers. After the Civil War, the economy and culture of the south fell apart. The basis of the southern economy, slave labor, was dismantled, and the confederate currency was worthless. During Reconstruction, carpetbaggers streamed from the North to reap profit from the decaying south. Slowly, the Old South became the New South as it’s industrialization and transportation increased. Still, many southerners resisted the change brought by the Civil War, clinging to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy ideology that glorified the Old South and justified their cause as heroic. Emily reflects the ideals and practices of the Old South. She, like many southerners after the Civil War, is resistant to change, being described as “a fallen monument”. She comes from an old aristocracy and continues to act like she is above society, though times have dramatically changed. She refuses to pay taxes, and refers the townspeople to Colonel Sartoris, who had passed 10 years before. This highlights her inability to leave the past, one in which Colonel Sartoris passed a law discriminating against black women. She again resists change, like the Old South, when she refuses to accept the death of her father. Emily’s house rots alone in a once-select street; she refuses to budge and conform to the new patterns of society, as did the Southerners after the Civil War. Homer symbolizes the values and patterns of the North. A Yankee himself, he reflects the North’s industrialization. He is contracted to “[pave] the sidewalks” of the town before meeting Emily. Emily marries Homer. To the dismay of readers, she poisons and kills him. Emily's murder of Homer symbolizes the Southern retaliation to change brought upon by the North following the Civil War.
i love your in depth analysis of the civil war to give context to your analysis.-maggie
DeleteRaneem Al-Habsha
ReplyDeleteWeek 6 Prompt 2
In "A Rose for Emily", the narrator's point of view is represented by the opinions of the community. Miss Emily feels isolated, as her father passed away, and she avoids contact with other people and isolates herself in her home. When see bought the rat poison it was to kill a man she wanted to marry, Homer Barron. She makes the town believe her and Homer are married by purchasing a toiletry set and clothing. Miss emily believed the only way to "keep" Homer was to kill him, as she slept next to his dead body every night."She died in one of the downstairs rooms, in a heavy walnut bed with a curtain, her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight." Her life is compared to a dying rose, a fallen women.
the use of isolation is a great point.-maggie
DeletePrompt 1
ReplyDeleteI believe that the story A Rose for Emily is written as a response to the civil war because the author wanted to highlight the growing distrust in the world. The civil war was a major strain on american relations as the country was divided into two on the issue of slavery. This divide heightened distrust and judgement across the country as states turned against each other in a bloody war. The author wanted to highlight this distrust and divide by creating a story that reflected how the country was still not whole and welcoming as it should be. The townspeople are used to represent the reader as the author aims for all Americans on either side of the war to read this and reflect. This can be seen in the quote, “That was when people had begun to feel really sorry for her” as this shows how the people look down on emily. This represents how each side of the civil war looked down on the other side as they held themselves to a higher standard. The author wants to emphasize this to call for unity in the country as he warns against the divide just as it happened to emily. The author utilizes Emily to parallel the reader as they should feel like the townspeople and emily. Overall the objective of the story is to respond the civil war by warning against and highlight the issues of distrust in the story and the divide in the country.- maggie
Carissa Boddie
ReplyDeleteWeek 6, Prompt 1
I believe that A Rose For Emily is a response to the Civil War to a certain extent. Emily Rose herself is a symbol. Her character symbolizes an unforgiving south. Her confederate style and old house show this theory. Upon this, the story takes place in Mississippi which is a state in the deep south. The death of Emily's father could also symbolize the death of the confederacy. I agree that it is clear that Faulkner was trying to symbolize the old south through his description of the character Emily Rose.
ReplyDeleteEmma Rodden
Prompt 2
I think Emily made it very clear that her intentions were not pure when she was going to buy the rat poison from the pharmacist. Their interaction was not one of someone just trying to get rid of some household pests. Their interaction goes, “"Yes, Miss Emily. What kind? For rats and such? I'd recom--" "I want the best you have. I don't care what kind." The druggist named several. "They'll kill anything up to an elephant. But what you want is--" "Arsenic," Miss Emily said. "Is that a good one?" "Is . . . arsenic? Yes, ma'am. But what you want--" "I want arsenic." She obviously is not in a very healthy mindset but the townspeople's reaction to her buying this poison is what really depicts her as a fallen woman. The Townspeople saying, “... we all said, "She will kill herself"; and we said it would be the best thing.” The reaction of the people in her community just agreeing that she should probably kill herself does not paint her as a woman in her prime. The reality of what Emily was planning to do with the rat poison is even more grim than her just killing herself, she intended to kill her boyfriend. This is not a typical course of action when a relationship goes south and even further contributes to the notion that Emily is in fact a fallen woman.
Week Six :
ReplyDeletePrompt One :
The author of “Rose for Emily” uses the character Emily as a symbol for the south, targeting the south’s brutal and unforgiving behavior it had during the Civil War. There are many innuendos in the story that can lead the audience to making that connection between Emily and the south’s seemingly vicious being. This story by Faulkner takes place in Jefferson, Mississippi which is located in the deep south, where the main character Emily is pictured living in an old and confederate or southern-styled house. One of the main actions of Emily that leads us to believe she is supposed to embody the south is her refusal to change or accept that fact that her father had passed. Not only does this show the constant resistance that the south had held in the Civil War, but this could also be a symbol for the confederacy dying, and the south not giving up or accepting this change. The south did not want to give up their rights to holding slaves, and therefore were very resistant and refused to accept the change of rules, which lead to the war partaking in the first place. The man that she is going to wed is a man of the north, Homer, and she ends up poisoning him with Rat poison that way she can control him and make sure he never leaves. This alone could instantly make the story connect to the Civil War as the South would act out in many different ways of violence to go against and make sure they have control over the North in order to get their slaves back. This story “Rose for Emily” holds a very uncanny connection to being similar to the Civil War, the violence and relationships really tying it all together.
Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteA Rose For Emily is a response to the outcome of the Civil war to a great extent. One portrayal of the outcome of the Civil War is through the appearance of Miss Emily and her behavior. When she was younger(pre-Civil War), she was a daughter of noble standing. As she grew older(post-Civil War), she became only a shadow of what she once was. In the quote "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 as the visitors stated their errand." she is described as obese, not her former beautiful self, and bloated as if she was decaying. This change of form throughout her life shows the transition from the 'beauty' of the pre-Civil War South to the crumbling, gilded image that was left behind. Her actions were also indicative of the ways of the South. As the new generation and their customs began to usher in, Miss Emily remained the same. In the quote "Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894 when Colonel Sartoris... remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.", she is described as a 'tradition' emphasizing the culture she upheld. Later on, when they came to her house, she continued to repeat that she had no taxes in Jefferson, affirming that she was immovable. Just like the South after the Civil War, she was deluded and did not think that she had to be a part of the new way of doing things. Another portrayal of the South after the Civil War was through the town saw Miss Emily. They often gossiped about her, the new generation wanting to move past her time's traditions and the old generation looking her to uphold their values. In the end when she died, at her funeral, "...the very old men -some in their brushed Confederate uniforms- on the porch and the lawn, talking of Miss Emily as if she had been a contemporary of theirs, believing that they had danced with her and courted her perhaps...". The grandeur of painting a prettier picture of Miss Emily, making her seem like more than she was after she died, conveys the sentiments of the South after the Civil War. They venerated the pre-Civil War era, making it seem much more wonderful than it was in an attempt to salve their wounds about the harsh reality. Miss Emily, and thus the South, was revered by the citizens, rigid and remaining in its ways, which ultimately cause it to crumble.