Miss Emily's Alienation
Miss Emily, the lead character of William Faulkner's short story A Rose for Emily, fails to find her place in the world. There is no denying that 'A Rose for Emily' is a tale of mental and physical loneliness. William Faulkner depicts the mechanism by which individuals become alienated as a result of their tradition, the rules, and their own decisions and behavior. Their relatives and the society in which they live often separate them in a way. In this novel, the author takes a stance against certain ways of alienation, as well as those who exclude others in general. This story creates a vivid description of modern society. My personal impression after reading this story is that some people tend to separate from the society just to have time for themselves, this is because most people feel left out of the rest of the people in the society, mainly because of stigma. The modern society criticizes one from different angles, for instance, whether a person is doing good or bad, people are even judged according to race and body size (Polk and William 51).
Miss Emily's Isolation
In section two of the story the author states 'After her father's death she went out very little after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.' This is just one of the many quotes where the author portrays the various acts of separation that Miss Emily faced. Her father contributed mainly to this by isolating her from all the potential suitors that wanted to marry her. Emily's father death and her sweetheart deserted made her to separate herself from the society and people hardly saw her at all. Miss Emily didn't even answer phone calls from the few ladies who called.
The Author's Intent
In my view, the author's intention in writing this story is to educate the masses on the effects of preventing one to make his own choices and making him or her feel inferior by not involving in making such decisions and then judge them negatively. According to the story if the father had allowed her to date or even go out with the many suitors that had wanted to marry her, then she would have been free, friendly and sociable due to a positive self-esteem. Mostly, in those days women were viewed as a wives and mothers. She had come of age and there were no suitors left and when her sweetheart that people thought could marry her left, she was broken. Soon, the situation was even worse, her father had passed on. She felt out of place and decided to isolate herself from the society (Polk and William 78).
Compassion and Forgiveness
Even though the main theme of the story portrays itself around isolation the author successfully brings out the concept of compassion and forgiveness and the various aspects of reality that were ignored. In section two, the author perfectly draws a picture of how the house of Mrs. Emily used to smell and the neighbors had to complain to the authorities. 'Dammit, sir,' judge Stevens said, 'will you accuse a lady to face of smelling bad?' One of the members had suggested sending someone to her to clean it. (Polk and William 83)
Creating a Better Society
Reading this story made me so emotional and I felt I have a role to play to make the world a better place. I decided to take a walk around just to clear my mind and as I walked around I manage to notice that we all come from different religions and cultures. We just have to peacefully coexist with each other in order to make everyone feel comfortable and accepted. We all need to respect other people's freedom and rights of the less privileged (Polk and William 92).
The Consequences of Isolation
Miss Emily did not want to accept the fact that her father had passed on and when the neighbors came to give their condolences, they were not allowed to come in. Emily's level of isolating herself was so high that even the letters that were sent to her she refused to read.
Conclusion
The author tries to bring out some warning to the society. Isolation brings about low self-esteem and lack of confidence and even if one feels that he/she is separated they should try to find help since this will lead to one being depressed and even cause mental illness or even death in some cases.
Work Cited
Polk, Noel, and William Faulkner. A Rose for Emily: William Faulkner. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. Print.
