Exploring the Facets of Human Condition: Repression and Its Effects in "A Rose for Emily"
Without an explicit explanation of the author's motivations for creating that particular work of literature, it is generally difficult to comprehend or state with confidence what the purpose or intention of a given author was. There are many goals an author might have in addition to the most obvious one, which is to amuse the reader. However, given those specific instances in William Faulkner's tale "A Rose for Emily," it is clear that he was keenly interested in exploring various facets of human conditions, particularly repression and its effects. Furthermore, he specifically warns that not everything is everlasting. In this instance, Emily is seen to hang on to matters of the past and resists evolving and changing with time. Holding firmly on what she already knew and believed in results in her isolation, isolation as well as a judgment from the town community together with everyone that knew her and at the end she succumbed to death. The paper discusses and expounds on the story from the repression point of view among other minor purposes in “A Rose for Emily.”
Faulkner's Exploration of Repression
Faulkner points out clearly on the subject of repression together with the evil it can bring to a person. As already read the story we can see that suppression has adversely affected Emily. The result of it is loneliness and the creation of barriers and brawl between her and the entire society. Furthermore, regression was the primary cause of the struggle between the older south, which existed in the course of the civil war, and the new south that rose from the ashes of the wild encounter several decades after the ordeal. Furthermore, this purpose was the most suitable of all choices because Faulkner himself had stated earlier in an interview that his inspiration for writing the story was to explore the sad as well as tragic manifestation of man’s conditions in which they dream while hoping the end of the injustice to operate together with the struggle of their creation.
Emily's Isolation and Repression by her Father
From the beginning of the story, it is clear of the isolation Emily had been facing from the society because even after her death the entire community was going to her funeral not only to bear witness of her demise but also to have a look at the inside of her house. Even though the entire condition in which Emily was living was wholly blamed on her, it is her father, who kick-started the whole order of events. Emily’s repression by her father was fully expressed by the author in a terrible form because of the adverse way all the things ended. Her father was so selfish to the extent of denying Emily the chance to have a husband, a beautiful home, and her children (DiYanni 79). All this were done against her will. The father denied all her suitors when she was young. It is the conditions that her father passed Emily in that created a woman who tried to hang on some of the things in her later age but all came in completely different but tragic circumstances. This order of event allows the reader to see the story form the repression point of view while focusing on the power of an egocentric father in the destruction of the future of his daughter. The story is a projection of controlling fathers who hold the happiness of their daughter’s ion their hands, which is a direct betrayal in their duties as fathers as well as human beings who are supposed to guide others to achieve an entirely satisfactory life.
The Conflict between the Old South and the New South
Miss Emily seems to be stuck in the old south before the civil war. In the story, the new south, which is signified by the town council, was trying to get Emily pay the city revenues in Jefferson. However, she actively refuses because Colonel Sartoris dispatched her taxes permanently because the town was loaned some money by her father. Therefore, Emily urges that the city would be paying her some of the loans by remitting her taxes. The truth of the matter is that Colonel Sartoris had made up the entire story to immediately offer some charity to Miss Emily who was so proud of herself and would not have stooped so low to accept it had she acknowledged it was charity. As always, she does not admit defeat hence in this case as other battles with the town she prevails and eludes the council from squeezing some money from her.
The Inevitability of Change
The warming sent by the author is straight and clear. From the authors perspective, one can see that nothing lasts forever no matter how much we may wish it to. We can see that Emily was struggling at all means to ensure that all the things around her are maintained similarly. However, she painfully came to learn that she could not prevent them from changing or rather she learned that the change was inevitable. Upon the death of his father, we observe that she refuses to accept his demise and bars people from getting into the house to remove his dead body for a whole three days (DiYanni 79). More so, we see that she was tried in all ways to keep, Homer who was her first real suitor or boyfriend, from growing, changing and leaving her. In the end, she buys arsenic, uses it to poison him, and places the corpse in their bed so that they can be together forever. It was clear by the rumors spreading across town that Homer was not at all willing to settle down, but she managed to prevent him from moving on and leaving her by killing him. Upon the disappearance of Homer, no one in the city was surprised since rumor had it that Emily had bought a set of men’s outfit clothing thus they believe they were married and he had gone to wait for her (DiYanni 79).
The Representation of Old Southern Aristocracy
In conclusion, when viewing the story from the author’s perspective, one understands that the narrator of the story has gone out of his or her way to present Emily with a rose by telling her story. As depicted the in the paper regression and unwillingness to accept a change made Emily leave an isolated life full of loneliness. The town people who represented the new breed of the southerners resented her arrogance as well as her superiority. All in all the town, all the people within inclusive of the new members of the council depicts complete submissiveness and subservience towards Miss Emily. Indeed, she is the sole representative of the Old southern aristocracy.
Work Cited
DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print. Pg. 79.
