Richard Anthony Torres

English 230-004

April 1, 1998

Literary Research Paper

A Rose Frozen in Time

"Respectful affection for a fallen monument" (Faulkner 145). Miss Emily was a lady portraying the pure essence of Southern refinement. This idol could not be understood or related to but simply uphold without question. Her way of life was not one of struggle but of status. She was lost in her own reality of the present, still as a rose frozen in time. This woman, the delicate flower of the community, was lost in her own perception and belief of the world. Emily was given compassion without request due to her label and status of being a lady that eventually contributed to her own destruction.

"Emily is exempted from the general indictment because she is a real lady-that is, eccentric, slightly crazy, obsolete, a ‘stubborn and coquettish decay,’ absurd but indulged; ‘dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse’; indeed, anything and everything but human" (Fetterley 195). In order to be a woman in the South, one must be of a certain character. Any form of decay cannot tarnish this role or character unless you wish to retreat from the consistent status presented to you. Emily was a true incarnation representing the scale that originates in classism. Her character, however, engulfed the women and led the innocence to death in life itself. This immortal figure was a constant shadow hanging over an area of confusion and tradition. A tradition, which allowed Emily to fall deeper into the abyss of retreat and unconsciousness until reality was seen as a complete dream, filled with foolishness.

In the community eye Emily’s life was one of normal progression, but no one really knows the truth behind closed doors. "Nobody sees Emily. And because nobody sees her, she can literally get away with murder" (Fetterley 195). How should murder be taken in the sense of Emily’s life? It is the description of the life she lived in this traditionally Southern community. "See Colonel Satoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson" (Faulkner 146). Emily played her role to perfection, which cast a lady and reinforced a history that nobody was really strong enough to give up. Her status reaffirmed the fragments of myth the townspeople held dear to. This traditional perspective taken by the community is what gave Emily the upper hand in any situation that confronted her in the so-called life she acted out. "According to the traditional view, ‘his word’ knew no death" (West 68). This stance which Emily toyed with, but firmly believed was constant giving her immunity even when the up and coming generation tried to put an end to her world view. "Will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" (Faulkner 147). Even though the ‘rising generation’ is muffled, they still continue to progress essentially being the one enemy to Emily, without her even acknowledging the fact of their existence.

"It is the Past pitted against the Present—the Past with its social decorum, the Present with everything set down in the books" (West 68). Emily has skewed off the time line existence and does not wish to return or compromise. The life instilled by her father has become the belief system in which has stuck her in time. Confusion is the essential ingredient to her cosmology of life along with the isolation without her father are primary reasons for the confusion that ‘poor Emily’ suffered from. "None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such" (Faulkner 147). This ‘poor Emily’ was the result of family misconceptions of a false socioeconomic status that she was taught to exist no matter what time frame was surrounding her.

"They rose when she entered" (Faulkner 146). Emily was used to being in command in all situations in life. An overly protective father that felt no man was good enough for the family or his daughter placed this idea into her head. "The Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were" (Faulkner 147). The people she loved most corrupted this isolated girl, her family the central care unit compared throughout the community of the Southern traditional town. When Emily’s father died, her world was shattered and confusion set into her mind. "Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face" (Faulkner 147). Her life was controlled by the man she called father, and when he died, the controlling provider was no more eventually bringing Emily to a crossroad in her life. The paths available were seclusion or socialization. Yet, socialization wasn’t a factor in her life considering the status of her family and the values she swore by. Therefore, isolation was the only answer allowing her to remain a lady and keep the interest of the townspeople.

"If she is to survive, must have either husband or father, and that, because Emily has neither, the town must assume responsibility for her" (Fetterley 194). Due to the mindset of Emily this statement holds truth. When she was under the influence of her father, the world was at ease and comprehendible for her. However, when she was alone, the actual uselessness of being a lady was acknowledgeable except for her concealing the truth behind close doors. This confinement was sustained until Emily tried to either rejoin to the community or by creating a self not tied to her father through the courting of Homer. Homer was from the working class North surrounded by his ‘Nigger’ workers and modern machinery. This Yankee was a provider and the male figure Emily was longing for. Emily is still a woman and like all southern women of her time, she needed compassion and companionship. This connection was an achievable goal for Emily and brought her out in the world for one of the first times in her life since her father died. Yet, Emily is still distanced from reality and remains in her world of illusionary time. "There are, we are told, two views of time: (1) the world of the present, viewing time as a mechanical progression in which the past is a diminishing road, never to be encountered again; (2) the world of tradition, viewing the past as a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches" (West 70). Homer is a member of the first view of time. A time where things change and develop from each other offering advancement and what is 'to be'. Emily is a firm believer in the non-changing universe pertaining to time and the sense of tradition. This is where Emily’s chance at reality fails. Her attempt to court and find love, which was never possible before with her father, fails due to the two different perceptions of time and cultural values.

Homer is presented as a workingman’s man in the story. He enjoys a good laugh and drinking with men. He is not the ‘marrying’ type and dangerous to Emily. Her reputation as a lady is the one thing she lives by, similar to a code of honor. If her shield is broken or tarnished, then the image she portrays will be ruined exposing her to the light of reality. This will not do for Emily by any means. "She demands that the situation be settled on her own terms" (Brooks 191). Thus, the unspeakable act is completed to keep her ‘life’ in order. The plot of murder to create a never-ending love. Emily could not bear to be brought down from her pedestal of perfection by a conniving manipulator from the North. "She is the true aristocrat: let others strive to keep up with the Joneses, if they will. She will not. She is the ‘Jones’ with whom others will so well to keep up" (Brooks 191). Emily will not let her reputation of being a lady damaged or her traditional way of thought violated. Here frozen pedals will not be thawed over a lost love. Therefore, she freezes the love within her life. "Oh, it’s simply the poor woman had had no life at all" (Comments 190). Emily fails in reconciliation with the world, so she takes the only available thing from the modern world into her way of life. That thing is the man she felt was the true love in her life and of her time.

Emily is a victim of circumstance. Her father and her aunt’s way of thinking corrupted her way of life since early childhood. The values and traditions were falsehoods and a misconception of reality. This confusion spun Emily into a world of extreme isolation where the past was present and the future was not a factor to ponder upon. Emily was stuck in the past due to her role of being a lady in the South. This characterization led to the source of her illusion. She was taught to be too refined for her own good and this belief drew her into a world of revised history. A vision that was dying out through time but was a constant to Emily, since time was not a factor that was in her life equation. This fact was not brought out completely until her own passing but was evident considering she died when her father or controller passed on into the future leaving Emily to fend in the present or dwell in the past.

Works Cited

Brooks, Cleanth. "On A Rose for Emily". Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York:

Harper College, 1989. 190-191.

"Comments on A Rose for Emily". Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper

College, 1989. 189-190.

Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily". The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Carl E. Bain. New

York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1995. 145-150.

Fetterley, Judith. "A Rose for A Rose for Emily". Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New

York: Harper College, 1989. 193-196.

West, Ray B. Jr. "Atmosphere and theme in A Rose for Emily". Readings on William Faulkner. Ed.

Bruno Leone. San Diego: Greensboro Press, 1991. 65-73.