A Rose for Emily

Very often in literature, authors will use many techniques to show the chosen theme of the story. In “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, he uses the element of setting to help explain his ideas and the necrophilia of the main character. The term “necrophilia” is described by wikipedia.com as “an inordinate desire to control another person, usually in the context of a romantic or interpersonal relationship; the accusation is that the person is so interpersonally controlling as to be better-suited to have relationships with non-responsive people, such as the dead.” The setting of the story helps the reader to understand how the atmosphere of her society and the oppression of her father causes Emily to act as she does.

The setting of the story takes place in the South over a time span of about forty years. The story is structured into the two stages of past and present. We see the character of Emily shortly before her death; an aristocratic world that exists only in her mind is evident in the passage where she refuses to pay her taxes. Emily states “ I have no taxes in Jefferson” under the impression that her father had loaned the city money, which in fact was a lie formed by a man of the town to preserve Miss Emily’s aristocratic status when her fortune was lost. Shortly afterwards we are backtracked to foreshadowing of the unfolding events by visiting an incident in the past. Emily’s neighbors are bothered by an unpleasant smell coming from her house and go to a judge to complain about it. In this part of the story, we see the type of proper southern society Emily is in when the judge says “would you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?”. We see that the Southern influence greatly affects Emily’s personality and decisions. The people around her are constantly upholding her to a certain standard and expect things from her. Emily’s status is brought into question when she begins to date Homer Barron, a northern day laborer. Faulkner writes, “then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people”. Upset by the courtship, the townsfolk called upon her kin to break up her relationship. We see by this that Emily’s decision making process was halted by her outside influences.

Emily’s bizarre treatment of Homer Barron’s body post mortem definitely lies in the relationship she had with her father in regards to men. It is apparent that Emily’s father purposely and promptly put to end any potential courtship that she may have had. This is evident in the passage “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will”. Emily’s father robbed her from many of life’s basic things. Her aristocratic society causes her to miss out on being a “woman” and courting men. Her inability to live a normal life greatly affects her happiness which she indirectly blames on her father. Emily becomes so accustomed to her father’s presence