A Rose for Emily

In "A Rose for Emily", William Faulkner tells us a story about a woman named Emily who lives in a town. We see a story of a woman who was held in high regard in this town by society. She had to carry herself and dignity and carry her family's name. She was always the talk of the town and the town had many judgmental people. Reading the story, it is interesting to analyze the sociological background of Emily and the people she surrounded herself with. Emily was a type of woman who did not have the individual confidence, or maybe self-esteem and self-worth, to believe that she could stand alone and succeed at life especially in the face of changing times. One thing we notice throughout is that she had always been ruled by men to protect, defend, and act for her. This is the main sociological background that I will be analyzing throughout this paper. Emily had various men surrounding her throughout her life. This can be seen from her father, the servant Tobe, and Homer Barron. All her life was dependent on men. This however was quiet common, especially during the time she lived in. The man was always seen as the dominant and controlling figure. “Historically, because of economic, ecological, social, and technological pressures, women and men were assigned to labor tasks that were consistent with their physical attributes. ” (1) The few times of individuality showed her ability to rise to the occasion, to overcome her dependency, when the action was the only solution available. Like buying the poison or getting money by offering china-painting classes. "Life is sad and tragic; some of which is made for us and some of which we make ourselves. Emily had a hard life. Everything that she loved left her. Her father probably impressed upon her that every man she met was no good for her. Her father was the fatherly figure obviously in this story and she looked to him as her provider and caretaker. The townspeople even state when her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad being left alone. She had become humanized." This sounds as if her father's death was sort of liberation for Emily. In a way it was, because she started to date men. Her father couldn't chase them off any more. It also sounds as if the townspeople thought Emily was above the law because of her high-class stature. Now since the passing of her father she may be like them, a middle class working person. Unfortunately, for Emily she became home bound. She didn't socialize much except for having Tobe visit and run errands. This is a behavior that have been cause because of her father's death. A study which was done by Rose Perkins states that, “However, existing literature has suggested that woman may be deeply affected by the father they knew as a child. The pain experienced by a woman when she feels abandoned by her father because she is no longer his "little princess," his admiring disciple or his little angel.” (2)

Tobe was the negro man that worked for Emily. Tobe represents the man who provided her with goods and services. He was nothing more and nothing less. Most likely there was no emotional attachment to Tobe but she was still dependent on him. This dependency is once again because of her high class status. She does not have to do much hard labor because her servants . As stated, Faulkner depicts Emily and her family as a high social class. Emily did carry her self with dignity and people gave her that respect, based from fear of what Emily could do to them. Emily was a strong willed person especially when she went into the drug store for the arsenic. She said Arsenic. "I want arsenic." All along, the druggist wanted to know what she wanted it for and she answered back, "I want the best you have. I don't care what kind." Needless to say, the druggist never got an answer. The druggist gave Emily poison out of fear and respect, possibly. Emily didn't socialize much, but she did have a male friend and his name was Homer Barron. He was the third man in her life and he played the role of the male companion. Homer was a Forman for a road construction company, Faulkner writes, "…a forman named Homer Barron, a Yankee a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face." Emily's father probably would not be happy with this affair with Homer. Homer was just a regular guy and did not fit the standards that her father had. "…the townspeople said when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased, but vindicated; ... She wouldn't have turned down all of her chances if they had materialized." As you see, Emily wanted to be loved, and