Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Faulkner uses “A Rose for Emily” to address themes of change and progress, especially as it relates to the American South. Although he describes particular individuals within Jefferson (Miss Emily, the older men and ladies, the town leaders), he seems to be using them as symbols for the larger issues that the South was facing at the turn of the twentieth century. Discuss how Faulkner addresses the themes of progress and change in the South.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Faulkner uses the characters in “A rose For Emily” as symbols of the old new new south. In the old south the wealthy landowners were arrogant and held high values on their land, slaves, appearances, and the status that one held in society. After the war, the once arrogant, wealthy, self-assured land owners had to go home broke and wounded without a clue how to support themselves and provide for their families. The southerners now had to be aware of their surroundings and learn how to take care of themselves. Faulkner uses symbolism to portray the changing of the old south to the new south with the main character Miss Emily. In the beginning of the book she was a beautiful lady with a protective father, a good name and plenty of money, which symbolizes the old south before the war. As the story progresses, Moss Emily becomes ill which symbolizes the south burring the war. Toward the end of the story, Miss Emily is old and worn, ill in her age and role of complete self-importance. This symbolizes the new south trying to recover from the impact of war. Faulkner uses the symbolism to address the theme by using the decline of Miss Emily as the overall decline of the old south and the value and traditions it once held. As Miss Emily was once great so was the south, as she declines so does the south until they both in their own right become icons and symbols as old and better days filled with pride, honor and good memories.
ReplyDeleteBefore the civil war, Southern survival depended on the combination of slaves and plantations, giving the brutal result of abusive manual labor. White people in this era shared the ignorance of their wrong doing, and blindly adopted the mentality that a black man’s purpose in life was to serve the whites. Although this way of life was great for many white people, many others saw the wrong in it and thought change was necessary. One of these people who recognized the problem was William Faulkner. Faulkner uses his story “A Rose for Emily” to show the changes and progression that occurred in the South after the civil war through symbols in his characters and setting. For example, Faulkner writes that when Miss Emily’s father dies, she does not want to let go of his body. First of all, the death of Miss Emily’s father, who was a supporter of strong southern pride, represents an end to the era of the old south, showing that change is coming through the death of the epitome of a typical southern male. The fact that Miss Emily won’t release his body shows her desperate need and want to hold on to the old southern ways and to her powerful southern name. Also, the South’s progression is showed through Miss Emily’s house. Miss Emily’s house, a once glorious and beautiful plantation, slowly deteriorates after her father’s death, symbolizing the destruction of the old south and everything it stood for. The house, which used to be a community symbol in southern pride, had turned to a pile of rubble, resulting in it changing from a monument of what used to be to a guideline of what now can’t be. Last, Miss Emily herself is a symbol in the changes the South faced. Emily was sick towards the end of her life, and each moment her condition worsened. Her progressing illness symbolizes the steady down-hill ride old south ideals take, and her death represents the inevitable end to her family name and the old south. Through Miss Emily, her father, and her house, William Faulkner explores the idea of a free and equal south where slaves and platations serve as only a distant memory of how life once was.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose for Emily” , Faulkner uses the old generation of the town to represent the old south, and the new generation to represents the new south. Miss Emily is the link that was trying to keep the old south alive during the transformation to the new south. Miss Emily comes from an old southern family that had once had power and wealth in the town. After the death of her father, who had been the perfect example of an old southern man, she had to be forced to turn over the body. To Miss Emily holding on to that body was like holding on to the past when her and family had held a high standing in the town of Jefferson. Faulkner uses her father’s death to show the death of an era in which money and the power of your name had been key. After the his death the towns people took pity on Miss Emily because to them she was the last of a dying breed on of the few southern bells still existing unwilling to change with the times. Miss Emily is the symbol of what was left o0f the old southern families after the war, like Miss Emily many were left with nothing and no means of supporting themselves, for all they had ever known was running the plantations, plantations that wouldn’t work with out the slaves. When the town tries to collect taxes from Miss Emily again, she hadn’t paid taxes since her father’s death, that action shows how the south is trying to move forward into the new south by not allowing special treatment to those who were used to it. Miss Emily could also be symbolizing the many old southerners who were against the changes that had occurred at the end of the civil war before society as a whole could change everyone with in the society has to not necessarily agree with the changes but accept them. With the acceptance of the changes then a society can really progress into the new era.
ReplyDeleteIn the olden days of southern society, people acted and thought much differently than the Southerners after the civil war did. In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner describes the Old and New South, using characters to depict the differences. Miss Emily, an old Southern women who always gets her way in the town of Jefferson, portrays the Old South. She clings to her family’s name and pride, considering it to be sacred. She believes that she still has influence over the people of her town, even though she doesn’t have money or special characteristics, losing her family’s plantation and slaves after the war. Something that also represents the Old South is Tobe, the black man who works for Miss Emily. He stays to work for her, which ties into the Old South and slavery. Even though he is technically free, Tobe stays with Miss Emily because he doesn’t know any better. The townspeople, who represent the New South, fear her and let her get away with anything, mostly because of her father‘s death. They pity her because she is one of the very few who still follow the ways of the Old South. She does not have to pay her taxes because she is respected by the townspeople. But because she can get away with anything, she is able to buy arsenic without any question, and commit murder without any consequences. But when the townspeople come to collect her tax money, they are trying to push the ways of the New South on her, hoping she would give in to their requests. The younger generation has a new mindset,and are willing to motivate these people in the older generation to accept the new way of life. These characters show how the Old and New South differentiate and the transformations that a society must go through in order to advance with the new environment that is occurring all around them, letting the old ways become a memory of what has come to pass.
ReplyDeleteIn the short story, “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner uses different characters to represent issues that occurred in the south. One character that represented major issues in the south was Miss Emily. Emily was once a young woman, who never felt that sort of ‘special feeling’ from a man. Her father thought no man would ever be good enough for his daughter, and resembled the old south greatly. After her father died though, Emily rarely left her house. She wanted to keep the old days around, and didn’t want to forget about them. She wanted to keep the house young, as she used to be, but as she got older, the house seemed to grow old as well. She didn't want to forget the days of happiness, and swell into the new south where many were miserable. Even the townsmen, representing the new south, who came to take her taxes, let her get away with not having to pay her taxes, feeling pity for her and how she lived. There was also a slave who lived in the house with her, leaving occasionally to go to the market. The slave probably felt tied to Miss Emily, her loneliness keeping him around, and her house his only place to stay as he was alive. And then there was the man that Miss Emily fell in love with, killing him only because he had left her, and storing his body in the bed she slept in every night. The slave must have had some idea of this, for he was living in the same house, but didn’t say a word to her about it. The man laying in her bed, his body stiff, an imprint left in the pillow after such a long time, could be a symbol for the loved ones many had lost when war occurred. Many wanted to forget the hard times in the south, but many memories were hard to overcome. Faulkner’s symbols are hid beneath the tragedies of the south, and caused many people to struggle to resurface.
ReplyDeleteIn the south before the civil war, many of the southerners were arrogant and selfish. They owned large plantations and had slaves do all the work. To them, black people lived to help the white man. In “A Rose for Emily”, by William Faulkner, he shows the changes and progression in the south through setting and characters. In the story Emily’s father, a rich plantation owner, thought that no man was good enough for his daughter, showing southern tradition immensely. When he died, it said she did not want to let go of his body. This shows that she did not want to let go of her family name and her old southern traditions. Her father’s death also shows the end of the old south and changes occurring to begin the new south. Another important symbol is Emily. She represents the changes in the south over time. As the south continues, Emily keeps getting more ill and more ill, showing the ideas of the “new” south approaching. Emily staying in her house all the time also shows how many people could not accept the new changes in the south at the time. Throughout the story she believed she did not have to pay any taxes, but the tax collectors felt bad for her and let her get away with it. Emily truly tries to hold on to her name and the old south. Faulkner uses Emily and her father as symbols to show how the old south has vanished, and now everyone is free and treated equal.
ReplyDeleteFaulkner uses characters in his short story, “A Rose for Emily,” to symbolize the “old” and “new” South, and the decline of the “old” South after the Civil War. For example, Miss Emily and her family ultimately represented the “old” South. They were characterized as wealthy and powerful individuals, who lived in extremely large, beautiful, luxurious homes. They also owned plantations with many slaves, and were considered highly respectable people in this town. As Miss Emily’s father dies, she does not want to give up his body, which symbolizes how she does not want to give up her past of money, prosperity, and success, similar to the southerners following the Civil War. Her father’s death is the prelude to a new life for Miss Emily, one filled with challenges and change, as inevitable as the new life faced by the southerners after the war. Also, Miss Emily’s physical decline, which accompanied her aging, distinctly symbolizes the deterioration of the “old” South. Miss Emily was once a beautiful woman, as was the South when everyone owned plantations and slaves. But throughout the story Miss Emily slowly became older and older and more obese, which signifies the decay of “old” South. When Miss Emily dies, the “old” South is gone forever. The townspeople ultimately symbolize the “new” South. They realized Miss Emily was stuck in her past, and attempted to bring her back to the present. For example, the city authorities tried to get Miss Emily to pay her taxes, but she refused because Colonel Sartoris, who had been dead for 10 years, came up with a lie so she would not have to pay her taxes. Lastly, the Negro, Tobe, who had been Miss Emily’s helper for years, clearly represents the “old” South. He did not leave Miss Emily until she died because he believed he had a responsibility and a duty to her, as so many of the slaves believed before the Civil War. Once Miss Emily died, the entire town could clearly move on to a new lifestyle, leaving the memories of plantations, slaves, and extreme wealth in their past.
ReplyDeleteIn “A Rose for Emily,” Faulkner uses his characters to give insight into the issues the South was having with dealing with and accepting change. The characters like Miss Emily, who had lived in the “Old” South, represented that exact thing, the old ways of the South. They symbolized an era when the South was filled with slaves, plantations and arrogance, and this can easily be seen with how Faulkner illustrates Miss Emily and others from her time. These characters are in direct contrast to those born after them, people who grew up without the “Old” South, who were byproducts of the “New” South. They lacked the arrogance and bigotry that plagued the “Old” South and instead they began to treat everyone equal and chip away at the bias in their community. The pre-Civil War South influenced those after them even less. They even had to courage to stand up to traditional Southerners, like Miss Emily, and ask for taxes. Although they did not succeed, this portrays that Faulkner was trying to flesh out the struggle for power between the different generations of the South. For many years after the Civil War, Southern society had trouble changing, due to their past, but each generation after them chipped away at the old society, and Faulkner effectively symbolizes this change through his characters.
ReplyDeleteBefore the Civil War, some of the Southerners in America had an obstructed view of life, considering themselves to be higher, or more important, than others. After the Civil War, as William Faulkner shows in “A Rose for Emily,” some of these southerners did not change their views and tried to retain the ways of the old South. Miss Emily, who was from a wealthy, plantation owning, family got special treatment from the members of Jefferson, who allowed her to avoid paying taxes, and let her get away with behaviors that most citizens wouldn’t get away with. But, Emily, as a character also portrays the South as it is changing. Miss Emily is depicted at four different times, when she was young and beautiful, after her father died, while she was thin, worn and didn’t care about her appearance, then she is shown as an older, plump, woman who is supported by an ebony cane with a gold handle, and lastly, she is pictured in her final state, laying lifelessly in her bed. The young and beautiful Miss Emily shows the old south, which cared mainly about money, beauty, and other superficial things, and it shows that the South, from their eyes, was in its prime. When it shows Emily in her next state as thin with short hair, after her father dies, Faulkner portrays the South after war. The South was torn apart and devastated from the loss of the slaves and of loved ones, they were starting to care less about the superficial aspects, but, like Emily had a hard time saying goodbye to her father and wanted to hold on to him, the Southerners had a hard time saying goodbye to the old South and tried to hold on to it. The third picture of Miss Emily shows that the South was starting to come back together, but aspects of the old South were still remaining intact, like the honor Miss Emily was given for her name, which was remembered as the powerful name which became because of the wealthy status of her family. Then, the last image of Miss Emily shows that the old South and their ways have passed on, although the memories from the old South would still be around, like the memory of Miss Emily, slavery had been abolished and the majority of old Southern beliefs had also been abolished, never to return again.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Civil War, several people living in the south were faced with dramatic changes. The traditions and customs of the old south, as many knew, were distorted when slavery was outlawed and those who were once known as the upper class in society no longer existed. In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner addresses the themes of change and progress by illustrating the decline of the old south at the turn of the twentieth century. Miss Emily, once a wealthy, powerful, superior woman in Jefferson, symbolized the old south. Living lavishly in a beautiful home, provided from the money that her large plantation brought in, Miss Emily spent her younger years devoted to her father. When he died, she was unable to let go of her father’s death, representing the larger theme throughout the story that she was not capable of forgetting her past and moving forward. The family Grierson name meant too much to Miss Emily to let it all slip away. The physical description of Miss Emily, in addition to her house, symbolized the fall of the old south. Both once beautiful figures in the town of Jefferson, Miss Emily over time became significantly larger and older, just as the house also deteriorated, representing the collapse of the old south at this time. Falkner depicts the townspeople as the new south, looking for the change that was waiting to take over the south. Persistently asking Miss Emily to pay her taxes, the town tried to rid the ways of the old south. Although Miss Emily did not give in to the tax collectors, grasping her past with everything she had, when she died, the old south went with her. With the last remnants of the old south gone, the reconstruction of the new south slowly began, shaping the lives once again of its people.
ReplyDeleteThe time period before the civil war and after the civil war was a complete contrast to one another, the ways of life in the south changing dramatically after the civil war. Before the war the entire lifestyles of the people living in the south depended on the fact that they were allowed to own slaves to work on their huge plantations and do all of the work so that they had time to do the things they wanted to do. In the story “A Rose for Miss Emily” Faulkner uses the way the people in the story act to represent the old and the new south. In the beginning of the story Miss Emily’s father died, because he was such a highly thought of man in the south, his death helps to show how the old south is dying. After her father died, Miss Emily tried to keep his body in the house, not wanting to admit to the world that he is really dead. This helps to reinforce how badly Miss Emily is trying to hold on to the old south and how much she wants things to stay the same as they were before. Another symbol that Faulkner uses the represent the old south is Miss Emily’s house, it used to be a beautiful huge plantation that was one of the best around, but as the south begins to change so does her house, both the south and Miss Emily’s house being to decline, steadily becoming less then their former glory. Also Miss Emily’s heath in the story is symbolic to the south’s “health”, both are getting worse and worse as time goes on, getting close to death, the end of who or what they used to be. Faulkner also uses the people in the town to represent the new south, the way that they try to break old habits and attempt to get Miss Emily to pay her taxes represents the new south and how things have changed from what they used to be.
ReplyDelete"A Rose for Emily" symbolizes the changing south in many ways. Miss Emily, The older townes people, and the old mayor, Sartoris, all represent the ways of the old south. They respect the ladies and treat them with great respect. Although this is admirable, it leads to disaster when they fail to question the many clues to Homer Barrons untimely demise. The younger people of the town, and therefore the South, turn a blind eye to Miss Emily and all that she does. This also applies to the people of the South, who allow those who's views have not advanced and developed still live in the past, no matter what dirty deeds they get up to. As a result of this, racism, and extreme conservatisim were allowed to flourish. All this is represented in "A Rose for Emily," and needs to be addressed.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Rose For Emily" there are definately hints of the changing times that existed in the south after the end of the civil war and the abolition of slavery in the United States. In the old south people were more powerful based on their last name or how many slaves they owned or how well thir plantations were doing. After the south changed, though, names were no longer of importance, slavery had been abolished, and the plantations weren't doing well without their unwilling workforce. In the town of Jefferson people seem to be changing with the times except of Miss Emily, who lived during the old south. Unwilling to change, Emily is allowed by the town to avoid paying taxes and she can basically get away with anything, including murder. This story uses Miss Emily as a symbol for the old south and its unwanting of change and the people and town leaders represent the new south, which is allowing Miss Emily's transition into the new south to be a slow, possibly never ending, one.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Faulkner uses the town’s people and Emily to show change in the south. When the Emily goes to court, she is told to pay her taxes because she hasn’t been paying due to the prior judge. While pushing her point across, the new judge allows her to get off without payments because he pities her, and believes that she is a good person, and is someone who disserves to be respected in society. Also when Miss Emily purchases the rat poison to kill her husband, the cashier says that it is mandatory to tell them what you are going to use the rat poison on. When Emily refuses to tell him her intentions, the cashier lets it slide, because she was an older woman, and there was an unspoken respect for her. Faulkner uses these people to show the reader the bigger picture, that the south was changing and Miss Emily was unwilling to accept changes. When her father died, she wanted to keep the body, to hang on to the last remains of her family name. She couldn’t accept that she would be alone. When she met Homer Baron, she thought that she wouldn’t be alone anymore; she would have someone to care for, and would lover her in return. Soon she suspects that he is going to leave her so she buys the poison, and keeps his body in the upstairs of her house for about 30 years. These changes that occurred over time in the south resulted in progress for everyone, not just Miss Emily.
ReplyDeleteFaulkner uses the symbolism of the "old south" and the "new south" throughout his story "A Rose for Emily" in every character and how they react to Miss Emily and her ways. Miss Emily is a representation of the "old south" because she refuses to give into the new laws and customs and instead chooses to be stubborn. Because of her family name, she is highly respected in the small town and not even the town mayor decides to continually press the issue concerning her paying taxes. The townspeople allow her to keep on living in the past, just like the arragonce of the southern society sort of made it okay for people to refuse to adjust to the new ways. When Miss Emily keeps her father's corpse with her for a few days, this should have been a sign that something was wrong, but she seems to have special treatment and gets away with this. While the new men come into control in Jefferson, they try and change old habits with little luck, because everyone cherishes the old ways. In the south after the civil war, the white plantation owners who were previously rich and weren't required to work, now were forced to do their part in rebuilding the lives of everyone around them. The majority were not very willing to change and therefore had a high lack of ambition. The pharmacist of the town also played a big role in putting a halt to the change when he gave in to Miss Emily by giving her the rat poison, even though she had no legible reason to get it. Faulkner used all of these characters very carefully when creating the theme of the transition from the "old south" to the "new south."
ReplyDeleteFaulkner adresses the themes of change and progress in the south with the story "A Rose For Emily." In this story everyhting around Miss Emily is changing but she refuses to see it and continues to live in the way that she was raised and taught how to live. Faulkner uses the "old south" symbolized through Miss Emily in everything that she does. For example, Miss Emily, who lives like she always has rather than conforming to the ways of the new south. This is shown in the ways that the townspeople act toward her, contantly giving her the right to do everything she wants, out of respect for her. One of these instances was shown when Miss Emily bought the arsenic and did not tell the store owner, who by law must know why certain poisons are being bought, what she was using it for. The "new south" opn the other hand is shown through the townspeople. This is shown when the new generation begins asking for tax money from Miss Emily and trying to put a mail number on the front of her house and she refuses because that is not the way, in her mind, that it should be. Faulkner discusses the changes through the actions of the townspeople and their reactions to Miss Emily.
ReplyDeleteIn, “A Rose for Emily,” a bothersome story by William Faulkner about an old woman who is lost and forgotten in the changes of the south, the author uses symbolization to show the changes in the south during the post war time period. Miss Emily herself is the symbol of the old south. Although times have changed and she no longer is allowed to carry on her life without paying the town’s mandatory taxes, she believes that they are not applied to her simply because of what an army soldier had said years prior during the civil war. Because Miss Emily represents the old south, with her lady in distress type personality, the town allows her to continue on in her life without following the common law. The townspeople do not only allow this to occur once throughout the story and throughout Miss Emily’s lifetime, but they allow it to happen multiple times. For example when Miss Emily goes to buy the very dangerous arsenic, the man allows her to, knowing very well that she was not going to use the chemical to kill “rats”. Faulkner uses Miss Emily to represent the old south and use as a drastic comparison to the new south. Miss Emily is a morbid lady who is allowed to carry on simply because just like the old south, she is important to the past in such a way that they cannot just abandon her, yet she is so poisonous and harmful to the future, that her death, and the loss of her ways, isn’t mourned very deeply.
ReplyDeleteoh so helpingful.deets again for ze helping
ReplyDelete