Transcript A Rose for Emily- theme - Mrs

Tradition versus ModernityProgress
Homer
• The peopleEmily/townspeople
of Jefferson are at avs
crossroads-they
must
move forward into a modern, more commercial
future.
• As Emily initially clings to the body of her father (and
later Homer) the townspeople cling to their
traditions.
– Emily herself is a tradition- she remains unchanging despite
the small steps towards progress that the community
around her make.
– As a living monument to the past, she represents the
traditions that people wish to respect and honour;
however, she is also a burden and isolated, nursing
eccentricities that others cannot understand.
“Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty,
and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon
the town . . .”
• Emily herself remains in a timeless vacuum(forever in her bridal chamber)she has locked
herself within her home refusing to let change
effect her.
– For example: Refusing to have metallic numbers
affixed to the side of her house when the town
receives modern mail service, she is out of touch
with the reality that constantly threatens to break
through her carefully sealed perimeters.
• But modernity is coming with little regard for anyone:
The aldermen try to break with the unofficial agreement
about taxes once forged between Colonel Sartoris and Emily.
This new and younger generation of leaders brings in Homer’s
company to pave the sidewalks.
Although Jefferson still highly regards traditional notions of
honor and reputation, the narrator is critical of the old men in
their Confederate uniforms who gather for Emily’s funeral.
For them as for her, time is relative. The past is not a faint
glimmer but an ever-present, idealized realm. Emily’s
macabre bridal chamber is an extreme attempt to stop time
and prevent change, although doing so comes at the expense
of human life.
Mortality
• Death is the ultimate victor in this story- there
are many attempts to master death but
ultimately death wins.
– Emily’s life seems to be haunted by death.
– Despite Emily being the community’s monument
she still moves quietly towards death and
ultimately succumbs to it.
– Imagery used to describe her is that of death.
• Emily stands as an emblem of the Old South, a
grand lady whose respectability and charm
rapidly decline through the years, much like the
outdated sensibilities the Griersons represent.
The death of the old social order will prevail,
despite many townspeople’s attempts to stay true
to the old ways.
• Emily attempts to deny death (her father’s)
wanting to remain in control. Unable to admit
that he has died, Emily clings to the controlling
paternal figure whose denial and control became
the only—yet extreme—form of love she knew.
• When Homer dies, Emily refuses to acknowledge
it once again—although this time, she herself
was responsible for bringing about the death. In
killing Homer, she was able to keep him near her.
However, Homer’s lifelessness rendered him
permanently distant. Emily and Homer’s
grotesque marriage reveals Emily’s disturbing
attempt to fuse life and death
Isolation
• As readers we cannot escape the fact that this
is a story about the extremes of isolationboth physical and emotional.
• Readers are shown the process by which
human beings become isolated by their
families, by their community, by tradition, by
law, by the past, and by their own actions and
choices.
• Who is more isolated Tobe or Emily?
• Consider the descriptions we put together of
their characters- each is isolated- Tobe is the
only noted ‘black’ person- Emily is the only
noted ‘lady’.
• Is either isolated by choice?
Memory
• Gavin Stevens (a William Faulkner character) famously says,
"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
• The story spans at time period of more than 70 years
(approx 74). This story moves back and forth in time- in the
same way that our own memories work.
The story is also retold- that is- our narrator is likely the voice
of an entire town, probably more than one generation.
Connections with the idea of progress: Emily being trapped in
the past- wanting to keep the men in her life with her.
• When Miss Emily begins dating Homer Barron,
she is trying to free herself from her father's
past control, and from the tradition of being a
proper lady. The story's structure is meant
to mimic the way that memories are passed
on from one generation to the next.
Versions of reality
• What we confront is the reality of America in the
story, and the reality of the main character's
complete isolation.
• Faulkner reveals how difficult it can be to see the
past and the present clearly and honestly by
depicting memory as flawed and subjective.
• This ‘difficulty’ explains why the main character
is unable to differentiate between the past and
present- sanity and insanity.
• "A Rose for Emily" shows how the unrealistic
expectations placed on southern women in past
eras were detrimental. It establishes how much
things have changed since Miss Emily's time.
• Do you think Tobe has a clear view of reality?
• Do the different generations of Jefferson society
presented have different versions of the reality of
Miss Emily? If so, what are some of these
versions?
Compassion and forgiveness
• We almost have to be told that these
sentiments are behind "A Rose for Emily"
before we can see them.
• The story can seem downright cruel, the
characters wholly unsympathetic, and the plot
gross.
• When we begin to see the magnitude of the
tragedy, and its impact on multiple
generations, we understand the story is a call
for understanding.
Consider:
• Do the townspeople pity Emily? Is this pity the
same thing as compassion? Are they the same
thing?
• Does the town treat Emily compassionately? Can
you give any examples?
• Is it more compassionate to leave Emily alone
with her crime the way the town does in the
story, or let her be processed by the system?
• If Emily murdered Homer Barron, can we still feel
compassion for her? Do you feel compassion for
Homer?
• The story seems to argue that forgiveness,
compassion, and understanding can only come
by facing the facts of the past and the present.
• One critic notes: “By showing us that Emily is
insane, Faulkner gives us space to feel
compassion for her, and to forgive her for her
crime. True compassion for criminals involves
allowing them to face their crimes and their
punishments on the legal record – that the town
failed to allow Emily this process shows their lack
of true compassion for her.”
– Do you agree?
Symbolism:
• Time: pocket watch, stationery, hair.
• Lime and arsenic
• Death and taxes
• The house
Find examples of the following:
• Alliteration
• Metaphor
• Connotation
• Onomatopoeia
• Oxymoron
• Paradox
• Simile