William Faulkners A Rose for Emily is a story o Essays

William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is a story of the decaying southern morals and the inevitable downfall of a confused, broken woman failing to accept change and trying to preserve the monotony of the old south in the superior changing world. The prevalent horror is that the town will no longer be the same due to the sinful acts of Emily, exponentially increasing the shift from old southern morals to new southern morals. As stated by Cleanth Brooks Jr. and Robert Penn Warren, "Just as the horror of her deed lies outside the ordinary life of the community, so the magnificence of her independence lies outside their ordinary virtues." Staton, S. F. (1987). Literary theories in praxis. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr. The town cannot understand why Emily did such monstrous deeds since they are changing with the rest of the old south. The town is accepting societies change and moving forward with no resistance, while Emily has found comfort in the monotony of the old south and old southern morals and beliefs. Emily's murder of homer, who represents the north, is significant beyond the town's boarders. This change and the desperate attempt to preserve the monotony of the old south is happening throughout the south, but the townspeople cannot observe that due to their tunnel vision perspective and acceptance to the new south. Due to the fact that the towns people are accepting the change and not opposing it like Emily, they cannot understand the emotional turmoil Emily experiences that are linked to the changing Sothern society; old southern morals and control is all she knows. Subsequently, Brooks Jr. and Warren also stated that "On the other hand, her queerness, the fact that she cannot compete with them in their ordinary life, the fact that she is hopelessly out of touch with the modern world." Staton, S. F. (1987). Literary theories in praxis. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Pr. This is meaningful due to the fact that the reader observes that the to wn using Emily as an experiment, seeing how one functions in society living old southern norms in a society that is now changing with the victory of the North. Seeing as she inevitably failed and met a horrible fate, it justified their movement into the unknown, new south.