...Comparative Literature Paper Selfishness and revenge are woven through “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner like a fine silk thread, supporting the theme of death in each. In the short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, the cause of death is never obviously revealed but lightly hinted upon Emily as the cause. “The Cask of Amontillado,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the cause of death is revealed but no one knew the cause of Fortunato’s disappearance. These stories contain many differences as well as similarities ranging from imagery, symbolism, theme, and tone. The recognizable commonality of the two is the theme of death. Each of these stories portrays death, or murder, as a result of vengeance, revenge and betrayal. “The Cask of Amontillado” deals with the death of Fortunato and “A Rose for Emily” deals with the death of Homer and Emily. William Faulkner never admits that Emily is the cause of Homer’s death but gives the audience clues that suggest Emily was indeed responsible. Emily’s death seemed to be of natural causes (Faulkner, 1931, p 531). Edgar Allan Poe, in “The Cask of Amontillado” tells the audience of Montresor’s plot of revenge and murder of Fortunato. Betrayal and revenge are obvious throughout both stories. In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily first betrayed Homer after he did not take her for his wife after the whole town saw the two of them together. In “The Cask of Amontillado”...
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...Andrew Costroff ENG 102 Faulkner and American Literature Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner is commonly considered one of America’s most creative and inspiring novelists. Influenced by authors such as Phil Stone, Sherwood Anderson, and James Joyce, Faulkner’s works center on themes like racism, sexuality, and social decline that was taking place in the 1920’s and 30’s in the South. At the core of his stories and novels are symbols of decay, like Miss Emily in “A Rose for Emily”, and Southern pride, like in “The Sound and the Fury”. His experimental use of techniques, such as stream-of-consciousness and multiple narrators, make his work challenging to read, but nonetheless unique. Many of Faulkner's writings are set in Yoknapatawpha County, a fictional area reflecting his native Lafayette County, which played a major role in shaping one of the world’s most artistic imaginations. William Faulkner (he actually added the u later) was born on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. He was named after his great-grandfather, William Clark Falkner, the “Old Colonel” who often appears in William’s stories. As a young boy, he would often listen to stories told to him by his family, particularly his mother Maud and his grandmother Lelia – both of which were well-educated and excellent readers. These included stories of the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, slavery, and the Falkner family. Considering this, it is easy to see how themes of racism, sexuality, and battles of...
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...Southern Book of no changes: An Analysis of William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” From Lao Tzu One of the five classics of Taoism, the I Ching or Book of Changes, states that the world and life are always changing, and that only the superior man is meant to overcome these special circumstances. In A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, the main character Miss Emily Grierson isolates herself from reality and makes the decision of defying the human necessity to adapt. In this way, Faulkner uses this story to illustrate the audience about the incapacity of the South to accept change after the Civil War. Once the North beat the South, many southerners did not accept the fact that their lives had changed. They clung to the past and rejected the new vision of America. Emily’s personality represents this last try to stand firm to the old traditions of the South. In the beginning of the story, the reader can observe that even her property is a holdout: "But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of the neighborhood; only now Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and gasoline pump-a eyesore among eyesores" (Faulkner, 91). Faulkner writes a story rich in symbolism, Emily’s state of mind starts to worsen...
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...The Power of Symbolism Used in Faulkner's A Rose for Emily In 1897, William Faulkner was brought up in Oxford, Mississippi. To be wealthy in those days of the south (or not), meant the difference between whether one was worthy of praise, or not. Faulkner's family was no longer high on the wealth "berth," but it was still respected due to the honor it possessed. Southerners placed a wealth of stock in big positions in life, as well as being a war hero. Faulkner's father and grandfather fit the bill perfectly. His father was treasurer of the university of Mississippi, in oxford. Before this, his grandfather had acquitted himself admirably by becoming a hero of the civil war. The point is made that even though the family no longer occupied...
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...Alex Klapetzky Mrs. Merrell Gross ENGL 1302 01 October 2015 Word Count: 1,305 Small Signs Symbolism in literature is using an object to portray a different, deeper meaning in a story. Symbols represent ideas or qualities that the author has maneuvered into his or her story that has meaning. There can be multiple symbols in a story or just one. It is up to the reader to interpret the meaning of the symbols and their significance to the story. In “A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner effectively uses symbolism to illustrate the fading glory of the Old South giving away to the progress of reconstruction and the new century. It also plays a role in understanding the whole meaning of the story and why Emily is a tragic figure as opposed to an evil person. The gray strand of hair found on the pillow next to Homer Barron’s corpse is a symbol that represents lost love and perverse action of Miss Emily. The hair represents Miss Emily’s determination to live how she wants while disregarding anyone’s approval. Her eccentric actions proves that she lives by her own moral code, that whatever it takes to be happy is welcome, even if it is murder. “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt...” (Faulkner 327). The strand of hair stands as the remnant of life that is left to decay, just like Homer Barron’s body (Getty 231). The lime that is sprinkled around Miss Emily’s house is another symbol in the story. Lime is a white powder used to cover the smell...
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...Professor English 1B 03 March 2014 Faulkner’s Use of Southern Gothic and Mississippi Faulkner might have well been named as one of the most influential American writers of the South while some critics despised his work. William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897 (“William Faulkner Bio”). His love for poetry early on helped shape his writing style. Faulkner became an accomplished writer producing novels, short stories, poetry, and even dabbled in screen work media. As a Novel Prize laureate, he spent most of his life in Lafayette County, Mississippi. Many of his fictional stories take place in Yoknapatawpha County, a place he created based on the setting in Lafayette. As a native of Mississippi, the American South’s culture had a big influence on him. His inspiration for writing came from his grandfather (Cruz). He not only loved his grandfather but wanted to be just like him. His passion for literature sent him on a journey to the University of Mississippi. While attending school, he worked for The Scream writing comic strips. (Cruz). Faulkner traveled a lot with his father while he was younger. Like most, he had strong Southern values and pride. He seemed to have a different stance on equality and the issues of inequality taking place. Faulkner encouraged equality amongst the citizens. His literature uses several situations where people of race, gender, or class are discriminated against (Cruz). Faulkner’s ability to write seemed to be influenced...
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...A Rose for Emily: 1st Essay A Rose for Emily is a short narrative written by William Faulkner, an American writer from Mississippi. This story tells the story of Emily Grierson who belongs to a southern aristocratic family. Emily was a weird but an extremely interesting woman who no one could be able to get the best of her. Even though she was a rude dissociable outsider who lost all her beloved ones and left alone in a society that outer appearances and social class were considered major aspects in people’s lives, she found a way to survive and maintain her strength. Through the events of the story you can realize the hardships Emily had gone through and all the unpleasant things that happened to her either from strangers or acquaintances. When I first read this story I gave a part of my time focusing on the title and what this piece of narrative might be about. Is it about roses? Is it a love story? Is it a funeral? Who is Emily and why she got flowers? Anyhow, for some reason, the word “Roses” stood up in the title and many questions came to my mind whether these roses symbolized something of what I thought it would. Are these roses from Emily’s beloved? Are they from people in a funeral? Or did she use to plant them in her garden? And what is really interesting is that the title was intriguing and encouraged me to read the story in order to find out what did those roses symbolize in William Faulkner’s short story. From the title, I came up with a scenario of what...
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...What Repression Can Do to a Woman Since the beginning of time women have been treated as second class citizens. Women were repressed and were forced to face many problems. At that time women were mainly controlled by their husbands and could not freely do things without the consent of their husband. This paper shows how this is evident in the "Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. In both stories, the use of literary elements such as foreshadowing, symbolism, and significant meaning of the titles are essential in bringing the reader to an unexpected and ironic conclusion. The similarities begin with both of the authors being raised in the south. We can presume that is one way they could described the situations that they faced so accurately; situations like political and social presumptions problems especially for women at that time. Chopin writes how “women are to be seen and not heard”. That was the standard for women in those days. Women had no basic rights like voting and generally lived under their husband’s rule. Chopin's stories seemed very modern even though it was written over 120 years ago. Chopin stretched boundaries with her writing. The late eighteen hundreds were a rough time for women and there were not the options like divorce that is available now. Through Mrs. Mallard, we could see the social repression that women felt at that time. Therefore, in this story there is so much domination, Chopin said "They were...
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...negative effects that their dominating influences have on the women they love. Women in these societies often experience alienation, isolation, low self-esteem, and even insanity. The protagonists in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” both portray the subordinate position of women in late nineteenth-century society. “A Rose for Emily” is an unsettling tale of an aging spinster, Miss Emily, who clings to the past and lives in a world of her own making. Miss Emily is a mysterious character who was once a hopeful young woman from an affluent family but is transformed into a reclusive, eccentric old woman through the acts of her controlling father. Her community views her as having “a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town” (Faulkner 30); and she is a monument to the past in a small, modernizing southern town in the late nineteenth century. Throughout her life, her father routinely dismisses all of her potential suitors until the day of his death. Alone and betrayed, Emily is unable to accept his passing; and it is several days until the body is removed. She lives alone for many years until she meets a man, Homer Barron, who becomes her first true suitor. In time Emily realizes that Homer is not willing to commit and is faced with the prospect of living a lonely, solitary life. She takes action, poisoning him with arsenic from the druggist, and tucks him into bed ensuring that she will never be alone again. The protagonist...
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...“Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.” This quote by William S. Merwin exemplifies grief, which is portrayed throughout the course of the short story “A Rose for Emily,” but with an uncanny twist. In William Faulkner’s short story Emily, the main character. She is an old woman living in a town called Jefferson with a southern upbringing. Devastated and alone after her father’s death, she is an object of pity for the townspeople with the only comfort coming from her servant Tobe. After a life of having potential suitors rejected by her father, she spends time after his death with a newcomer, Homer Barron. As they continue their relationship the chances of his marrying her decrease as the years pass. As the connection dies off Emily isn’t seen except for the occasional glimpse of her in the windows. Once she has passed the townspeople arrive to the conclusion to enter the house, ultimately finding something troubling. In “A Rose for Emily,” a rose for Emily, the strand of hair, and decay are symbols that provide a strong representation of grief throughout the short story demonstrating the prominence of the passing. The first symbol that becomes recognized throughout “A Rose for Emily” is in the title itself. The rose for Emily is very symbolic for the reason that it represents the love that Emily was never able to capture and something more unsubstantiated. This caused for her to become a mysterious figure who changed...
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...Freud and Faulkner A psychoanalytic Reading of “A Rose for Emily” Abstract Undoubtedly Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. He was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century who elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system and the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. Freud articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression and he proposed tripartite account of the mind ‘s structure, all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions. Freudian approach can be analyzed well in The short story “A Rose for Emily” which is one of the great stories by an American novelist William Faulkner. In this essay I ‘m going to analyze this short story and the characteristics of its protagonist ( Emily Grierson) from Freudian and psychoanalytic criticism. Introduction Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is certainly strange by any average reader’s standards and a character analysis of Emily could go in any number of directions. It is nearly impossible not to examine her in a psychoanalytical and Freudian criticism specially about: Phallic stage, Oedipus Complex and the role of Id, Ego and Superego. The Phallic Stage According...
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...The Rebirth of the South: Wolfe, Faulkner, Warren The South is more distinctively a region than any other section of the United States is, because of the experiences and traditions that have taught it attitudes sharply at variance with some of the standard American beliefs: ● The sense of failure, which comes from being the only group of Americans who have known military defeat, military occupation, and seemingly unconquerable poverty; ● The sense of guilt, which comes from having been a part of America’s classic symbol of injustice, the enslavement and then the segregation of the Negro; and ● The sense of frustration, which comes from the consistent inadequacy of the means at hand to wrestle with the problems to be faced, whether they be poverty, racial intolerance, or the preservation of an historical past rich in tradition. In the years after the Civil War, the Southerner attempted to deny these things by the simple, but ultimately ineffectual, process of ignoring them. The Southern local colour writers concentrated on the quaint, the eccentric, and the remote; and the creators of the “plantation tradition” idealised the past. Against this sentimental view the first two voices that were strongly raised were those of Ellen Glasgow and James Branch Cabell, Virginians who in their differing ways defined the patterns which 20th-century Southern fiction was to take when it became serious and fell into the hands of that group of writers of talent who have practised...
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...that worked to death, known as the Old South. Throughout the readings done in American literature one begins to see the old south decaying. Traditions began to fade away and what used to be the norm is evolving into a new era where men are abusive to women, and blacks began to fit into the society slowly gaining the rights other races have had all along. This is described as the New South where people are always intermingling in a diverse manner. People in the Old South speak exceptionally formal and precise, as opposed to the slang that has been picked up in the New South. There are many reasons that contrast just how different these two eras became. The decay of the old south is present in A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams. Blanche and Stella’s ancestors were wealthy plantation owners. In the old south majority of people were farmers. Although Blanche and Stella inherited everything from their ancestors, they didn’t have enough income to keep it all. They ended up selling all of it besides a small portion in which their ancestor’s graves laid. During the 1940’s in New Orleans, there is a constant theme of how society and class effects Americans in this era. A Streetcar Named Desire deals with these class differences in an abnormal way. At one point of view is a disappearing Southern belle that has outdated ideals about the upper class and those “beneath” her social class or rank. Neither Stanley nor Stella, put social class into concern when regarding...
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...Analysis A Rose for Emily: William Faulkner William Faulkner first published “A Rose for Emily” in 1930; however, this short story resides in a small southern town during the post-Civil War period. During this age in time, the Unites States was going through major political changes. But Ms. Emily was not ready for change. Faulkner uses repugnant imagery and a unique narration style to explore a woman’s inability to cope with death and change throughout the community and within herself (Perry 40). Growing up in the Grierson family, Emily knew her family was powerful and popular, and she was fortunate enough to live surrounded by love and luxury. Emily’s father loved her dearly and only wanted the best for her, but most of the time he was a little over protective and perceived to control his daughter’s life. He felt as if no man could ever be good enough for his one and only. The Griersons were definitely different from every other household in the small southern town of Jefferson, and Emily’s father made sure everyone knew of this. Since Emily’s father was a tyrant throughout her life, she rarely got the chance to enjoy anything outside of the Grierson residence (Watkins 509). The early agony that Emily had to tolerate created a permanent emotional cripple to her life. Emily most likely did not have a concrete idea of how a real family should function and cooperate, especially with the absence of a mother figure. Other than the Grierson family servants, Emily lived isolated...
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...Chanel Langley Professor Hawkins English Composition IIMarch 19, 2018 “Flight Patters”In this story “FightPatterns” it shows how people are used to stereotype each other mainly because of how society is today. The main character is William he is a husband and a father, he continues to judge this man he barley knows. The reader Alexie, show’s William as being ahard-worker but only tends to care about his work. William tends to be fearful and worried and very paranoid throughout the short story. He works all the time, always flying and on business trips and meetings. He barely has time for his wife and daughter, which he cares for a lot. He has trouble with his health, “Healways slept poorly-and wondered again if his insomnia was a physical...
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