Essay Example on The Standards of the King A Rose for Emily

The Standards of the King A Rose for Emily is a peculiar social commentary which perfectly presents the role and demands of women during the early 20th century This short story would represent the society's perception of a female Every human lives in a certain society and is influenced by its traditions and principles A society is an institution which has a right to judge and sustain the pressure Thus people create a strong sense of one's responsibility for another In A Rose for Emily Miss Emily gets into this situation Jefferson s community feels a great obligation to take care of her and control her actions Throughout the story she is perceived by her environment as a weak and dependent woman When her father passes away she is left alone She does not have a man to care for her so the town council decides to absolve her tax duties The people of the town tried to shelter her needs by offering their help and sympathy They also try to be lenient with her eccentricities dating with a Yankee buying a poison or keeping corpse of her father This caretaking of Miss Emily depicts the perception of women during that period of time A woman without a man is helpless She is not able earn her living as well as to remain mentally well and function properly in the society Miss Emily is portrayed as a lost lonely outsider where she lives in a town full of expectations that she could not meet The short story is based on a female position and her interaction with society where a woman is controlled by men She is taught and forced to live according to the well established principles and rules of the town 

Where if women would disobey the men it will result in condemnation and isolation Therefore woman remains in the shadows and do not go beyond their restrictions When Emily was younger her deceased father used to force away all the young men that would like to get to know Miss Emily After Emily s father s death she falls in love with a Yankee named Homer Baron Everyone in the town was gossiping about their relationship Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner a day laborer Right after when Miss Emily goes out riding with Homer Baron She is seen beneath him socially according to the narrator Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to young people Paragraph 45 Because Emily s behavior is not the behavior one would expect of someone of her social statues and yet Miss Emily shows little to no importance for the social conversations of the town about her she still does whatever she pleases The story starts of with Ms Emily s funeral It states that The men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house As we can see Miss Emily was sort of like a mystery to the town people The author continuously uses symbolism in the story When the deputies came to her house for her taxes Faulkner describes how the house and Miss Emily looked Only Miss Emily's house was left lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons among eyesores This Statement explains how the house gave off such a depressing vibe As stated in the text no one would go in to the house the only person who comes in and out is Toby the butler When Miss Emily lost her only parental figure she denied that he was dead for 3 days Miss Emily was left with the house which later got boarded up In the story the townspeople s point of view towards Emily actually reflected the society s value at the period Although the town people did not have direct contact with her their views on her and her family affected Emily s life 

Their praises and admiration influenced her father to keep her sheltered longer than needed As seen in the story her father controlled her completely So after her father s death she rebelled and found love with Homer and neglected the town people s judgements The theme of the short story also explains why Emily can not completely accept changes Emily refuses to accept changes to her new life One example of Emily s helplessness to deal with change and of her strange personality is shown by Emily s not wanting to pay her taxes The structure of the short story symbolizes the disorganization of Emily s life Which represents that Emily is completely lost in another world and can not process reality In conclusion there are many aspects that were included into A Rose for Emily William Faulkner was able to create a story involving many ideas and perspectives about society and how it functioned in a specific time period in the South He explains how there is a double standard for women and men Faulkner shares with us how society controlled women And how Emily was just a lost child in a town of moderend people In A Rose for Emily Faulkner shows the tragedy outcome of our beliefs towards social roles that constrain rather than liberate our true selves as people