Law 1

Trevor Law

Mrs.Pettay

112 ENG 2B

25 April 2017

Fathers Daughter

Southern society in the 19th century was a time of male dominance. There were

established social roles. Men worked while women were expected to remain pristine and

delicate in order to be a proper lady. William Faulkners A Rose for Emily brilliantly

represents the expectations and lifestyle of women in the deep South. Faulkner writes a A Rose

for Emily in such a brilliant way that it leaves room for many different interpretations. In order

to fully understand A Rose for Emily, it is imperative to recognise Miss Grierson is a victim

who is expected to conform to social norms by the Southern society she is apart of.

Miss Grierson is held down and forced to remain dependent due to her controlling father.

In A Rose for Emily, Miss Grierson appears standing in white behind her father who stands in

black with a horse whip in his hand. The color white represents her innocence and youth along

with her necessity to rely on her father. The black clothing on her father symbolizes power, and

he stands in front of Miss Grierson. This shows he controls her. Miss Griersons father shows

himself as the clear dominant figure in his household. In addition, Miss Grierson is forced to rely

on her fathers social status. In A Rose for Emily, Miss Griersons father scares off any

potential partner for Miss Grierson leaving her alone into the late adult years of her life. This

represents the power her father has over her. She must have her father's approval for the man she

wants to spend her life with. This orthodox lifestyle is a repression and injustice to women of the

deep South. In the time period, a women who remained unmarried was assumed to have
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something wrong with her making them undesirable. The idea of a women being undesirable

reduced their value and social status. The deep Souths view on a womans place in society

portrayed them more as property than as people. In addition, Miss Griersons initial reaction to

her fathers death exemplifies her reliance and lack of independence. In A Rose for Emily,

Miss Grierson did not acknowledge her fathers death for three days, but, eventually, she broke

down. Miss Griersons denial of her father's death is caused by her social and financial reliance

on him. When Miss Grierson is left with only her fathers house, she has little money and must

rely on her aristocratic roots to survive financially and socially.

Miss Grierson appears alone and depressed because of the way the people of Jefferson,

Mississippi perceive her. Gary Kriewald, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, writes, in

his literary criticism of A Rose for Emily, that Emily is the common property of the town

(Kriewald). Miss Grierson was used as the town gossip. She was not a women to them but an

object that is used for personal entertainment. In A Rose for Emily the people of the town,

including the narrator, are convinced she is crazy when she is thirty and single or weird for

dating a Northerner. Miss Grierson is the town gossip who keeps everyone entertained because

she did not live a traditional lifestyle. Her living status should be acceptable because a women

should not be forced to marry a man or be a victim of criticism when she does not marry. In

addition, because she is a women and lives alone, the town gladly pitys her. She is seen as more

human because she is left with nothing but her house. When Emilys father is alive and living

without a partner, there is no mention of the town pitying the Griersons. Because Miss Grierson

was a woman, the town finds it easier to pity and gossip about her.

Third the narrator's perception of women makes Miss Grierson appear less than a man.

When the narrator states that only a women could have believed it, when discussing the plan
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Colonel Satoris created in order to alleviate the Griersons from having to pay taxes, it is a direct

insult to the intelligence of a women. The quote means that women are not intelligent enough to

recognize the lie, and women are naive in every situation. In addition, the narrator continues to

say only a man could have created it, when discussing Colonel Satoris plan, it shows the

superiority men have over women in the South. The quote insults women by labeling women

as less intelligent as men. The way women are perceived in Jefferson, Mississippi in the 19th

century is less than a man both socially and intellectually. Miss Grierson, like most women in the

South, is treated as if she is weak instead of as a person. In A Rose for Emily, judge Stevens

says, will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad? The statement symbolizes a time

period when women were treated as delicate. Judge Stevens is afraid of offending Miss Grierson.

The belief is that women should be treated gently and not honestly. The intention may be pure,

but the actions place women on a lower level in comparison to men.

Miss Grierson's relationship with Homer Barron, and her necessity for a dominant male

figure in her life made her desperate for a partner. This originates from how she was raised. In

A Rose for Emily, Homer Barron describes himself as not a marrying man. Miss Grierson is

afraid of losing Homer Barron. She has to have a male figure in her life because she is afraid of

being alone. Stemming from her forced reliance on her father, Miss Grierson needs another male

companion to rely on. Miss Grierson is a woman who becomes emotionally dependent because

of how she is raised by her father and the social norms of Jefferson, Mississippi. In addition,

Miss Grierson is afraid of being alone. In A Rose for Emily it is assumed that Miss Grierson

poisons Homer Barron and sleeps in the same bed as him for a period of time. Professor Gary

Kriewald goes on to describe Miss Grierson as emotional frailty (Kriewald). Miss Griersons

emotional frailty is a result of the mannerisms that are expected of women in Jefferson,
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Mississippi. Miss Grierson's heinous act represents how women are supposed to be reliant and

fragile. Miss Grierson suffers from this Southern, orthodox lifestyle. Miss Grierson's murder and

continued relationship with Homer Barron symbolizes her weakened emotional state and fear of

being alone. The fear of being without a male companion comes from the idea that a women has

to be married in the South. In addition, Miss Griersons emotional frailty is further displayed

when she retreats into the safety of her own home after Homer Barron deserts her. Professor

Gary Kriewald, on Miss Grierson's actions after Homer Barrons disappearance, states that

retreat into the sanctuary of her home is as defiant as it is self-protective, an act of passive

resistance directed against a society where the masculine virtues of courtliness, strength, and

moral rectitude exemplified by Colonel Sartoris, Judge Stevens, and her father(Kriewald). Miss

Grierson's reclusive lifestyle protects Miss Grierson's emotional fragility and is a form of

unintended resistance against Southern, orthodox traditions.

In conclusion, Miss Grierson is a woman who endured the sexist traditions of Jefferson,

Mississippi; however, her upbringing has left her emotionally fragile and dependent. Miss

Grierson is the result of a Southern society that sought to keep women lower than men on the

social hierarchy. Miss Grierson is trapped in a web of social traditions. In her final years, she

lives as a recluse in order to protect her emotions, and resist the life she is forced to live. The

town of Jefferson, Mississippi completes a self fulfilling prophecy by treating, talking, and

thinking of Miss Grierson as a broken object rather than as a women. In the end, she remains

emotionally scarred and her fathers daughter.

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Works Cited

Kriewald, Gary L. THE WIDOW OF WINDSOR AND THE SPINSTER OF JEFFERSON: A

POSSIBLE SOURCE FOR FAULKNER'S EMILY GRIERSON. EBSCOhost, 2003,

web.a.ebscohost.com.eztcc.vccs.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=e42aac9e-6e90-

4bcd-b5ac-4848e879dcae
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%40sessionmgr4008&hid=4212&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d

%3d#AN=14099556&db=a9h. Accessed 11 May 2017.