Posted by Clee on August 11, 19101 at 21:13:35:

In Reply to: Re: A Rose For Emily disscusion posted by iz on April 16, 19101 at 19:59:08:

: i'll think about it, thanks

To me, the most important aspect of the whole story are the contrasts among the masculine and the feminine, the dead and the living, and the past and the present. Emily dominates this story; that much goes without saying, but she dominates the story because she is in such a contrast to the other characters. Faulkner writes the character so vividly that you can smell and listen to her breath. What always stumped me about the story is why people let her get away with what she gets away with. She doesn't pay taxes, her house is a threat to pubic sanitation and yet everyone refuses to say what needs to be said or do what needs to be done. There is a kind of respect for Emily because of the contrasts mentioned above. First, she's a woman, and a woman of the most respectable position. This point is modified, however, when you consider that every reason that she's respectable is dead. That is the contrast between life and death. Emily is respectable to these people, but she almost has to commune with the dead in order to regain that respect. I feel that this point comes out when it's found out that she's been sleeping the whole time with Homer's corpse. She communes with the dead on a regular basis; why shouldn't she be intimate with it and couple what we think of as opposing situations, life and death. This same kind of relationship can be found when one considers Emily's relationship with her father. The man to whom she recieves her respectability is dead, but he still lives in the house and controls Emily's actions. I sometimes found Emily's courting of Homer as somewhat of a problem. For years she'd remained a shut in, governed by a dead or almost dead father, but if you come to understand her relationship with Homer as again a coupeling of life and death it kind of makes sense. She's leaving the relationship with one dead father figure to take on another one.

Hope this helps and isn't too obtuse or just plain wrong.

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• Re: A Rose For Emily disscusion Clee 21:15:28 8/11/101 (0)

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