A review by jasmines_
A Rose for Emily and Other Stories by William Faulkner

medium-paced

4.0

 

When I finished this short story, I was amazed by how evolved and profound it is, despite its short length. I will try to remember the things I liked about it, as I remember being obsessed with it for a few days.

So the story’s focus character is Miss. Emily, she was this old-fashioned, misanthropic woman, or so it seems. The whole story is narrated by one of the people who live in the town. This is something I found very intriguing as nothing can be taken as a fact when it’s narrated by an unreliable narrator. We always have an outside look, never from the inside.

As for Emily, a friend of mine wanted to suggest this book for her book club, but she was afraid that it may portray women in a negative light. I don’t believe that it’s true though, even though Emily is not a very likable character, her behaviour could be somehow justified. For one, she was raised by an abusive father, who mentally abused her that she couldn’t break free of his spell even after his death. He controlled her life, that when he died, she didn’t know how to react. She was like a puppet and when the strings were cut, she became helpless.

Another thing I want to discuss is how Faulkner used society’s “etiquette” against itself. The incident with Emily’s house reeking of something dead and ironically enough there was someone dead inside shows how stupid one can be by upholding sexist standards. The town refused to tell a woman that her house stinks, so they literally covered up the stench with something nice. Again, this also sheds light on how everyone in society is more adamant to keep up appearances than to acknowledge a problem; it’s an extremely well-written story as I’ve mentioned before.