A heart seeking love and burdened by traditions can open a doorway into madness. The given review and critique will be focused on a short story, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, written in 1930. The plot revolves around a town in the state of Mississippi with central characters Emily Grierson and Homer Barron, where a narrator non-linearly recalls events and stories regarding the recently deceased woman. Through the storyline, a number of intricate and important details are revealed about Emily and the other inhabitants of the town. The given review and critique will put emphasis on key parts of the story, which includes the house and gray hair, and these represent mental and physical deterioration as well as time and defiance, respectively.
The first major element is Emily’s house, which is a physical manifestation of the owner and her declining social status, mental health, as well as physical health. The text describes that the house was a “big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” (Faulkner, 1930, p. 1). In other words, the house was beautiful and full of life, love, and hope, as Emily used to in the past. Now, the house is “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores” (Faulkner, 1930, p. 2). Therefore, the house is a perfect representation of Emily, and she deteriorated throughout time, both mentally and physically. The narrator states, “when we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat, and her hair was turning gray” (Faulkner, 1930, p. 4). In other words, Emily’s hair symbolizes the time passed since her young adult period. Thus, a reader needs to learn that time moves forwards, bringing progress with it, which is why old systems of patriarchy become irrelevant in a new age.
Reference
Faulkner, W. (1930). A rose for Emily. Jefferson, MI: The Forum.