A Rose for Emily

            
             When reading William Faulkner's short story, "A Rose for Emily," most readers will determine that Miss Emily Grierson has a problem facing reality. Her overbearing father, who is proud of his southern heritage and status in his community, keeps her suppressed, and enslaved in her own home. She is never allowed to grow and become the woman she wants to be, there is a wonderful woman that is inside of her but is never allotted to rise into full bloom. Her father stands between her and any young man who wishes to date her. This causes devastating effects to her character and spirit. Never being able to express her feelings in a natural way, she begins to withdraw inside herself and become dependant upon her father. This is evident in the story when Faulkner writes, " Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her clutching a horsewhip, the two of framed by the back-flung front door"(105). Her father's plan had worked. She did not go against her father's wishes and remained a single lonely woman. .
             Upon the death of her father, when the ladies of the community came to console her and give their condolences, she avoids reality by pretending her father is not dead. She does not wish to face the situation. The narrator describes this when it is written, "Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead" (Faulkner, 105). She convinced herself of this, escaping reality for several days until finally the townsfolk intervene, and persuade her to let them bury her father. She then withdrew further inside herself because she no longer has anyone to cling to. A short time passes without her being seen, and when she emerges from her dark inner self, she meets the love of her life, Homer Barron.
             They are miss- matched from the beginning.