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A Rose For Emily


            In the essay, A Rose For Emily, by William Faulkner, the main character, Emily is a southern, black, gentile lady. Her aristrocrat-like father, who found no suitor acceptable for his daughter, raised her. She began to grow older and by the time she was 30 years old was still not married. Set in the early twentieth century, this would have been very uncommon.
             Using feminist criticism, we see a struggle between the standards of men and women and the society standards. What is to be expected from a person of certain stature and the consequences of not following that standard are revealed in A Rose For Emily. Since Miss Emily was considered to be a gentile lady, her standards for dating were quite different than that of a common town person. She was to marry into money not a common person. The standards set by the town people were also evident. When she began to see Homer Barron, she was looked down upon and talked about because he was a common person. .
             She overcomes her struggle of being victimized by societies standard of a "lady" by empowering herself. Her empowering was murdering Homer Barron and being able to get away with it for years. No one ever thought the strange odor coming from the house might be that of Homer Barron. They just felt sorry for poor Miss Emily while all along she knew she would eventually shock them after her death with the discovery of the body of Homer Barron. In the original manuscript she wrote, "Hah, she said. Then they can. Let "em go up there and see what's in that room. Fools. Let "em. Satisfy their minds that I am crazy." She took pride and satisfaction in the fact the town's folk would see she was the one in power all along. .
            


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