In William Faulkner's strange and haunting short story, "A
Rose for Emily," there are several feminist elements.
The
first example can be seen when Miss Emily goes out riding with Homer Baron. She is
beneath him, socially, according to the story's unnamed narrator. It is not the behavior
one would expect of someone of her social standing, and yet Miss Emily cares little for
the social conventions of the day, doing what she wants.
At
another point in the story, the town elders visit Miss Emily to try to get her to pay
her taxes. Colonel Sartoris, a politician long gone from this world, had exempted her
from paying into "perpetuity," when her father died. Instead of being cowed or
intimidated by these men, and leaders of the community at that, she stands up for
herself, repeats the agreement made with the deceased Colonel, and
dismisses the men. This would have been highly unusual for a woman
of that time.
When Miss Emily's father dies, it would have
been appropriate for an unmarried woman to go to live with family, or have a chaperone
live with her. Miss Emily's relatives show up and stay for a short while, but soon she
has them packing and gone. From this point on, Emily lives alone in her home with only
the company of a servant. This also defied the social norms of the time. It would seem
that while some people in town might have admired her independence, others would not
have known what to make of her.
It is hard to know if
Faulkner saw Miss Emily as a feminist figure. He had an eye for the macabre, and it may
be that living alone allowed Miss Emily’s character to behave in a way that so shocks
the reader at the end of the story.
However, art (and
literature is a form of art) takes on a life of its own, meaning different things to
different people. It may well seem that Miss Emily provides a feminist element in this
story. She certainly turned her back on what was expected from women in the South,
especially, during her time. She was a law unto herself.
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