My Reflections on “A Rose for Emily”
In “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily seems to be a lonely, old woman at the time before her death. Her character traits are similar to that of a hermit. The story had a morbid, mystery type feel to it. The story often leaves the reader to question if the characters were actually ghosts although they weren’t. At the ending of the story, more elements of the story become clear. It became apparent that Miss Emily had a strange obsession to holding on to dead bodies of the people in her life.
In the story, it was mentioned early on that Miss Emily didn’t want to let go of her father’s body. They had to force her to bury him. While reading of the sealed room and its bridal contents after her death, it felt like she was never married but longed for it. So, that could be why she held on to the room, sealed it, and never changed it. Surprisingly though, it was revealed that the sealed room’s contents held a dead body in the bed in addition to all of the other things inside. Once again, Miss Emily did not let the body of a deceased person go. Miss Emily did not want anyone to leave her.
The character in the story, Miss Emily, could have been a mentally ill person. That condition could explain why she was not seen much in her life and kept to herself so much. It could also explain why she couldn’t let go of the bodies of the deceased. It could also explain why she laid in bed with the dead, rotting corpses for many years as well.
Some other elements of the story that added to its mystery was the man who worked for Miss Emily and the bad smells coming from the house throughout the story. The man who worked for Miss Emily did not speak much, and she probably hired him for that reason. That way, her secret could be kept. The smells must have been the dead corpse smell. Since the man who worked for her never told anyone, no one knew what the horrid smell was. With the secret kept, Miss Emily could continue to be with the deceased till the time of her passing.
No comments:
Post a Comment