"A Rose for Emily," by William Faulkner is an interesting short story. I like how Faulkner told it by the town's point of view making me feel like I am living in the town observing Emily with what I think about her life. I find this story mystouris because it seems Emily always kept to herself till the day she died. There are many themes and different interpretations a reader could look at in "A Rose for Emily." But the main one I spotted during my second read is isolation.
When Emily's father died it sent her into a depression. I can tell because a quote in the story reads, "After her father's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all."(Faulkner,pg 79) That's the way seem people are after a traumatizing event, they lock themselves away not knowing how to deal with their feelings. At times it may seem better than trying to talk about it.
I have found when reading; her father's death is the main root in the story for Emily's downward spiral. When villagers came to take his body Emily's time spent alone convinced her into disbelief, "She told them that her father was not dead."(Faulkner,pg 80). But they didn't try to comfort her just forcefully took him away to burial.
Another signs that Emily was going through depression was her appearance was bad on for it says in the story,"She was sick for a longtime. When we saw her again, her hair was cut short, making her look like a girl..."(Faulkner,pg 81). The description goes on to comparing her to church windows then mentions she looked more skinny bringing out her black eyes. Meaning her mental health was making her eat less and not often feel hunger.
Things only got worse as she never asked for help and people in the village assumed she would go through with suicide. But it was unthinkable Emily would commit murder on Homer Barron after she heard that he likes men.
Angry at herself for believing he could be her husband and tramized by her own act of murder she shut herself off again."for almost six months she did not appear on the streets. When we next saw Miss Emily, she had grown fat and her hair was turning gray."(Faulkner,pg 82). Isolation was something she became use to. But one thing she seemed to find some happiness in was fattening food for she gained back her weight a bit too much. Emily became content with staying in the house and she did for years after her last appearance then she died.
The main lesson I took away form this story is don't isolate yourself when you are going through a rough time. It is possible Emily would have gotten better if she had gone out more and made good friends after her father's death.
