I've been on a bit of a “modern classic literature” binge lately. And by lately, I mean this month. First, there was this hour long discussion about The Catcher in the Rye that ended with me putting it on hold to re-read. I ended up letting my boyfriend, Zach, read it as I did my econ homework in the laundry mat and he kept laughing at Holden’s incessant whining and sarcasm. Second, I re-read The Great Gatsby and felt inspired to read more F. Scott Fitzgerald. This urge created an hour-long wild goose chase through the Harold B. Lee Library to find Six Tales of the Jazz Age. Zach and I ended up being followed by 1920s era posters and soft jazz music throughout our entire search. When we finally got to the row of Fitzgerald books it was not even there; we were about to leave when my eye caught the gold lettering on a red spine. The search itself ended up being like a Fitzgerald story—nothing actually happened, but that wasn’t the point. There was more significance in the search along the way than in the discovery in the end.
A Rose for Emily by William Falkner is like this. It is basically a short story about an average southern town and a bizarre woman who lives there. Part mystery, part “postage stamp” portrait of rural America, A Rose for Emily explores a single character, Miss Emily. Miss Emily came from a proud family, and was haughty herself. She made me sad though; she lives this sad life, totally lost in her memory on her one love, Homer Brown. She killed him to try to preserve his love and loyalty. She died, old, shut-up, in the bottom story of her house, “her gray head propped on a pillow yellow and moldy with age and lack of sunlight” (378). She never lived. She was either consumed in her arrogance or her memory.
Living completely in the past terrifies me, as does living in the future. Miss Emily did both; she never lived her life for the lessons, never lived for present. There’s something wrong with always looking forward, something wrong with watching a sunset and thinking only “One day, I want to come back here!” instead of thinking how lovely it is right now. Miss Emily also scares me because of her pathetic loneliness, her inability to love completely. Not just love in the conventional “sweep-me-off-my-feet” sense, I mean love in the “growing-old-together-your-habits-disgust-me-but-I-still-want-to-be-with-you” way. When I love someone, I share so easily; I laugh while helping them clean, I smile while sitting quietly doing homework. My best friend Stella and I were like this last year. A lot of times, we didn’t do anything special, we just spent a lot of time together, talking and cooking and watching Friends. We got in a fight in June and I haven’t talked to her since. I really miss her.
I don’t want to live my life burning bridges, living in nostalgia, decaying and disappearing with nothing and no one to remember me by. I want to hold hands with Zach; happy that we are just together now, not thinking about what happens in a year, in six months, in four, in one. I don’t want Stella to hate me; I don’t want to hate her either.
I don’t want to decay like Miss Emily, nothing but the foul smell of her dead lover to sustain her. I don’t want the ending of my story to be the only point of it.
I just sent Stella a message.
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I have to say that I agree. Kerry's response reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Oscar Wilde: "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." Life is about living and becoming. Without change, we don’t progress. What I found most poignant about Emily’s story was that in her attempts to create reality the way that she would like to have it, she missed out on the greatest realities of all. She missed out on life. Another of my favorite quotes, by the character David in the book The Letter, says that, “It has been a mistake living my life in the past. One cannot ride a horse backwards and still hold its reins.” The same is true for Emily, and is true for us. As President Monson would say, “Learn from the past, prepare for the future, live in the present.”
ReplyDeleteI was watching an old 50’s TV show the other day called Nanny and the Professor and this story reminded me of it. The little girl in the show got a balloon and it became her best friend. Then one day--as all balloons do--it popped. She was so sad that she went to her room and didn’t come out for hours. Her daddy decided to get her another balloon, but the little girl decided not to blow it up because she wanted to keep it forever. Nanny, the ever so wise woman she is, convinced the little girl to blow up the balloon and enjoy it’s beautiful colors while it lasts. I think there is life lesson to be learned from this. “Your life is an occasion. Rise to it!” Great advice to be followed.
ReplyDeleteWhat i got out of this reading was not the popular theme of living your life in the present and to the fullest. I loved the analogy that Miss Emily was a lighthouse to those around her. Not everyone finds happiness in the traditional ways and everyone must play a different role in society. Miss Emily was perfectly content to quietly live her life. She didn't need everyone's approval or advice on how to live it. Granted she was very strange....but if everyone lived the same traditional way of life, how boring we would all be. I liked that Miss Emily's part in society was recognized as showing people what not to do. She selflessly, though not consciously, used her life to light the way for others which required losing herself at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThis selection is disturbing but rather thought provoking. I am amazed of the extent of Miss Emily's isolation from society. Her views of society go unaltered by death, age, or societal changes. Although this lifestyle allows Miss Emily to maintain her individuality, it impedes her personal growth and leads to an unhealthy lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteMiss Emily chooses to cope with the hardships in her life by acting oblivious to them and denying their existence. This technique may temporarily numb the pain, but as time passes it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the illusion of contentment. An individual becomes emotionally detached and looses personal congruency, a true sense of self.
This passage illustrates the importance of accepting reality. I am a convicted optimist, and this is a lesson I still must learn for myself. However, I believe that it is possible to mediate the two philosophies. An individual can recognize the reality of the present while maintaining an optimistic perspective for the future. Such an attitude will enable real happiness.
The lesson I learned from A Rose for Emily is that human connections are vital to life. Emily had very little contact with people, and she refused their support when she was having a hard time. I suppose this is largely equivalent to not living in the present. And it did have a negative effect on her - her life was dead.
ReplyDeleteHuman interactions are a crucial part of any person's life. We are here to "mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort," and to accept such comfort when we need it. No one can stand alone.
This story was a bit disturbing, but sometimes those are the stories that make you think the most as you try and reconcile it to yourself. Faulkner does an especially good job of using details to enrich his stories. For example, the portrait of Emily's father, and the silver set for Homer. Both of these men represented the only ties to love of any kind for Emily. To be represented by items so temporary really makes a point about her relationships. The silver was beautiful for a time, but silver tarnishes, and Emily didn't take care of it. The portrait of her father was done in crayon. The wax might remain, but the color will fade. Emily held onto the most temporary and fleeting memories of these men, and chose to be lonely rather than take care of the relationships.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll be the one to say it:
ReplyDelete"EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!! Gross!"
And now back to the deep, insightful discussion.
So someone, I don't remember who, told me what "A Rose for Emily" was about before I read it, so I knew what was going on the whole time, and thought the rest of the characters were a tad slow for not at least making some connection. I suppose they didn't have horror films/stories back then, or at least not to the extent or style we have. Also, I honestly didn't read that deeply into it. It was about a crazy lady who killed her lover and kept his body, and occasionally slept next to it, at least for a while. She also thought herself to be better than others, and dared anyone to challenge her choices. I'd say good for her, but she killed a man and died in the end, so not really.
So basically pride is bad.
If you have kids, and you want them to be humble, tell them pride makes you kill people and keep their bodies as bed decor. That should straighten them out.
It is “ewwwww!” for sure and really pathetic. During the summer before my junior year of high school, I had a terrible experience in which my 2 best friends decided to tell me everything they disliked about me while we were at girls’ camp so I couldn’t escape it. It was the worst week of my life. After that, I couldn’t trust anyone so I just didn’t talk to anyone. I spent that whole first semester in solitude. It was miserable. I came home every day and did homework and I don’t even know what else. I can imagine what Emily experienced in all her years of isolation, and it saddens me. I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like when you feel that no one likes you. It pains my heart. So instead of focusing on the gross part, I’ve been captivated by her actions to preserve the time of her life when she felt loved.
ReplyDeleteThis article reminded me of a quote I heard once. I won't try to quote it, I'll just butcher it. Anyway, it talked about how one can't spend their time coming up with a myriad of "tomorrows." Always planning what they do next. If they do so, they will find themselves with a whole bunch of empty yesterdays. I think that is what Lyse was trying to get across. You can't live in the past, or the future. You can't spend all your time thinking about what you want to do, you need to do it. Living life is what we are here for, and you need to enjoy every second of it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the story was creepy and depressing. More than that though, I felt pity. I pitied Emily. Her father never allowed her to learn to love. Not only did he not show his daughter love, but he chased away every chance she had. She probably resented him for it, but her emotional development was so affected that she clung to him when he did finally die. She never had anything positive remain in her life with stability. She learned from experience that life didn't let her retain anything happy or positive. In response, she clung to her dead father and killed her lover. Her twisted logic told her that if she froze them in time, they would stay with her forever.
ReplyDeleteI most definitely agree. This life is an amazing thing, and we make it what we want it to be. As we live our lives, we have the opportunity to befriend those around us, and love our neighbors. Moreover, people are always there to lift and comfort us if we let them. Just like Emily in this story, people want the opportunity to console us in our misery, and be our friends. It is therefore our responsibility to allow them the blessings of their kindness, and to be a friend back. Also, we must live the beauty around us. If we are always caught up in the busyness of life, we will not have lived. We really do have to take time to smell the flowers.
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was grotesque. That was not the ending I was suspecting.
ReplyDeleteI connected with Miss Emily, which is perhaps sad. It seems like she was prone to attachments, much like how I am. Maybe, she lacked self-esteem from the behavior of her prideful family, of which she also learned haughtiness. Love is the most amazing sensation one can feel. It is most powerful and uplifting. However, dependence upon those/that which you love is dangerous, since this is a fickle world. Such loss can leave one lifeless and confused, being unsure as to what path to take next, since what was important to you was ripped from the very arms that clutched it so tightly. It is very frightening, as though all the world is crashing in. In reality, the world is not, but your world is. You question if anything is worth anything if it all amounts to nothing in the end.
I agree on your interpretation of this story, and I think you put it skillfully. For me, though, the end was significant, because that's when I felt like I finally understood the story. Before it was more like, there's this crazy lady who never leaves the house, and stares at people, and does bizarre things that nobody understands. But then you see that she killed Homer Barron, so he would never leave her, it made sense, and sort of freaked me out. I can also see myself trying to live in the past. I’ve been going through some changes lately—I think we all have—and it’s easy to try to live in the past, or in a future you imagine to be better. It’s like when she denied her dad’s death—it was her way of coping, and I think we have all done something like that before. Denial is such an easy solution.
ReplyDeleteBut I hope I never kill anyone to preserve the past. I guess this story/essay is a good warning to me. Not that I would. More metaphorically speaking.
I first read A Rose for Emily last year in AP Lit. I thought it was extremely disturbing. But the more I think about it, the more I've realized that it has a really valuable lesson. Emily held on to Homer even when he wasn't hers anymore – eventually she had to kill him just so he could still be hers, even if he didn't want to be. Although none of us would do anything this drastic (I hope), I think most people have a tendency to hold on. We live in the past, we have a hard time moving on to the future.
ReplyDeleteI connected with Miss Emily (oddly) because I also have had times where I “live in the past.” This is particularly true when it comes to relationships. They're over, there's no point in hanging on, but for some reason I can't let them go. I think most people can relate to this. This story also made me realize that I ask a lot of “what ifs?” If a friendship or relationship ends, I always think, What if I'd done this differently? What if I hadn't said what I did? What if I'd kept in contact? But I think the point of A Rose for Emily is to show that there's no point in asking “what ifs” or living in the past. It reminds me of a cheesy quote my AP US History teacher always used:
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why they call it the present.
This story, though disturbing, helps readers to understand the dangers of living in the past and not being able to let go. It's a lesson most people need to learn.
I really liked your response to this story Lyse.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't the first story I've heard about psychotic people killing someone they love. It doesn't make sense. But I guess their love is so selfish and obsessive that a dead body is better because it can't run away and they can control it. She obviously wanted to feel in control of things in other areas of her life as well, so this personality trait got taken to the extreme. While most people will never do this I don't think it's that outlandish of a story. Maybe that's because the other day my stalker sent me a text message that said, "You'd think killing people would make them like you. But it doesn't. It just makes them dead."
True story.
Last night I had a conversation with a really dear friend of mine. His name is Travis. We both are on the track and cross country teams here at BYU. Recently, I have been struggling with health issues making it so that I cannot workout properly and thus resulting in terrible races.
ReplyDeleteAs I was talking to Travis, he told me to not hold back. He told me to tell myself every morning that I am more qualified today than yesterday. It is all about positive thinking. If I believe it, then I need to say it. I believe it, but now I just need to get down the saying it part. He has convinced me that saying things really helps cement them into your mind and make them become truth.
The morbidity and darkness of this tale made me think of Macbeth's famous speech: "She should have died hereafter; there would have been time for such a word. Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing" (V.v.17-28). Macbeth's nihilism is apparent in Emily's actions -- the arms of a dead lover were better than no lover at all. And cutting herself off from the rest of the world was better than having to face others from day to day. I almost wonder if this passage inspired some piece of Emily, since Faulkner was obvoiusly attatched to it (he used part of it as the title for another of his books). His gothicism places us all, ironically, in the place of Emily, making us all think as her. It's an interesting perspective. Terrifying, but it teaches a good lesson.
ReplyDeleteI first read this as a senior in high school, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, although very grotesque! It also reminded me of my neighbor Mrs. Smith. She was a very ancient woman who lived alone in her house. (she was a very sweet lady don't get me wrong) After reading this story I was traumatized by the thought of my widowed neighbor keeping her dead husband in the upstairs bedroom, the window I could see as I laid in my bed. ughhh. She has recently passed away and I have felt very guilty for ever thinking those things about her!
ReplyDeleteJust thought I would share :)
I think this is such a great story, granted a bit morbid, but still great. Faulkner uses such great details to draw you into the story. He describes the sights and sounds of The South perfectly. The transformation from the 'old' southern ways to the modern age is illustrated so well.
ReplyDeleteThe slight air of mystery around Miss Emily is intriguing and rather ominous. The whole 'smell' thing was a little gross but the way the story unfolds it fantastic. I love how all the little oddities Miss Emily has are pretty much accounted for by the end of the story.