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Mr. Clinton Howard
Mrs. S. Aiken
English 1102-45
October 4, 2009




A Faded Rose For Emily


"Rose for Emily" is a story about a woman named Emily Grierson. Emily’s life was filled with strange circumstances. Strange circumstances, that involved an odd relationship with her father, who controlled and manipulated her. She was also involved in a secret relationship with a Homer Barron. Her home was in a quest with the town concerning the payment of taxes.
Emily lived in a house that had been struck by the years of times just as she had. The street that she lived on was once a select street filled with life and beautification. Her home was deteriorating white pale color, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies originated in the seventies. All that once filled the streets was gone. Only the site of Emily house stood. It stood with discuss from its ruined look. It was an eyesore to the town’s people.
Emily whom once was very pretty and very petite had grown old and was not a pretty site anymore. The story is told that when Emily were served with a tax warrant she appeared to the door wearing black with a thin gold chain descending to her waist that
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vanished into her belt. Her hair was tarnished with gold and her body frame was plumped or what some would call very fat. She was short and height and walked with a cane. Her eyes set back in her face cover with the fatness from her eye lids.
Emily was well respected by the men of the town. They all went to her funeral to pay
their respects. But the women did not care for her. They had a total different out look. This was because of curiosity. Curiosity derived from Emily solitude from outsiders.
Emily had her home taxes paid by the town since 1894 because of tradition. This tradition was developed through a fiction that had been created by the mayor, Colonel Sartoris. The Mayor claimed that Emily taxes were paid as a repayment to her father for a loan given to the town. Emily believed this story about the repayment to her father for the loan for if not she would never have received charity to pay her taxes. She was proud and too proud to accept contribution.
The evolvement of a generation brought fourth problems for Emily. The fiction created by Colonel Sartoris’ was dismissed and Miss Emily was billed for her taxes. However, the tax notice received no reply. The tax notification did not receive a reply from Miss Emily. A letter was sent to Emily to visit the sheriff office reference her taxes and still she did not reply. The Mayor in turn wrote Emily a letter notifying her of her taxes and requesting a visit or accepts a ride to his office. She wrote back and told him she did not want any visitors and did not go out anymore. She included the tax notification in her letter.
The Aldermen of the town called a meeting. The heads of the city decided to visit Emily anyways. Once they arrived and enter her home they smelt a very disgusting odor.
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While the towns head stood in greeting to Emily she stood by the door without asking them to sit. When the town representatives brought up the tax notification to Emily, she quickly told them that she did not pay taxes anymore. She reminded them that the town owed her father and they needed to check with the Mayor Sartoris.
Mindful, the mayor had been dead for ten years. Emily’s life was filled with distraught brought forth by a family known for family mental issues, a relationship with her father that people categorized as odd, and a lover that deserted her for unknown reasons. After her father died and her fiancé’s never returned to her.
Emily seemed to be falling into the same fate of her great Aunt Wyatt. Her Aunt Wyatt lost her mind at the very end of her life. She just like Emily lived alone, without a lover, friends, or family. Emily only known company was a small black male that cared for the property as such.
The town complained over and over again to the mayor about the smell and condition of the property. The town people were not surprised to the condition of the property for there was no way the old man could keep the property in good standing. It was simply too much for him to care for. Lime was spread around the property to keep down the stink. This small remedy seemed to help quiet the towns’ people for a while.
When Emily Grierson died the entire town went to her funeral. Two of her cousins came to her funeral. Emily lay beneath a crayon portrait of her father.
A Faded Rose for Emily

A Rose For Emily

A Rose For Emily
By
William Faulkner
A rose for Emily is a story about prominent family in the South after the civil war. The main characters of
this story is Emily Grierson, her caretaker Tobe, and her first beau Homer Barron, a Yankee foreman of a
construction company and the Alderman of the town of Jefferson.
The Grierson Family was a distinguished Family of this community and highly respected. Through time
this dissipated as the result of poverty. After the death of Miss Emily’s Father she was left in poverty to
live in a home she could not properly care for. She was delinquent in her taxes which the Alderman yearly
submitted to her. She ignored any urgings to pay her delinquent taxes.
Miss Emily through the years had become a loner to the world with the exception of one loyal servant,
Tobe. In her younger years her Father felt that no one was suitable for his daughter and turned away all
possible companions. Miss Emily deteriorated physically and mentally leading her to poison her Father
And her beau Homer Barron with arsenic.

" A Clean Well Lighted Place"

What are the thought patterns between the younger and older generations? Does being secure or insecure play a role in today’s society? And, how is the world viewed through the different disabilities of life? Ernest Hemmingway’s short story takes place in a café late in the evening after the dew has settled to the earth. The main characters are two waiters, one is older than the other, and an older gentleman that frequently visit’s the café.
The mental thought of a younger individual versus an older person are considerably different. The younger thought process are impulsive, while the older is well thought out and empathetic to the needs of others. Ernest Hemmingway’s short story “A Clean Well Lighted Place” showed disparity between the thought processes. While the younger waiter is overly anxious to go home, and at the same time wishing the deaf man had completed his suicidal thoughts. The older waiter is patient and empathetic to disabilities of the deaf man. Who only wants to enjoy the atmosphere of a clean lighted place while sipping on a small glass of brandy. The older waiter sees himself as the lonely
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old man, while the younger waiters attention is focused only on his selfish mental thought process.
Fear and darkness is a lonely place for an older individual. Youth and confidence has no fears on being secure. The young looks to the future, while the older is waiting patiently on the final curtains of life to come. The light in the Hemmingway story was
important to the old man. He was deaf therefore his vision played an important role in his safety and feeling secure. When one sense fails another heightens. To see movement of the tree swaying back and forth in the light showed signs of life still flourishing. All while his silence of being deaf could have meant the ending of life.
This brings another thought about in “A Clean, Well Lighted Place”, how those with disabilities are perceived? Have you ever thought of what a person feels living in the world of silence? It cannot be easy not hearing the voices of others talking or the chirping of the birds as you awake in the morning. Because of this, one with a disability will never experience that aspect of life. Light offers security to those who have hearing deficits. It is important to be aware of your surroundings at all times in order to feel ultimately safe.
In conclusion, Ernest Hemmingway’s “ A Clean, Well Lighted Place” has increased my awareness and sensitivity to the disabilities of others. Through an old mans deafness and loneliness, I have learned respect and compassion. While a young man has his youth and confidence, an old man embraces life, cleanliness, and dignity in spite of his insobriety.


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