Unable to Adapt Conflict in a Rose for Emily

Social Conflict: "A Rose for Emily"

William Faulkner's 1930 short story, "A Rose for Emily" is about the sudden death of the last remaining person who had experienced the American South before the American Civil War, the most prominent old woman named Emily. Emily had been raised with agrarian and puritan ideas and was unable to adapt to the changing new generations. Her story is about social conflict with family, a lover, and the community.

The American South was primarily an agrarian, puritan, society with stern moral code and rigid doctrine (Fang, 2007). After the American Civil War, industrialization and commercialization changed the moralities and way of life for the south, but sex discrimination against women was still deeply ingrained. Agrarian societies were self-sufficient and family centered. In Puritism, women were condemned as the causes of all evil and troubles (Fang, 2007). They were dominated by men and taught to regard sex as dirty and virginity as being more sacred than life itself. Emily's father ruled her life to the extent that relationships with others were forbidden. This is symbolized when the story speaks of a picture of Emily and her father:

"We had long thought of them as a tableau; Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung door" (Faulkner, 2011).

Women and girls were totally dominated by the father. And, this is also a symbol of Emily being regarded as an old tradition (Fang, 2007).

The dominance of Emily's father caused social issues in respect that Emily lived in isolation and was never awarded the opportunity to learn how to handle relationships and understand the world. Emily's father had a strong hold on her entire life, as illustrated in the story;

"When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less. The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body." (Faulkner, 2011).

Emily had never learned to live life on her own or make any decisions for her own life. Even though, the society around her was changing, Emily struggled within herself to adapt to the changes. When her father died, she had the inability to accept the change.