Social Conflict in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"

Introduction

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 Civil War — a prominent old woman named Emily. Emily had been raised with agrarian and Puritanical ideas and was unable to adapt to the changing new generations. Her story is one of social conflict: with family, a lover, and the community at large.

Agrarian and Puritan Society in the American South

The antebellum American South was primarily an agrarian, Puritanical society with a stern moral code and rigid doctrine (Fang, 2007). After the Civil War, industrialization and commercialization transformed the moralities and way of life of the South, yet sex discrimination against women remained deeply ingrained. Agrarian societies were self-sufficient and family-centered. Within Puritanism, women were condemned as the causes of all evil and trouble (Fang, 2007). They were dominated by men and taught to regard sex as dirty and virginity as more sacred than life itself.

Emily's father ruled her life to the extent that relationships with others were forbidden. This dynamic is symbolized in the story's famous tableau:

"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).

The Domination of Emily's Father

Women and girls were totally dominated by their fathers. This image also functions as a symbol of Emily herself as an embodiment of old tradition (Fang, 2007).

The dominance of Emily's father created profound social consequences: Emily lived in isolation and was never given the opportunity to learn how to handle relationships or understand the wider world. His hold on her entire life is illustrated in the following passage:

"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 decisions for herself. Even as the society around her changed, Emily struggled to adapt. When her father died, she was wholly unable to accept that change — a reaction that reflects not mere eccentricity but a lifetime of enforced dependency. As Faulkner constructs her, Emily is less a villain than a victim of the patriarchal and cultural forces that shaped her.