The Changing Verbal Portraits of Emily in A Rose for Emily Essay

The Changing Verbal Portraits of Emily in A move up for Emily A lift for Emily, by Faulkner, provides not unanimous innumerable details but excessively a complex structure. Long after the reader has learned to separate and discuss the function of significant detail, they often continue to struggle with the cast of structure on a story. The imagery of changing portraits in A Rose for Emily allows the reader to explore both to find meaning. In addendum to the literal portrait of Emilys father, Faulkner creates numerous figurative portraits of Emily herself by framing her in doorways or windows. The chronological organization of Emilys portraits visually imprints the changes occurring throughout her life. Like an impressionistic painting that changes as the viewer moves to different positions, however, the structural organization provides clues to the entire picture or to the motivations behind her transformations. Chronologically, the back-flung comportment door creates the first tableau of a youthful scarper Emily, assiduously guarded by her father. break away Emily, a slender figure in white,1 typifies the vulnerable virgin, hovering in the background, subordinate and passive. The father, a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a trounce (CS 123), is a menacing dark image assuming the dominant confront position. His turned back suggests a disregard for her emotional welfare as he wards off potential danger--or violation of her maidenhead--with his strap. The back-flung door invites suitors in, but merely those who meet Grierson standards. Unfortunately, those standards are unattainable--The Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they real were (CS 123)--and Miss Emily remains... ...cefully on her funeral bier with a simple image of love and loss, a strand of iron-gray hair resting on the yellowed pillow of an unable bridal bed. This haunting image is the fianl pen stroke whispering the acclaim of her wasted life. Notes 1 Collected Stories of William Faulkner (New York Vintage, 1977), 123. Hereafter CS. 2 The southern plantation owner patterned his lifestyle after the English country gentleman (Daniel Boorstin, The American The Colonial Experience Random House, 1958). In doing so, he developed a enrol of conduct that reflected the romanticism of the medevial age. A feudal mind set--replete with courtly love, a canon of honor, and a romantic quest--is evident in several of Faulkners virile characters, e.g., Sutpen in Abaslom, Absalom and Hightower in Light in August. 3 The Sound and the wrath (New York Random House, 1992), 78. The Changing Verbal Portraits of Emily in A Rose for Emily testifyThe Changing Verbal Portraits of Emily in A Rose for Emily A Rose for Emily, by Faulkner, provides not only innumerable details but excessively a complex structure. Long after the reader has learned to invest and discuss the function of significant detail, th ey often continue to struggle with the enamour of structure on a story. The imagery of changing portraits in A Rose for Emily allows the reader to explore both to find meaning. In accessory to the literal portrait of Emilys father, Faulkner creates numerous figurative portraits of Emily herself by framing her in doorways or windows. The chronological organization of Emilys portraits visually imprints the changes occurring throughout her life. Like an impressionist painting that changes as the viewer moves to different positions, however, the structural organization provides clues to the whole picture or to the motivations behind her transformations. Chronologically, the back-flung front door creates the first tableau of a youthful Miss Emily, assiduously guarded by her father. Miss Emily, a slender figure in white,1 typifies the vulnerable virgin, hovering in the background, subordinate and passive. The father, a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutchin g a horsewhip (CS 123), is a menacing dark image assuming the dominant front position. His turned back suggests a disregard for her emotional welfare as he wards off potential danger--or violation of her maidenhead--with his horsewhip. The back-flung door invites suitors in, but only those who meet Grierson standards. Unfortunately, those standards are unattainable--The Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they rightfully were (CS 123)--and Miss Emily remains... ...cefully on her funeral bier with a simple image of love and loss, a strand of iron-gray hair resting on the yellowed pillow of an ineffective bridal bed. This haunting image is the fianl pen stroke whispering the eulogium of her wasted life. Notes 1 Collected Stories of William Faulkner (New York Vintage, 1977), 123. Hereafter CS. 2 The southern planter patterned his lifestyle after the English country gentleman (Daniel Boorstin, The American The Colonial Experience Random House, 1958). In doing so, he developed a code of conduct that reflected the romanticism of the medevial age. A feudal mind set--replete with courtly love, a code of honor, and a romantic quest--is evident in several of Faulkners phallic characters, e.g., Sutpen in Abaslom, Absalom and Hightower in Light in August. 3 The Sound and the cult (New York Random House, 1992), 78.