A Rose for Emily is an excellent example of the Southern Gothic genre. The Southern Gothic is a literal tradition that came into existence in the 20th century and became popular in European literature. The genre is rooted in mysterious secrets, supernatural events, frightening scenarios, and extreme character duress, which leaves the reader desensitized. The genre focuses on ridiculous and morbid features such as secret passages, draft castles, and laced cobwebs. The Southern Gothic genre explores the antisocial behaviors that confined against the social norms and hinged on the belief that daily life and these social customs were just imaginary. A Rose For Emily creates the theme of mental illness, murders, love-loss that ends up creating a frightening environment for the client, thus suits a Gothic Tale.
Firstly, A Rose for Emily illustrates the Southern Gothic genre through the townsfolks accessorizing Homer’s murder. After Emily’s father died, she isolated herself from society, and her house began to decay to smell awful. The judge sent some township men to clean the place, but instead, they sprinkled lime over the property. The township could have helped Emily and discarded the father’s body, but rather, they worried if she needed help (Sullivan 175). It is clear that the townspeople are fond of Emily and respect her. This aspect can be seen when she purchased the rat poison “So the next day we all said, “She will kill herself”; and we said it would be the best thing.” (Faulkner 6). They were in awe of her, but they harbored feelings of powerful aggression. The town did not want to associate with her, yet they cared for her, which pushed her to buy the arsenic to kill Homer Barron. Instead of doing the right thing, the town decided to cover the crime. Them turning a blind eye on Homer Barron’s death shows the element of the extreme character duress in the Southern Gothic genre.
Secondly, A Rose for Emily contains the theme of lost love, representing Southern Gothic stories. When Emily met Homer, a foreman, marriage was possible. Still, then issues of her social status arose, and it can be seen when the town murmured, “Of course, a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer… grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige” (Faulkner 5). Homer’s perspective on his love towards Emily was not accurate, but he spent time with her. However, it was said that Homer was gay and he liked men (Faulkner 6). Emily saw the relationship from a romantic perceptive, while Homer saw it as spiritual. It made Emily terrified of being alone as unrequited love is painful (Liu 198). It led her to purchase wedding items for her and Homer, invite him to dinner, and poison him with arsenic. Hence, A Rose for Emily portrays a romantic love skewed with dysfunctionality as described in the Southern Gothic stories.
Similarly, lost love is also portrayed between Emily and her father, just as Southern Gothic themes. Emily’s father controlled her life, making it almost impossible for her to interact with the town and also forbid her from a romantic relationship “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away” (Faulkner 4). There was a falling out between Emily’s father and the extended family due to property; hence she was only left with her father to teach her on love. He also took the role of protecting as seen in this text, “father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip” (Faulkner 4). Emily leaning on her father’s back portrayed more concern about his physical well-being and protecting her. After he died, Emily was utterly lost as she did not know how to love in a normal way. It explains her behavior of not having any trace of grief and why she would tell the town that her father was not dead for almost three days. The love of an overprotective father that forbids her to interact is an example of a Southern Gothic story.
In addition, Southern Gothic style is portrayed in A Rose for Emily through appropriation and transformation. The narrator transforms Emily’s innocence into a psychologically damaged spinster. At the beginning of the narration, Emily is used as a protagonist. She used to be the perfect young wealthy lady living with her father. Her privileged status causes her to be emotionally and physically isolated; she becomes erratic with characteristic behavior (Huang 205). At first, she denied the death of his father for approximately three days. The town sided with her, claiming “we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.” (Faulkner 4). However, it was difficult for the town to explain how she slept and spent years with the corpse of Homer. Her erotic behavior is also seen when she is asked to pay her taxes by the Board of Abelderm. She gets mad, saying, “I have no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner 2). Even after being told that no public agreement excluded her from paying taxes, she continued denying it. Her mental instability is an example of a character in the Southern Gothic story.
Furthermore, Faulkner uses Southern Gothic elements throughout the stories. At first, the writer’s description of Emily’s house gives the reader the impression that it contains mysterious secrets (Xiaokang 95). He describes it as “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” (Faulkner 1). Homer’s death took place in the same house, and his corpse was left there to rot. The story’s setting shows it was created in the Southern Gothic period. Emily was the last bloodline of his family that had stayed in that town for generations. The tax collectors went door to door collecting taxes which made him a southern gothic. Such scenes and creating a mysterious atmosphere throughout the story illustrate that A Rose for Emily was a Southern Gothic story.
The story illustrates Southern Gothic literature through slavery, racism, and oppressive patriarchal forces. Southern Gothic still idolized racism and slavery despite its abolition, where black Americans were still viewed as a class of servants. It is first portrayed by Colonel Santos stating that ” the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes” (Faulkner 1). He is racist as he favorably removes Emily from the obligation of paying taxes and makes up a story that his father had loaned the town some money. The book’s setting reflected the slavery element based on Tobe’s treatment. The narration describes Tobe as a negro which denotes racism in the Sothern Gothic era. The author supports this when he says, “They were admitted by the old Negro…The Negro led them into the parlor” (Faulkner 1). We see him being released from his duties after Emily. Tobe had grown old over the years. He was the only life seen on Emily’s property as he could facilitate errands from the market since the death of Emily’s father until he was of grey hair (Xiaokang 94). When Emily died, Tobe disappeared once the victors started arriving. “He walked right through the house and out the back and was not seen again (Faulkner 8). He was released from his slavery duties, an element of the Southern Gothic stories.
In conclusion, A Rose for Emily is an excellent example of the Southern Gothic genre. It can be seen from the various Southern Gothic elements presented in the story such as theme of mental illness, death, and love-loss. A Rose for Emily illustrates the Southern Gothic genre by reating it to Homer’s murder. A Rose for Emily portrays a romantic love skewed with dysfunctionality as described in the Southern Gothic stories. Emily’s father controlled her life, making it almost impossible for her to interact with the town and also forbid her from a romantic relationship. It also contains elements that hint the Gothic nature, such as the house description, Emily’s character, the poison she acquired, and Emily living in a crumbling house alone. From the beginning of the story, it generally creates a frightening environment for the reader, vital to Gothic tales. All these elements make Faulkner’s work a Southern Gothic tale.
Works Cited
Faulkner William.A Rose for Emily Paderborn, De: Verlag F. Schöningh, 1958. 1- 9 Web.
Huang, Yan. “An Analysis on Rose in A Rose for Emily.”Journal of Social Science Studies vol. 6, no. 2, 2019, pp. 202-205. Web.
Liu, Fuhua. “An Analysis of William Faulkner’s” A Rose for Emily” in the Perspective of Aristotle’s Definition on Tragedy.” International Journal of Social Science and Education Research vol. 3, no. 2, 2020, pp. 197-199.
Sullivan, Ruth. “The Narrator in” A Rose for Emily. “The Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 1, no. 3, 1971, pp. 159-178. Web.
Xiaokang, Wang. “Narratological and Stylistic Analysis of Point of View in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” Culture, vol. 6, no. 3, 2021, pp. 91-96. Web.