The short story “A Rose for Emily” was written by William Faulkner in 1930. This story reflects the social life and morals of people at the beginning of the XX century. The remarkable features of this time were education at all levels dominated by Christian teaching, new labor relations, and new production modes. The short story is unique because the author depicts events, experience, memories through different frames which are connected with each other. In the short story, Faulkner portrays that the beginning of the 1900s was marked by great social and economic changes but many people fail to accommodate their life to new social relations and a new economic system.
The beginning of the XX century was marked by new social changes and increased productivity, new values, and norms. Economic relations transformed society and influenced all spheres of life. A major concern of social thinking was to identify the nature of industrialization and to trace its social and political effects. The main feature of industrial society was taken to be its dedication to material production. Classes existed in society to the extent that there were significant links between these three levels of social life: if economically determined positions correlate significantly with people’s lived experience and consciousness, and if both of these have a significant bearing on how they behave as workers or citizens – on how they live. Because of the labor movement, women were active in the social sphere. Because of the suffrage movement, more women were attaining positions of power in public life. Although progress was gradual it appears to be a fairly consistent trend, supported by continuing campaigning efforts by women’s groups and the expectations of a younger generation of women. Complex racial relations and inequality were the main problems that affected American society and class relations (Barkun and Cohen 34-35).
The background of the work is an industrial society, which had a major impact on all social processes. The society depicted in the work is distinguished by its characteristic modes of production and economic life. In the short story, Faulkner depicts economic relations between the federal agencies and an individual. Miss Emily responds: ‘I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access to the city records and satisfy yourselves” (Faulkner 25).
The idea of class conflict runs through the story as a remarkable feature showing the real value of old and new views, gender traditions, and class confrontation. “The Negro led them into the parlor, … then the Negro opened the blinds of one window, they could see that the leather was cracked; and when they sat down” (Faulkner 25). In spite of the fact that slavery had been abolished many decades ago, black people obtained low social position and class location. They represented cheap labor deprived equal rights and opportunity to become independent. This episode shows that the author considers a marginalized voice of the time portraying class distinctions and racial relations. “The Negro delivery boy brought her the package” (Faulkner 26). Faulkner underlines that the black population obtained the lowest class position in society. Government interventions were still justified, however, if only to clear away other obstacles to economic growth, including the effects of governmental interventions (Barkun and Cohen 34-35).
Faulkner vividly portrays the political situation and changing racial relations affected by new social order and laws. “In 1894 when Colonel Sartoris, the mayor-he who fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron– remitted her taxes” (Faulkner 25). It is possible to say that the society depicted by Faulkner was in transition: people fought against social prejudices trying to achieve social mobility and enter a higher social class. Low-class location prevented many people to obtain social respect and opportunities available for middle and high-class citizens. “When the next generation, with its more modem ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction” (Faulkner 25). The short story reflects that people protested not only at the injustice they themselves have suffered but at the deterioration in services provided as a result of cost-cutting.
In this situation, classes not only were the links between levels rather tight; they were unidirectional, the causal flow going from economic structure through consciousness to action. Faulkner portrays that over time the two great classes directly facing each other defined by how they stand to the relations of production, gradually consolidate under capitalism, absorbing other classes within them, developing class consciousness and industrial and political organizations, and in due course fight out a conflict. The other element of the economic relations is the theme of money vividly portrayed in the novel and played an important role in the life of the main character. “Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business, preferred this way of repaying” (Faulkner 25). Nevertheless, as the readers see, Faulkner has taken up the idea of a society inhabited by individuals who choose their way to be free from political priorities and social prejudices.
The isolation and loneliness of Miss Emily can be explained by the inability of her society to accommodate to changing conditions and modernize. On the one hand, society cannot accept new social order and economic relations affected all sphere of life. Faulkner depicts that townspeople could not accept new social and family relations accusing Miss Emily of immoral behavior: “Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people” (Faulkner 27). On the other hand, Miss Emily is limited by her memories and inability to change her life. “The town had just let the contracts for paving the sidewalks, and in the summer after her father’s death, they began the work” (Faulkner 26). It is not depicted to what extent the words influenced social opinion, but the result was apparent: social values were a powerful tool changing attitudes of people and their morals. World perception of the main hero had not changed through the story. Miss Emily is depicted as a stable character. Miss Emily opposes herself to all social norms and isolated herself from these things. She refused to accept social involvement and her family afraid of a change. t was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to re her imperviousness” (Faulkner 26). It is possible to say that Miss Emily rejects innovations and new orders but seeks security in the past.
Faulkner portrays an amazing and vivid social picture of Southern society at the beginning of the XX century. He shows that class had a crucial impact on the life of people determining their destinies. Faulkner creates a unique mixture of personal and social values. This short story unveils that an understanding of the individual and the society in which she lived plays a crucial role. Without an understanding of the influence of work and new social order and economic relations on the characters, the readers would not be able to perceive the motives of their behavior and their decisions. It means that social values were influenced by the impact of class relations on society. In this way, class power affected the thoughts and desires of its victims without them being aware of it. This view of civil society also suggests that morality in a class society should be regarded as a matter of class struggle. As the most important, the society had been changed but Miss Emily could not accommodate herself to new economic conditions and market relations.
Works Cited
- Faulkner, W. ‘A rose for Emily’ in Literature: Pocket Reader. A Prentice Hall, by M.M. Balkun. Prentice Hall, 2004. 25-31
- Barkun, M. Cohen, E. Popular Culture and Political Change in Modern America: State University of New York Press. Albany, NY, 1991.