William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” focuses on the story of Miss Emily Grierson, whose life had been complicated by the death of both her father and lover, Hormer Barron. Told in a non-chronological fashion, the story is set in the antebellum South, where the townsfolk of Jefferson attend Emily’s funeral. Since Emily was the last member of the secretive Griersons, the hereditary obligation fell upon the townsfolk who went into their house to satisfy their curiosity about the family. It is revealed that she had been holding onto the corpses of both her father and lover and did not let go despite complaints about their stench. “A Rose for Emily” is an allegorical representation of the myth of the Lost Cause, where people have continually lived in denial about the demise of the Civil War, granted unmerited privileges to Confederate leaders’ monuments, and sanitizing their evil deeds.
In 1865, as the end of the Civil War began to draw to a close, many southerners faced great destruction and death in their properties, families, and businesses. As such, southerners sought to consider the Confederate cause as a symbol of their bravery and labeled their actions during the Civil War as the Lost Cause. The Lost Cause was considered a means of justification by the Confederates regarding their actions during the Civil War (Gallagher & Nolan 1). There are six primary elements of the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy. Firstly, the act of secession by the Confederacy was not motivated by the institution of slavery in the Southern states (Cox). The main aim of seceding by the Southern states was to break off from tyrannical government as well as protect their rights to homes and businesses. Additionally, Southerners argued that secession was a means to preserve their agrarian lifestyle, which faced a significant threat from the infiltrating Northern industrialism. For these reasons, the Lost Cause was deemed constitutional by the proponents of the Confederacy.
The second myth was that slavery by the Confederacy was projected in the positive limelight. Slaves were assumed to be faithful, submissive, and happy servants who would serve better under chattel slavery and would lack purpose for the freedom they would receive. Alexander Stephens, the then Confederate Vice President, depicted that the foundation of the Southern government was founded on the notion that the Black slaves were not equal to the White man. Thus, slavery was a natural mechanism where subordination to the White superior race was normal. The third element of the Lost Cause myth is that the Confederacy was lost as a result of the high numerical that the Northern states had (Cox). The Confederacy lost because the Northerners had more resources as compared to the Southerners, that lacked knowledge of manufacturing.
Fourthly, the Confederate soldiers were projected as being gallant and heroic. The majority of the soldiers were recognized for their contribution to the Lost Cause. According to Faulkner’s story, Colonel Sartoris and Grierson were corrupt as they facilitated tax exemptions and were supported by courts, such as in the case of Judge Stevens ruling towards Emily (Faulkner and Polke 1). As compared to the heroic image that the Confederacy projected to their soldiers, it is evident that the Confederacy was an unfair form of government. The fifth element is that Robert Lee was considered the epitome of the Lost Cause as he was revered and regarded as the most successful of all the soldiers. Southern soldiers and commanders placed him upon a pedestal to commemorate the achievements he had acquired during the Lost Cause (Cox). The final myth was that Southern women were portrayed as being saintly, white, and pure as they willingly and steadfastly sacrificed their men to fight for the Lost Cause as compared to their counterparts. Emily’s lost social status also depicts the poor state majority of Southern women were left in after their husbands and fathers died. Emily was once revered and had many suitors seek to marry her. However, upon her father’s demise, she loses her social status making a point of ridicule from the townspeople.
The majority of the Confederates, just like Emily and her father, projected their actions in a positive light. However, as seen in the second myth of the Lost Cause, Southerners believed in the preservation of the Chattel slavery, which stood against human rights laws. As noted in Faulkner’s story, they willingly exempted high officials from tax payment. Subsequently, Emily’s reluctance to pay her taxes to the new government is representative of her efforts to uphold the Confederate way of life prior to the war. Colonel Sartoris coins a story that Grierson had lent the town a huge amount of money and, as such, required the exemption (Faulkner and Polk 1). Moreover, Judge Stevens scolds the townspeople for mocking Emily as being smelly, yet she was a woman of great status. In truth, the Confederacy government was marred with corruption and the violation of human rights, which was mirrored as a just cause for the Civil War.
Other than the Lost Cause myths, the interpretation of Confederate emblems, monuments, and emblems has become a significant issue in the US. The physical monuments and embodiments have been associated with the notion of upholding the ideology of white supremacy in the country as a means of celebrating the bondage of African-Americans. However, confederate proponents argue that they are historical relics to commemorate the past and the values they shared as Southerners (Chamberlain & Yanus 1). Nonetheless, the placement and commemoration of different statues of Confederate soldiers and commanders as well as emblems on roads and public places project that even in modern times, people are not willing to let go of the Lost Cause.
Like Emily’s actions of failing to give up her father’s dead body, modern society holds on to the dead corpse of the Lost Cause. The fate of the Confederacy is observed in Grierson’s and Homer’s death as they all die as a result of seeking to preserve their ideology. It is crucial to note that the monuments project to the modern community incomplete memories about the past, which translates to a biased approach when analyzing history (Kelly 3). Evidently, the glorification of these monuments and symbols is only seen as a means to justify the Lost Cause, it is a corrupt and inhumane way of governance through slavery.
At the start of the story, the townsfolk are attending Emily’s funeral, and their nostalgia leads them to overlook her flaws as the American South has consistently overlooked the negative southern values of the Confederacy. As people came to mourn Emily at her home, they came “through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Faulkner and Polk 1). Ideally, the townsfolk would have come to the funeral without remorse and with relief that she was dead and she would no longer be a burden to them. In contrast, their affectionate response shows that Emily represents the community’s past, and they fail to condemn how she led her life. In a similar manner, the Southerners see the Lost Cause as a monumental event, and as such, “the past is renounced, but not fully, the dead are remembered” (Rothstein, 2011). In both cases, the Southerners and the townspeople of Jefferson are nostalgic about their past as they do not denounce its negative aspects.
At Emily’s funeral, the Grierson’s house is treated as a monument, with the townsfolk using it as an opportunity to quench their curiosity, as has been the case with Confederate monuments. For many years, Emily and her family had been living a secretive life, but her death opened up the home to curious neighbors. The house was indeed a monument to the people, and they came to know of a room upstairs that “no one had seen in forty years” and was only opened after Emily had been properly buried (Faulkner and Polk 6). The room was treated as a modern-day monument that harbors secrets that are respected and can only be revealed on special occasions. Confederate monuments and museums of Confederate officials have been accorded the same curiosity as the Grierson’s house as they often invite people to feel a certain way and celebrate certain features in the commemorative object. Such commemoration is unfounded as they lead people to celebrate what has been termed as a “fictional sanitized Confederacy” (Carr 3). In essence, the curiosity accorded to Confederacy monuments and the Grierson’s family is similar as they are both sanitized against their ugly past.
The Lost Cause and “A Rose for Emily” also share the idea of according privilege and respect where it is unmerited. As the concept of the Lost Cause gained traction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, sympathizers of former Confederates sought to erect monuments in honor of leaders such as Robert Lee and Jefferson Davis (Carr 1). The monuments have been in place for many years and have been well preserved in cities as important historical symbols. Unfortunately, their presence is representative of historical amnesia as they celebrate leaders and soldiers of the Confederacy as “emblems of traditional codes of honor, chivalry, and religiosity” who fought against unwarranted Northern aggression (Forest and Johnson 2). However, Confederate leaders championed slavery as an important and civil institution. In a similar breath, Emily has been accorded unmerited privilege in the town despite being a nuisance. Her neighbors feel sorry for “Poor Emily,” and they empathize with and respect her family to the point where she has been exempted from paying taxes due to her noble background (Bai et al. 613). She is even protected by powerful people in the town who dismiss complaints lodged against her. When the people of Jefferson filed a complaint about a strange smell from her house, Judge Stevens quickly reprimanded them, asking “will you accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?” (Faulkner and Polk 3). Evidently, both the Grierson’s family and the Confederate leaders had been a nuisance to society, but they still received unmerited privilege and respect.
The myth of the Lost Cause also describes how nostalgia led the Southerners to believe that slaves were unqualified for freedom, in the same manner, as Emily’s father did. In the Confederate South, the black man was not equal to a white man. As a result, the Southerners complained that the Northern aggression would lead to the freedom of slaves, yet it was unwarranted. Since slaves were used to living in bondage and captivity, granting them freedom would have been unnecessary as they would not know what to do with it. Therefore, it was upon them white slave masters in the South to uphold the institution of slavery and to ensure that the black people were kept under their watchful eye. Similarly, Emily’s father had kept her away from the public and away from all suitors. The townspeople “remembered all the young men her father had driven away” until he died and Emily was thirty years old (Faulkner and Polk 3). Emily’s father believed that all men who showed interest in her were not good for her and he chose to lock her up against her will. In both instances, freedom is withheld by masters who have insecurities about losing control and authority.
In conclusion, “A Rose for Emily” is allegorical for the Confederate South as it demonstrates the deep-rooted nature of the myth of the Lost Cause. Despite defeat during the Civil War, the South failed to give up on celebrating the Confederacy. In particular, monuments and museums were erected and have been for a long time a depiction of the achievements of the Confederate leaders. Like the Confederate leaders, Emily has been sanitized and respected by the townsfolk of Jefferson yet she had been a nuisance to them for years. Similarly, Faulkner describes a raft of privileges that Emily enjoys despite her poor neighborly relations in a similar way Confederate officials were celebrated for championing the institution of slavery. In essence, the myth of the Lost Cause and “A Rose for Emily” is founded on nostalgic memories that the past is held onto even after its demise. Once the chance to do away with the unpleasantness of the past is available, barriers and excuses are used by sympathizers to sanitize evil and society is stuck in the past.
Works Cited
Bai, Xiaojun, et al. “An Analysis of Emily’s Characters in A Rose for Emily from the Perspective of Narration.”Journal of Language Teaching and Research, vol. 11, no. 4, 2020, pp. 611-615.
Carr, M. K. “Lost Cause” Memories and Cultural Amnesias: Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s Tragicomic Speech on Confederate Monument Removals.”Social Science Quarterly, 2021, pp. 1-12.
Chamberlain, Adam, and Alixandra B. Yanus. “Monuments as Mobilization? The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Memorialization of the Lost Cause.” Social Science Quarterly, vol. 102, no. 1, 2020, pp. 125-139. Web.
Cox, Karen L. “Five Myths about the Lost Cause.”The Washington Post, 2021.
Faulkner, William, and Noel Polk. A Rose for Emily. Heinle & Heinle Pub, 2000.
Forest, Benjamin, and Juliet Johnson. “Confederate monuments and the problem of forgetting.”Cultural Geographies in Practice, vol. 26, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-5.
Gallagher, Gary W., and Alan T. Nolan. The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History. Indiana UP, 2000.
Rothstein, Edward. “Not Forgotten.”The New York Times, 2011.