Miss Emily's Loneliness: A Study of A Rose for Emily

Introduction

Emily Grierson, the central character in the novel entitled A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, is a victim of loneliness and sanity loss. Miss Emily's loneliness started even before the start of the story in Faulkner's novel, where she lost her mother and thus came under the strict rules of her father. He has a very high profile in society (Dilworth p.254). While her father, Mr. Grierson, was alive, he denied her daughter, Miss Emily, to get married by any of the potential suitors interested in Miss Emily. Mr. Grierson made sure that she refused her daughter, Emily, to interact freely with the other people in the outside world. Thus, this study seeks to critically analyze how Emily's family hierarchy and her lack of desire to change resulted in her loneliness and sanity loss.

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Mr. Grierson passes away, and her daughter is reflected from Faulkner’s novel struggling with the social rules which her later father imparted on her. Miss Emily kept isolating herself from the town of her residence. The systematic isolation incurred by Emily adversely affected her mentally and emotionally. Thus, the hierarchy of her family and herb instilled habit of wanting to change is evident from the story to be the major contributor to her loss of sanity and loneliness. Miss Emily developed various mental illnesses symptoms due to the extreme condition of loneliness (Schwab p.215). The various induced mental disorders alienate further Miss Emily Grierson from the prevailing setting of the society. She also starts developing volatile and erratic behavior, which is owed to her loss of sanity and her extreme loneliness condition. Emily is vividly depicted as a victim of her family’s high financial and social status and a victim of her late father's stringent rule, gossip, and, more significantly, a victim of loneliness.

Throughout the story, Emily develops a lot of psychological problems due to her loneliness. After her perceived sweetheart insinuates that he would not marry Miss Emily Grierson, she reacts with a lot of anger for being too lonely, and she thus resolves to keep him (Dilworth p.251). At this stage in her life, she featured having a lot of psychological defects. Critical illnesses that usually do result from the extreme loneliness and are reflected to be exhibited by Miss Emily Grierson include; critical hoarding, depression, and social anxiety. According to Mayo Clinic,” the ill-health condition of social anxiety refers to the fear of interaction with other people that brings on self-consciousness, feelings of being negatively judged and evaluated, and, as a result, leads to avoidance.”

Based on the chronological sequence of events, the scenario of social anxiety is reflected in Miss Emily immediately after the demise of her dictatorial father. She secluded herself during this period of grieve as she mourns the death of her father. This period looks like the onset of the downward spiral of her brain. The other scenario under which Emily Grierson secluded herself is when homer Barron detaches himself from her (Schwab p.215). The narrator of the story states,” after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all, and the only sign of life about the place was the Negro man going in and out with a market basket.” The story's truth is that Homer never disappeared; actually, he was killed by Emily through poisoning. Miss Emily decided to kill Homer so that he does not desert her. This inhuman deed by Emily is the consequence of Mr. Grierson's dictatorial behaviour of chasing Emily's suitors.

Furthermore, Emily’s father was very adamant in permitting his daughter, Emily, in being engaged with anybody due to their high life social stature. It was after the death of Emily’s father Emily started to interact with various people. Basically, at this point, Miss Emily could now choose a suitor for herself. Notwithstanding her lack of experiences and expanding psychological sickness, she was frozen that Barron would leave her. In her confused mental cycles, Emily accepted that to keep him; she should murder him. After Barron's passing, Emily went into hiding in her home for around 40 years, with minimal social contact. Depression is understood as "a mind-set issue that causes a persistent sentiment of trouble and loss of interest" (Mayo Clinic 1). Emily's social nervousness, brought about by segregation from people around her, assumed a massive job in her depression. Being detached from the residents for so long made depressive scenes to happen to Miss Emily.

This can be found in the tidiness of Emily's home. At the point when the city specialists appear at Emily's house, it is uncovered to the reader in the condition of her family. Faulkner expresses, "When the Negro opened the blinds of one window, a cloud of swoon dust rose languidly about their thighs, turning with moderate bits in the single sun-beam" (Dilworth p.261). Seeing as there was dust when Tobe opened one visually impaired, the reader can envision that Emily's house is covered in residue and grime layers.

In general, loneliness tends to cause a lack of engagement and powerlessness to do anything, particularly the essential government assistance for the human need. Thus, the reader can deduce that Emily has been depressed for a long while. Someone can easily observe the indication of Emily's loss of sanity, like her well-being. In her childhood, Emily was portrayed as "a slim figure in white" (Madden p.3). Notwithstanding, close to her life's furthest limit, Emily had been depicted as "a little chunky lady dressed in the dark. She looked enlarged, similar to a body since quite a while ago lowered in standing water and a phallic tone (Madden p.2). After some time, Emily lost total enthusiasm for thinking about her actual appearance and quit dealing with her well-being, resulting in her loss of sanity and extreme loneliness.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the mind-boggling, precise detachment that Emily Grierson confronted formed the lady that she became. The seclusion that influenced her whole condition was the catalyst for her loss of sanity that was affecting her. At each turn of her life, she became lonelier, and her social nervousness declined. Turning out to be socially on edge made being out of her home practically incomprehensible. As the withdrawal from society proceeded, her loneliness did too. This blend of issues prompted further disengagement, which, when joined with the misfortunes she endured, started the inconceivable demonstration of homicide. Emily's just an expectation of finishing the destruction in her unsettled psyche and keeping the man she adored, Homer. In the mystery storing of her darling, Emily may have at long last finished her detachment, yet she additionally made it complete. Her dark secret implied that the disconnection that had been pushed onto her and caused her dysfunctional behavior was at last acknowledged and grasped.

Works Cited

"Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)." Mayo Clinic, 2017. www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007. Accessed 11 November 2017.

Dilworth, T. (1999). A romance to kill for homicidal complicity in Faulkner's" A Rose for Emily." Studies in Short Fiction, 36(3), 251-261

Madden, David. “A Rose for Emily.” Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition, Jan. 2004, pp.1–3

Schwab, Milinda. "A Watch for Emily." Studies in Short Fiction 28.2 (1991): 215.