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Jacob Pincus

Mrs. Laura Pettay

ENG 112, 4B

May 3, 2017

A Woman in Power

William Faulkners A Rose for Emily truly shows the impact of social class

importance on a post-Civil War south community. The Griersons are the most superior family in

this society, and are very strict about communicating with others below them. Throughout the

story, Miss Emily herself represents the post-Civil War South as a triumph of a defeated South

over a supposedly triumphant North. In order to fully understand A Rose for Emily, it is

critical to look at how Miss Emilys social status dictate her actions throughout the story.

Emily began to show signs of being a victim to the patriarchy when her dad began to

have an influence on her. Because she was born into a higher socioeconomic class, Emily was

exposed to talking down to people of lower status. In this time period there has been a huge

transition for the South, including Miss Emily and he rest of the community. This was around

1860s to around the early 1900s. Slavery had just ended, more people were rising to the middle

class, etc. The Grierson family was one of high status, most likely with lots of money and many

slaves. After Miss Emily's father dies, everything that they had believed in is turned upside

down. Slavery, which was very common, is now thought of as an evil, an atrocity. The

townspeople seem to be transitioning very well, but Miss Emily, with no one to guide her, is not.

The Grierson family lived in the typical nice home during the end of the Civil War. The house

was a big, squarish frame house, decorated with cupolas and spires. This was a very fine house

with complex architectural features. Growing up in a home like such gave Emily more power
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and respect from the rest of the town. Specifically, Miss Emily refused to pay taxes after the

aldermen sent multiple tax notices to her home. After a rude confrontation with the Board of

Aldermen, she was exempt from paying her taxes for Jefferson. Her attitude towards the Board

was due to her belief that she could treat anyone however she desired. Mr. Griersons influence

on Emilys decision making caused conflict between the Board and Emily. As a wealthy family

in this period of time, the Griersons are responsible for upholding their responsibilities in their

town. Emily looks up to her father while she is alive and its easily noticeable how what he does

impacts the way Emily treats everyone around her.

Many people assumed that women during the post- Civil War were too incompetent to

make decisions on behalf of the town. However, an ironic part of the story is that Miss Emily

was treated with much respect and authority by the common people. Later in the story people

seem to recognize that the Grierson family should not have received much respect for not

contributing to the town. Miss Emily thought that her dad had loaned money to the town as a

form of repayment. Of course, this was a tale told by Colonel Satoris in order to prevent Miss

Emily from collecting any charity money on behalf of her father. The narrator claims that the

Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were. After the death of her dad,

Miss Emily began to gain weight and cause disruption within the town. She thought that since

her father died, she would be able to rule the people under her. She began bossing people

around, and in turn, people started feeling bad for her. Some even thought she had lost her mind

and gone crazy. The death of her father left Emily with only her house and people were

excited. Being left alone for the rest of her life caused her to become humanized or civilized.

Although, she continued to carry her head high even though things were not working out. The
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power and authority held by Miss Emily after the death of her father truly shows how

independent she is throughout the story.

A major historical issue presented during the story was the use of derogatory names to the

peasant class. Along with discriminating against the African American race, there were also

intentions to talk down to women. According to Mintz and Krymkowski, two analyzers of gender

gaps and workforce authority, explain that Previous research has demonstrated that white men

are particularly privileged when it comes to authority wielding, and, therefore, comparing them

to other racial/ethnic and gender groups is of particular interest. During this time period, the

post-Civil War south was represented by the patriarchy. No women had authority in the town of

Jefferson. The irony, however, was that Miss Emily had been exempt from contributing to the

town. A woman having power in this time period is unheard of, but being a Grierson was the

exception for Miss Emily. With a long reign of control and authority, Miss Emily was processing

that the death of her father meant it was her responsibility to manage Jefferson. Consequently,

her attitude has caused her to threaten people in the community like Homer, and other town

employees.

After meeting with Mr. Homer Barron, Miss Emily felt a strong connection and wanted to

pursue a future with Homer. Homer was a Yankee from the north, and was a foreman for a

construction company of African Americans. After a period of time as the foreman, he knew

everyone in town and created friendships with his co-workers. Homer possessed traits that

impressed Miss Emily, particularly the fact that he was the center of attention ever since he

moved to Jefferson. The narrator and others in the town were glad that Miss Emily had found a

man like Homer because usually a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner. But, it

was not just having feelings for Mr. Barron, it was in fact an obsession. Her fixation for Homer
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eventually led to poisoning him. Miss Emily was very anxious that Homer would not want to

continue seeing her, so she found a ruthless way to keep him. Typically, people who read this

may believe that Miss Emily is crazy just as the narrator thought. This is not a phase that

passed during the course of the story. Miss Emily has a psychological disorder. Along with the

social status dictating her actions, she also loses her mind which puts the townspeople in danger.

This was a pure example of a revenge on the north after their victory in the Civil War. That was

not Miss Emilys focus, but this could be argued.

The narrator and other towns people were not fond of Miss Emily after her father passed.

They felt bad for her merely because she was not supported by anyone else. She took a more

selfish attitude and isolated herself from communicating with the rest of Jefferson. They refer to

her as Poor Emily for most of the piece. Something a selfish person does is make other people

feel sympathetic for them. Miss Emily lost her mind and made it clear to everyone in town that

she was going crazy. Hence, people felt bad for her. It was not till the end of the piece that the

narrator was completely creeped out by Miss Emily. As a woman in power during that time

period, if the narrator had not supported Miss Emily, she probably would have killed her.

William Faulkner attempts to show how a young woman who has lost her father has to

cope with society alone, and keep up with her fathers responsibilities. Unfortunately, Miss

Emily does not contribute. When asked to pay taxes, not only does she refuse to do so but she

looks at the Board as if she was not supposed to be asked that question. Another scenario was the

purchase of arsenic. The man simply asks her why she wants to purchase rat poison, and she

looks at him like he is crazy. Her authoritative figure frightens people. The law requires she must

give a reason for purchasing this, but she just pays and leaves. She was raised to grow up and be

entitled to anything, and this is why Miss Emily let her high social standing dictate her actions.
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Works Cited

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Accessed 28 April 2017.

Mintz, Beth and Daniel H. Krymkowski. "THE ETHNIC, RACE, and GENDER GAPS in

WORKPLACE AUTHORITY: Changes over Time in the United States." Sociological

Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1, Jan. 2010, pp. 20-45. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1533-

8525.2009.01165. x. Accessed 2 May 2017.