Why Emily Grierson Isn't Just a Senseless Killer

In A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner depicts the character Emily Grierson as the final living relic of the old south with a murderous secret. Although Faulkner doesn't fully

mention Ms.Grierson's genetic illness he hints at it throughout the story revealing Ms. Grierson's true motives behind Homer Barron's death and disappearance. In this paper I argue that Miss. Emily Grierson isn't just a senseless killer, but a mentally ill individual plagued by the towns expectations and social norms set by the old southern generation.

In the south Ms. Grierson's generation lacked the medical advancements necessary to detect mental illness in an individual, therefore the hereditary illness which was passed down through the Grierson family remained undetected. Until Ms. Grierson’s aunt began to show signs of a psychological disorder.“That was when people begun to feel really sorry for her.People in our town, remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last…” The revelation that Ms.

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Grierson's great aunt suffered from a psychological disorder hints at the fact that other members of the Grierson family could have also inherited the same psychological disorder plaguing the Grierson family. Especially Miss Emily Grierson due to the fact that she refused to acknowledge her father's death for three days. “She told them that her father was not dead.She did that for three days.With the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body.Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly.

we did not say she was crazy then”.Emily's refusal to give up her father's corpse is a major sign that she suffers from a psychologically genetic disorder passed down from her aunt.. Due to the fact that keeping corpses for days was considered unnatural and grotesque for a woman of the old southern generation.

On top of the mental illness plaguing Ms.Grierson she also has to uphold the old southern expectations that the town silently demands of her, because she is the last connection the town has to old southern traditions. Where she will try to be like the woman back where they “still strive to be a southern ladies”.“It was a big squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavy light-some style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street.But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood;only miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores”.Ms.Grierson's refusal to accept the industrialization of the new south and the demoralisation of the old south shows her resolve to keep the old southern values and traditions alive in a new southern era. “Keeping the old southern traditions and values relevant in a changing era takes a toll on Ms.Grierson's character and mental state.She is silently demanded by the towns folk to uphold these values since it is the era in which Ms.Grierson was born and should therefore uphold without faltering like a proper old southern woman should.These silent demands and expectations from the townsfolk are worsening and hurting Ms.Grierson's state of mind which leads to her mental illness getting worse and Ms.Grierson closer to snapping.

As Emily's patience grows thinner so does her tolerance towards the townspeople demands.The pressure from the town begins to overwhelm Emily. She struggles to maintain her composure that society demands from her. However that changes when Homer Barron a reconstruction worker from the North rejection Emily's advances triggering Emily to finally snap from all the pressure.Without knowing how to handle rejection because of her relationship with her father and how her father always kept her suitors away.Emily was led to commit a terrible crime.She kills Homer in order to prevent him from ever leaving her just like her father did.Demonstrating how due to Emily's poor knowledge on relationships it caused her to do something so horrifying to another person simply because he didn't love her in return.

As Emily's patience grows thinner a new arrival enters town.His name is Homer Barron a reconstruction worker from the North.Emily becomes infatuated Homer because he not like the Townspeople who silently judge her. However when Homer rejects Emily’s affection ,all the pressure that has been silently been building up from the town pushes her to commit the most horrific act .killing Homer. “I want some poison..A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening.And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron,' days before Homer disappearance Emily purchased poison at drug store.This shows that Homer didn’t just leave ,but was murdered by Emily.This also shows that Emily finally lost her mind.However even after Homers disappearance Emily still managed to display herself as a proper well mannered woman. Still trying to be the way woman were suppose to be in the old south.

Overall Ms.Grierson's snapping and killing Homer Barron was due to the fact that she suffered from a genetic mental disorder passed down from her great aunt that and the old southern values and traditions that Ms.Greisons was expected to uphold lead her to snap and commit a treacherous act.