23rd Annual Student Research Conference
Secrets of the Rose: William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"
Pamela J. Troxel
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
In his story, "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner constructs the character, Emily Grierson, to highlight the invisibility of women in the American South in the early twentieth century. Emily, a member of the old aristocracy now reduced to poverty, was constricted by a patriachally defined culture and society. Though seemingly rendered voiceless growing up in her father's shadow, she develops one despite her silent, ghost-like existence behind closed doors. On the surface she was "poor Emily," but beneath her lonely, barren life, lies an iron-clad will and a macabre, if perverse, sense of justice. On the day of her funeral the townsfolk refer to her as a "monument," seen as symbolic of the Old South steeped in the tradition of glory, honor, but her voice would resound loudly as her secrets are revealed later that day, in a tomb concealed within her Victorian home.
Keywords: William Faulkner, Emily Grierson, a rose, monument, ghost-like
Topic(s):English
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 13-1
Location: VH 1304
Time: 8:00