A Rose for Emily Group

Question:

judythatsme
judythatsme
Student
College - Junior

What does the narrator mean when he says that to the town of Jefferson, Emily appears "dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil....?"

Maybe it's all the diff opinions of emily in the town?

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Posted by judythatsme on Friday October 24, 2008 at 9:45 AM and tagged with a rose for emily, emily, jerfferson, narrator, quote.

Answers:

  1. mwestwood
    mwestwood Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    In "A Rose for Emily," the Grierson family is an institution of the Old South. Thus, Emily, too, is part of this institution, even tradition, as it were. As such, the townspeople tolerate her eccentricities.

    A recurring theme of Faulkner is the defeat of the old South from within. Emily is a member of a family whose women are molded by an autocratic patriarch and social demands. As an older woman, she is "impervious" to any changes in the social structure outside her environment, "tranquil" in her delusion.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/rose-emily

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    Posted by mwestwood on Friday October 24, 2008 at 10:48 AM