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In "A Rose for Emily" by Faulkner, how do Homer Barron and Emily's father compare?
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Homer Barron and Emily's father in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" are different yet similarly influential in Emily's life. Emily's father is a controlling Southern gentleman who prevents her from marrying, while Homer is a Northern laborer with no intentions of marriage. Both men represent security and love for Emily, causing her to cling to their bodies after death, symbolizing her inability to let go of those who dominate her life.
The characters of Homer Barron and Emily Grierson's father are significantly different yet share a similar influence over Emily. Emily's father is depicted as a domineering, authoritative man, who prevented young suitors from courting his daughter. He is also a prestigious, southern gentleman as well as an intimidating figure throughout the town of Jefferson. Upon his death, Miss Emily initially refuses to acknowledge that he is dead and does not bury him for three days until the authorities force her hand. In contrast, Homer Barron is a northern laborer, who is a relatively affable person with no regard for southern traditions. He is depicted as an easy-going individual, who eventually courts Miss Emily but has no intentions of marrying her. Tragically, Miss Emily poisons Homer to prevent him from leaving her and proceeds to sleep beside his skeleton in her attic.
Despite the overt differences between the two characters,...
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both Homer Barron and Emily's domineering father have a profound influence over her. Although Miss Emily feels stifled and oppressed by her father's presence, she refuses to acknowledge his death and remains attached to him even after he passes away. The crayon portrait of her father hanging above the fireplace is evidence of his ongoing influence over her. Similarly, Miss Emily refuses to let go of Homer Barron after she kills him and continues to sleep with his remains. Miss Emily's attachment and reverence for both men are strikingly similar and they both have a profound impact on Emily’s psychology.
If we were in any way to compare (and not contrast) Homer Barron with Mr. Grierson there may be one thing in common: They both represent Emily's every weaknesses and fears.
Emily cannot let go of neither nor because they both represent security, company, solidarity, and in some wicked way- love.
They are also the shields that Emily has to defend herself from a world of which she is completely unprepared.
Therefore, the men are hard to compare in terms of their characters' similarities, but they could be connected in that Emily needed both of them to survive. They, therefore, are both meaninfgul symbols of safety, security, and love in Emilys life.
In Faulkner's gothic story, "A Rose for Emily," while the differences between Mr. Grierson and Homer Barron are distinct as outlined above, there is one similarity between Emily's Southern aristocratic father and Emily's working-class Northern beau. This is stated by the townspeople after Emily denies that her father is dead and the authorities must persuade her to let them dispose of the body, and, as they are about to resort to law and force, she breaks down. The narrator remarks,
We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will.
Just as her father's body is "clung to" by Emily so, too, is Homer's body. For, Homer, like her father, has robbed her of respect and of love and of her feminine desires.