Thursday, September 3, 2015

Why is Emily so attached to Homer in "A Rose for Emily"?

According to The Faulkner Journal, the symbols that are shown in Faulkner's story are interconnected in a way, and a lot is left for the reader's own establishment of a connection, depending on what Emily represents to you specifically.


In this case, however, we know for a fact one thing:


Emily might in fact be mad (or have a serious condition that is exemplified by her denial of the death of her father, the stubborness in changing her ways, her keeping a modern day slave in the house, and her extreme reclusiveness.)


Many studies in Faulkner declared Emily a person with extreme social anxiety and often people of this kind tend to attach themselves to one person only, if anyone, and in this case she opted for Homer Barron.


She, therefore, was attached to him for many reasons:


1) He filled the male presence that provided her a form of safety after her father died.


2) He represented the gentlemen callers that her father never let her receive (even in times when that was the custom), although Homer would have never been good enough either.


3) Homer represented a window into a different world, albeit the North, and also we know about his tendencies, but- had Emily ever dared rebelling against anyone? Could this have been her "TEENAGE REBELLION" taking place years later as an unfinished business?


4)Emily tried as best as she could to lead a life that existed only in her memories, and her imagination. Whatever was outside that mold was not part of her reality. Hence, Homer not turning into the gentleman caller and future husband that Emily was SUPPOSED to have, may have made her, like she had done before, break away from that reality, get rid of him, and continue her fantasy in her head.


Hence, these might be some of the reasons why her co-dependency reached such high levels.

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