Essay 2 -Research Based Literary Analysis Write an argumentative based essay examining how a story of your choosing makes a statement about a social issue (class, race, gender, ageism, cultural...

“A Rose for Emily”- The epitome of patriarchy and Racism in 20th Century America
· William Faulkner (1930)
Delving deep into the life of a woman who grew old and died in her house, all alone, the short story “A rose for Emily” is actually an ode from our author William Faulkner to Emily, who dies all sad and alone and gets nothing but pity and seclusion from her neighbors in the society.
Set in the 20th century, this story is about Emily, a woman living all alone in her house in a county in south Mississippi. The story starts with the premise of Emily’s death at the age of seventy-four, and the whole town comes apparently to pay her homage at her funeral, but mostly to go inside her huge house which had been closed for outsiders for a long time. Then, the context of the story shifts to the time when she was alive, swaying from her young age, her love life to her old age. Throughout the story, which has been written in third person, the author tries to put forward how Emily’s life as a girl, under the strict guidance and overshadow of her father, also affects her life as a grown up and later on, an old woman. While explaining the context of the story, certain social issues which have come up will be discussed which are patriarchy and racism in upper classes. We will also keep in mind that the timeline when this story is set is in the early 20th century when racism was not uncommon in America, and patriarchy was booming in households.
The author, William Faulkner, had grown up in Mississippi, and his upbringing in the south has a lot of influence on his writing. He won the noble prize and Pulitzers for literature and fiction respectively. His fictional short stories, essays and poems mostly had dark settings and this story was no different. Bringing out in the voice of the narrator, we can feel pity in the author for the central character, Emily and maybe that is why he names it “A rose for Emily”. This can signify two things; one is he is gifting the rose to Emily because he feels she died being deprived of love her whole life and a rose represents longing and love. Another is simply he is offering a flower as a tribute to her death, at her funeral. In both the scenarios, it is clear how the author feels sorry for Emily while putting forward her life story for the audience.
The theme of this story is precisely dark, with control being the central...