Requiem for an Aristocrat :: essays research papers

Requiem for an AristocratIts lonely at the top, a cliche that Faulkner reaffirms in his classical short story, A Rose for Emily. In this southern tale, a social class structure separated the high and justly Griersons from the rest of the town. After the Civil War, the southern upper class society was dwindling with the northern industrialists rising in national influence. Emily Grierson was the product of an overprotective maven father raising a high society child. During this era the southern high society type was considered a dying breed. Emilys father instilled determine and morals that only an arrogant aristocrat could set in a child. Emilys inability to involve herself in social settings, her blatant disregard of the law, and her complete approach to intimate relationships all stem from her fathers upbringing.The town was filled with people Emily had no desire to interact with. She kept herself locked inside her category and sent Tobe, her servant, to take care of mostly a ll obligations that required social interactions. She spent the greater part of her life inside this fortress of solitude she considered home. During Emilys years as a young lady, she was led to believe none of the young men deserved her. The young men did not measure up to her fathers expectations so he dismissed them. Even at thirty years of age, Emily remained single because her father would limit her social interaction. So it was habitual for the townspeople to refrain from associating with such distinguished people. The entire town attended Emily Griersons funeral without knowing her beyond her name. This type o f upbringing leave Emily isolated.Emily held an above-the-law attitude that was common amongst aristocrats in the southern states at that time. Once Emilys father died, the mayor felt obligated to allow Emily to refrain from paying taxes. When Emily visited her apothecary for arsenic, he allowed her to purchase the poison without having to give reason for its use eve n though the law states that you must. Emily even disregarded the unwritten laws of high society. It was unheard of that a person of her stature would date a Yankee laborer. She went against even the most fundamental of social laws and gave a laborer, by the name of Homer Barron, an opportunity to royal court her. This shocked the entire town and reaffirmed her imperviousness (429).Emily was unable to produce a healthy relationship with a person because her father kept her single to her thirties, reservation her feel as though no man deserved her hand.