A Rose For Emily Death Analysis

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Throughout the short story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, death is a constant theme. Death also ties in with a theme of sympathy as all the townspeople constantly feel sorry for Emily regardless of what was happening or not happening. The story itself starts with Emily’s own funeral then leads into her father’s funeral, followed by an act of sympathy.
The most frequent theme in “A Rose for Emily” is sympathy, which follows her throughout Faulkner’s story. Starting with Colonel Sartoris remitting her taxes after her father’s death, I could only decipher this as an act of pity for the loss of her father, the only solid thing in her life. (par 3) A few years later, the neighbors began complaining about a putrid smell. Trying to avoid …show more content…
1) It seems as if death was all that followed Miss Emily throughout her life not only literally but also figuratively when it is disclosed that her father drove away all possible suitors, killing any chances she had of being married. (par. 28) Miss Emily had no family left due to more death, leaving her with no one save a manservant. A few years after her father died, death resurfaces with Emily, but this time as a smell that many of her neighbors complained about. They claimed the smell came from “a snake or rat that [servant] of hers killed in the yard”. (par 20) Of course, at the end of the story, after Miss Emily was buried and the nosy women venture up to her untouched room, it is revealed what the actual smell was. Not a snake or a rat but was yet another death surrounding Emily; her past lover who “abandoned” her years before lay decomposing in her bed.(par 58) In a lot of ways throughout this story, the two themes death and sympathy went hand in hand, death followed sympathy and sympathy followed death. The death of her family members caused sympathy, along with her loneliness. Poor

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