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Overview of Emily in A Rose for Emily

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“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is known for its exotic themes and story line. Throughout the story, obsession is seen to be the major theme. Obsession is a state of mind that causes a person to not stand to be without something or someone and they will do whatever it takes to make sure that does not happen. People who seem obsessed can come off as foolish to others but to them they do not realize the things they are doing are that drastic. When a person becomes obsessed with another person or thing they view that person or thing as something they have to have in their life, they see no other way of living. In the persons mind they feel that having that other person or thing is the only way they can make it through life. In “A Rose for Emily” an extreme level of obsession is demonstrated by Emily refusing to bury her father, by Emily killing Homer, by her refusing to leave behind an old way of life, and by the town’s people intruding in Emily’s life. A bond between a father and daughter is a relationship that seems unbreakable and in “A Rose for Emily” this concept is no different. Throughout Emily’s life one can see that she depended on her father for just about everything. Just as in most father daughter relationships her father was over protected and ran Emily’s life, some may even say a slight too much. Emily’s father did not believe anyone was ever worthy enough for his daughter so she never had any type of relationship with anyone . Due to the fact that she never talked or made an effort to connect with others she came off to people as rude or as if she acted too good for the others. Emily lived a sheltered life with just her and her father that was all she knew. She depended on him for everything and she just knew that he would always be there for her. When her father passed away later on in her life she was in a state of denial to say the least. Emily could not accept the thought of losing the only thing she truly had in life. She was in such a stage of rejection she made it seems as if the death actually did not take place. “The day after her father's death, Miss Emily does not register any signs of grief on her face, and, upon the arrival of townswomen bringing condolences to the house, Miss Emily denies the fact that her father has died at all” (Smith 5). This continued for three complete days. Emily refused to accept the circumstances of losing her father. It came to the point to where the town’s people were ready to step in and take legal action to force her to bury her father. The thought of letting Emily keep her dead father in her house was uncommon and unusual to the town. Just when they were ready to take actions in their own hands Emily gave in. She let the towns people take her father and even though she still did not want to accept the fact that he was gone she knew it was time to let go. Although these actions were strange Emily could not stand the fact of letting the one thing she had in life go because for all these years her father was all she had. She was scared of being alone. After Emily’s father death she decided to get to know Homer Barron, a construction foreman from the north. She soon gets attached to him and they soon become very close. As a reader one can see that Emily was the kind of person to let herself get involved with people to easily and then she lets these people dictat

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