Analysis and Comparison of Main Characters in A Rose for Emily

Analysis and Comparison of Main Characters in A Rose for Emily

Nobel Prize in Literature is the sovereign honor for all the intellectuals, scholars and lovers of words. In detail, winners of this prize should be individuals who create the most wonderful works in literature. In fact, the prize symbolizes not only a kind of honor, but also a kind of devotion to the field of literature. One of the famous writers who win this prize is an American litterateur named William Fraulkner. William is a productive writer with abundant well-known works, among which an instructive and thoughtful one is A Rose for Emily. Seen from the surface, it is a short story about the simple lifespan of a lady named Emily. Due to father’s rejection of her pursuers, Emily is still single in her thirty. When her father dies, leaving her only a big house, she hates bitterly for he deprives Emily from love and happiness. After that, she is engaged in the romantic relationship with a man named Homer. Homer does not want to marry her, so Emily poisons him to death. In fact, through the different personalities of Emily and Homer, it is quite apparent that these two people hold opposite value concepts. Analyzed according to character, A Rose for Emily interprets that Emily is stubborn and indifferent, while Homer Barron yearns for free and colorful new life, which shows the differences between the old South and the new North in conception and indicates that the era is moving forward.

Emily appears to be obstinate and indifferent, and she turns a blind eye to the new world. To begin with, Emily is somewhat stubborn and proud even when she does not have enough materials and social status to support her pride. After the death of Emily’s father, Colonel Sartoris announces that Emily does not need to pay for the tax, because her father loans money to the town. In that case, Emily believes that she does not have to pay for the tax. When it comes to the next generation, the mayors and aldermen reform Emily of paying taxes, but she ignores it. As a result, the aldermen meet Emily in her house. At the end of the interview, Emily says, “See Colonel Sartoris, (Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years.) I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe, show these gentleman out.”(William 2) From the actions and words of Emily, it is quite obvious that though she is not a noble woman any more, she still has her own pride and vanity, and she does not care about what the political policy is. She just stubbornly holds that she has no taxes in Jefferson. Besides, Emily is also indifferent in her personal relationship with other people. At the very beginning of this story, many women go to the funeral of Emily out to the curiosity of the old house. That’s because Emily does not go out or appears in the eyes of the public for so many years. Except the manservant, she refuses the visits of the people in the town, and she does not have any friend. At the same time, Emily manifests her indifference and selfishness in her attitude towards love and the lives of other people. Emily poisons Homer to death. In that way, the corpse of Homer can accompany her forever. Sleeping with a corpse sounds horrible and absurd, which suggests the indifference and selfness of Emily. What’s more, Emily turns a blind eye towards the new world. As a matter of fact, the outside world has already changed since the death of Emily’s father. However, she turns a blind eye to the change and she does not want to keep pace with development in the society.

Different from Emily, Homer is easy-going and socially oriented, and he would not like to be constrained by love and affection. In the first place, Homer is outgoing. Soon after he arrives at the town, he knows nearly everybody there. Meanwhile, many children like to follow him and listen to his cursing words. Moreover, he is socially-oriented because of his outgoing personality. To be specific, he is always in the center of the groups of people, and people can easily find his figure when there is laughing on the square. What’s more wired is that he begins to appear with Emily who shows unimaginable indifference in her personal relationship, which is enough to prove the social orientation of Homer. Furthermore, Homer is a foreman who pursues a kind of life full of freedom. At the same time, he, in fact is more willing to contact with men. In other words, he does not want to be restrained by love and marriage, and he does not really want to marry Emily.

The different characteristics of the two main characters in A Rose for Emily indicate the differences between the old South and the new North in ideology and attitude towards life. Emily receives the traditional Southern education and the excessive protection of her father. Consequently, she remains the characteristics of the nobility of the old South. That is to say, she is the representative of the old South. While Homer is a foreman, and he not only represents the new living state of the new North, but also stands for the new thoughts of the new era of industrialization. Therefore, the distinct points of the two main characters in A Rose for Emily actually imply the differences of the old south and the new north. On the one hand, according to the differences between Emily and Homer, the old South and the new North appears differently in value conceptions. The old South, like Emily, tends to maintain the inherent arrogance, and they believe that they are superior than the other ordinary people even when the society changes a lot. The new North appears different, they, represented by Homer, are approachable and he gets along well with almost everybody in the town. On the other hand, the south and the north remains distinct in their attitude towards life. Homer comes to Jefferson to construct the town, and his construction turns totally different from the big house of Emily. Emily always lives in her big house alone, while Homer is constructing the new infrastructure. Under the influence of the new industrialization, the north can adapt to the change of life, while the south still insist their traditional attitude and ideology.

Based on the above illustrations, there is no doubt that the main characters in A Rose for Emily turn out to be distinct. As analyzed above, Emily standing for the old south, and Homer representing the new north, love each other. However, they have big differences or even obvious contradiction in their thoughts, ways of living and value concepts. As a matter of fact, the differences between the two characters are the foreshadowing of the story and they set up for the imperfect ending of their love, which indicates the conflicts between the old south and the new south in traditional and modern opinions. Undoubtedly, time is moving forward, and the old and conservative conceptions should be updated in order to keep pace with the newly-developed era and civilization.