The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

Emily Winkler
English 220
Professor Zambreno
16 October 2013
The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily
A Rose for Emily is a chilling tale that portrays the delusions
and erratic behavior of Miss Emily Grierson through the eyes of a
narrator. The reader is left to examine Emilys psychological being after
discovering that she has been sleeping with the corpse of her former
lover, Homer Barron. There is much contextual evidence to support
that

Emily

had

been

dealing

with

deep

psychological

trauma

throughout her life. This psychological trauma could be followed back

to the aristocrat family she was brought up in. Emily was forced to
cope with having a father that drove away any man that ever showed
up at her front door; eventually leaving her with no one, and a town
that idealizes southern womanhood as part of a general idealization of
the antebellum South (Dilworth 253). A main focus point in this story
is the fact that throughout the story there is no mention of the rose
in the title of the story. It is a continuous mystery to most as to exactly
what the rose symbolizes, but there are many different ways to
interpret it. The hypothetical rose in A Rose for Emily demonstrates
a deep psychological dysfunction caused by the lack of love Emily has
been given throughout her life, causing a psychological break down.

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

Although there are many accounts of Marxist elements in this story
such as the aristocracy Emily is brought up in, Marxism is not as
dominate an approach as her psychological struggle.
To begin, it is important to understand the first critical theory
being used to analyze this story: the Marxist criticism. The Marxist
critical theory does not focus on the individual (like you will soon learn
psychoanalytic critical theory does). A Marxist focuses on the group
and the getting and keeping of economic power. Marxism comes back
to economics, whether someone is poor or wealthy, and anything in
between. Marxism looks at different ideologies such as, classism,
religion, rugged individualism, and consumerism. In A Rose for Emily
the Marxist elements of the story focus on classism, specifically the
highest on the totem pole of class systems, aristocracy.
Because of Emilys family economic status there was never a
suitor in the eyes of her father that was good enough for her. She
therefore paid a price (Faulkner 207). For Emily this price is a life of
solitude owing to denial of natural sexual affection (Dilworth 254). Her
father, who kept her single until he died, executed this. After his
death, the town took over her father's role (Dilworth 254). Emily never
had her own choice of love for herself because of her fathers
overwhelming control over her. And unfortunately for Emily after her
father died she still had the eyes of the town criticizing whom she was
seen with (Faulkner 209). A prime example is after Emily had been

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

seen with Homer Barron, who was a day laborer and clearly of lower
stature than she, the town started gossiping. Even though people of
the town could clearly see how happy she was, it did not stop them
from involving themselves (Faulkner 209). As stated by Faulkner, The
ladies of the town thought she and her lover a disgrace to the town
and a bad example to the young people (208). It is very hard to
believe that the only reason the town did not support Homer and
Emilys relationship together was because of the fact that Homer
declared himself not a marrying man, which made their relationship
scandalous (209). Even if Homer was interested in courting Emily the
town would still have been against it because she would be marrying
beneath her, something that her father would have never allowed
(209) Emilys love life is constantly being challenged by the individuals
around her, making her psychological well being unstable.
Emilys aristocrat status not only left her romantically alone, but
it also gave her the impression that she was above the law, that she
did not have to answer to authority. She refuses to pay her taxes. Her
house smells enough to be a public nuisance. She refuses to give up
her fathers body or tell the druggist what she wants the poison for
(Faulkner 206-211). Emily was never able to control anything in her
life, not even after her father died. The only chance she had at not
being completely helpless was to make it known that she was above
the rest of the town, even the authorities. A Marxist would not

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

necessarily believe that Emilys stature and therefore lack of control in
her life would have lead to her psychological mental breakdown but a
Marxist would be agree that because of Emilys aristocrat position she
felt she needed to prove that she was so true to her position that she
would kill to keep it, that she was willing to kill to keep her stature. This
story is better analyzed through Psychoanalytic criticism though and I
believe it could be read thoroughly that way.
Psychoanalytic critical theory can be best understood as
focusing on an individual character and the individuals psyche. It looks
at what is going on inside the character and why a character acts a
certain way, which gets more personal than Marxist criticism.
Psychoanalytic critical theory also deals with different conflicts and
defenses such as the Oedipal fixation, denial, avoidance, displacement,
projection, fear of intimacy, and fear of abandonment, to name a few.
Psychoanalytic critical theory is very complex and there are many
different ways to look at a character through it.
First and foremost, Emilys mental decline starts when her father
dies. Women from the town come to her house to offer grievances and
Emily tells them that her father is not dead. She keeps it up for three
days until she breaks down and gives up (Faulkner 207). And with her
father dead she had nothing left to cling to (Faulkner 207). When an ill
individual suddenly no longer has to cope with managing external
stressors, their defenses yield completely and they succumb to the

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

psychotic symptoms that have been latent (Staton 275). For example,
when Emilys father dies she holds his body hostage. Up until his death
Emilys father was the only man in her life and without him she realizes
how truly alone she is (Faulkner 207). Although, when the ladies of the
town come to Emilys home to offer their condolences Emily is
observed to have no trace of grief on her face (207). Her inability to
show the proper emotion is a classic symptom of a mental disorder. In
fact she is insistent that her father is not dead, which is an example of
denial and a warning sign that she is not emotionally or mentally well.
The town of course avoids confronting Emily about her increasing
mental decline and the problem internally worsens (207). As time
passes Emily meets a man named Homer. The town can see that she is
happy with him (208). But her relationship is failing and in her
approaching abandonment from her lover Emily snaps and poisons him
(208). Now, he can never leave her and she will never be alone like she
was when her father died. Emily then continues her life in delusion and
fantasy keeping the room where he lover lies preserved and sleeping
next to his body every night (211). Such behavior suggests in her a
terrible loneliness and desperation for companionship. She idolized and
idealized her father and Homer Barton, even to the point of endowing
them with fictitious life beyond death (Dilworth 253). This behavior is
a defense mechanism used to cope with the loss of the people she
loves. Her delusions could almost be compared to that of a child where

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

she is reverting back into a child like state playing a twisted form of
make believe. The lack of love she has been offered throughout her
life could have arguably been the reason for her mental deterioration
and her fear of loss/ abandonment.
As a final point, the rose in A Rose for Emily does in fact
demonstrate a deep psychological dysfunction caused by the lack of
love Emily has been given. Giving a rose is a love token(Dilworth
261). It always has been a symbol of love. The hypothetical rose has
been interpreted many different ways. It could resemble the iron-gray
hair inadvertently left by Emily beside the corpse of her lover (261).
This gray hair could be interpreted as Emilys rose for her deceased
lover. A man that essentially betrayed her love just like her father. It
could also resemble the everlasting beauty in love or the interpretation
could be as simple as a rose for Emily, meaning that the rose could
symbolize the fact that no one has ever truly loved and cared for her,
so this rose in the title is for her. Whichever it is Faulkner left it up to
the reader to decide. The title may well refer to Shakespeares
familiar lines from another tragedy of lovers (Staton 295):
Whats in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet. (Shakespeare 2.2)

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

Works Citied
Dilworth, Thomas. "A Romance To Kill For: Homicidal Complicity In
Faulkner's 'A
Rose For Emily'." Studies In Short Fiction 36.3 (1999): 251-263.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Literature: A Portable Anthology.

Ed. Janet
E. Gardner, Beverly Lawn, Jack Ridl and Peter Schakel. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 204-211. Print.

The Psychological Pull in A Rose for Emily

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. New York.
Pocket
Books, 1992. Print.

Staton, Shirley F. Literary Theories In Praxis. Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press, 1987. netLibrary. Web. 14 Oct. 2013.