A Rose for Emily Persuasive Essay

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H a m i l t o n | 1Seth Hamilton Amelia HoffmanModern Lit/Comp7 October, 2019A Rose for Emily EssayWhile thinking critically about Emily’s actions and how they differed from her father’s, Emily is the only one to blame for her horrendous actions, specifically upon Homer Barron. Living in a small town, Emily was looked at as an outcast of the community; she never made anyeffort to see anyone and was always bitter to the people she sees. Due to this and hording her father’s dead body, many of the townspeople question Emily’s sanity and mental state. Therefore,Emily’s father is not to blame for Emily’s sanity because she is in control of her actions, her father never did anything to affect her life as an adult, and her actions towards others are worse than her father’s actions when he was alive. The first reason why Emily is to blame for her own actions is because she is in control ofher own behaviors, nobody else is controlling them for her. Because she lives her own life, this brings about her own choices and own decisions, being based upon what she knows and what shewas taught. Only she is capable of committing murder upon someone; no one else could influence her. The story verifies Emily being in control of her own actions when it states, “One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Pg. 9). This upholds the fact that she was in control of her own actions by killing Homer Barron and deciding to sleep with his carcass, just so she would never have him run away from her. The story supports her being in control of her own actions, again when it states, “Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized” (Pg. 4). This alludes to the reason that she is becoming in control of her own thoughts andH a m i l t o n | 2actions, becoming humanized. Furthermore, some tried to change her actions, but failed. The story proves this when it says, “We really must do something about it, Judge. I’d be the last one on the world to bother Miss Emily, but we’ve got to do something.” This illustrates the fact that people tried helping her, while eventually failing. Furthermore, Wikipedia summarizes how Emily’s father could not control her actions by stating, “Her refusal to give up her father's body for days after his death, then keeping Homer's for years suggests that she feels that she is too stubborn to let go, and that she feels that she can still have a connection with them even after death.” In summary, nobody else could have influenced Emily’s actions besides Emily herself, therefore she was in control of her own thoughts and actions, not someone else. Next, Emily’s father never did anything especially detrimental to her to result in Emily killing Homer Barron and hording his body. While Emily’s father isolated her, he did this in order to keep her safe, not having to kill her in order to keep her safe. This showed that Emily’s actions were far worse than her father’s towards her. The text supports this when it says, “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will” (Pg. 4). Another in-text example says, “When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily” (Pg.4). This shows that she had nothing when her father died, letting her begin a new life, not in his shadow or his care. The finalexample from the text states, “Being left alone, and a pauper, she had become humanized. Now she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less.” This displays, in away, that her father could not influence any more of her life once he died and that she would finally have to work for her share in the community. Faculty of Arkansas Tech University wrote this, “Miss Emily’s great losses caused her to distance herself from reality and she was seen as anH a m i l t o n | 3individual who had sunk into a deep mental depression. She locked herself away from the rest of the world and refused to make friends. No one called upon her and she did not attempt to change her lifestyle. Eventually she sunk deeper and deeper into a world of insanity.” This is a perfect way to describe Emily’s life after her father’s death. In summary, her father never played a role in the questioning of Emily’s insanity, where it began and what influenced it. The final reason that Emily’s father was not to blame for her sanity was out of the motives of Emily’s actions and the extent of how far she took the actions. First, the poisoning and killing of a man was beyond cruel and beyond harsh; it was heartless. While she just wanted to keep him, like her father kept her, Emily’s father never went to the extent of killing her to keepher. This is shown from the text, when it says, “‘I want some poison,’ she said to the druggist… ‘I want arsenic’” Later on it says, “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time.” This alludes to the fact that she ended up killing Homer Barron and hording his body, showing that she had no heart for anybody else except herself. Even while trying to horde her father’s carcass after he died, she showed no emotion. This demonstrates howheartless she could be. The story says, “Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them disposeof the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and they buried her father quickly” (Pg.4). Furthermore, her decisions never bettered after her father’s death, as shown when the text states, “From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years, when she was about forty, during which she gave lessons in china-painting.” This attests that after her father’s death, she never made any effort to meet her community, remaining an “outcast”. Again, this proves that her father is not to blame for actionsH a m i l t o n | 4after his death


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