Document Type

Sophomore Award Winner

Award Date

Spring 2011

Course Name

Literary Explorations II

Teacher

Dr. Leah Kind

Abstract

Judgment, pressure, or failure to live up to a name - although expectations may be inevitable, they often have tragic consequences. In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” a Southern antebellum town holds many expectations for its Grierson family. The narrator relates Jefferson’s changing regard for Miss Emily between her father’s death, lover’s disappearance, and final seclusion, and also assesses whether she behaves how a legendary Grierson “should”. The town’s judgmental, unrealistic expectations cause Miss Emily’s social exclusion and her descent into a solitary, crazed condition.

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