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The Repercussions of Silence

          One philosophy by Aristotle was, “He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must either be a beast or a god.” Ms. Emily is not a god, nor is she an exception to the fact that seclusion and social decline generally run hand-in-hand. However, the real story of “A Rose For Emily” lies not with Emily’s seclusion, but in the downward spiral that is triggered before her isolation and likewise proceeds it. Emily’s “downward spiral,” begins with her high social status, continues while she becomes secluded, declining emotionally (and socially), then it finally arrives at a tragic and gut-wrenching conclusion. As the tale proceeds, it becomes apparent that, Ms. Emily does not all of a sudden jump from polite recluse to sadistic necrophiliac, on the contrary she is merely an emotionally scarred victim of action and reaction, who is suffering from the materializing repercussions of her own dysfunctional past and is inept in the appropriate way to handle said repercussions.

            Emily’s relationship with her own family and the sheltered environment she was raised in are both significant contributions to the confused, unstable Emily that is introduced in the story. It is conveyed that “none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily,” and consequently (due to her Father and/or Aunt’s over-protectiveness/pride) she is forced to remain single until she is thirty, the year upon which her Father dies. For the first thirty years of her life, Emily remained single, which means her emotional attachment was to the person she was closest with, or her Father as it were. The loss of such a fundamental cornerstone in Emily’s life, is one of the many components that compel her horrific actions towards the only other man to exist in her life beyond her Father. It was widely believed by the townspeople that “the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were,” (although the Grierson was somewhat stifled due to the madness of Miss Emily’s great-aunt Wyatt).