Snapshots of Miss Emily in William Faulkners A Rose for Emily Essay

Snapshots of Miss Emily in A Rose for Emily â€Å"A Rose for Miss Emily† by William Faulkner is a story of quiet lonliness and tragedy. The story ends on a surprising note, but one for which the reader is not totally unprepared. Faulkner very cleverly uses changing pictures of Miss Emily’s physical state to give the reader a clue as to what is transpiring inside her. The picture or â€Å"tableau† of Emily in her childhood gives us our first clue into her strange personality. She is â€Å"a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door.† The scene almost blatantly reveals Emily in her youth, constrained by a wildly over-protective father. Her natural attempts to leave home and have relationship with the outside world are thwarted by a dark, mean, even evil-spirited father who refuses to let her leave. Our next view of Miss Emily is some time after her father dies. â€Å"Her hair is cut short,† Faulkner tells us. The strength...