Rewrite

Jessica George

Advanced Expository Writing

Dr. Gibson

23 September 2009

The Lonely Road of Isolation

Mark R. J. Lavoie once said, “Life dies inside a person when there are no others willing to be-friend him. He thus gets filled with emptiness and a non-existent sense of self-worth.” Loneliness in a person’s life can cause great anguish and heartache. It can serve as a factor of depression and the feeling of a lack of self worth. Despair tends to set in when a person feels that he or she has no one or nothing on which to hold. Loneliness can tear a person apart as the feeling of shame and isolation begin to set in. As solitude starts to pull people into seclusion, it also can drive them into doing things that they would not normally do. In his short story “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner develops the theme that isolation can lead to madness.

Faulkner shows the negative impacts of isolation through the rocky relationship between Emily Grierson and her father. As Emily’s father demonstrates strictness and high standards, it paints a picture of how tied down Emily is by him. Emily’s cold natured father is described as, “… 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” (4). Although Emily respects her father, they do not share a healthy father and daughter relationship. Mr. Grierson is a controlling father figure in Emily’s life, as he would often prohibit her from dating men and going out for social events. Emily’s friends tell of the lack of her dating and social life due to her father, and say, “So when she got to be thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated…” (4). Emily remains in a state of denial about her father’s death; even when people give their condolences, she simply acts as if nothing has even happened. Although her father only wants what is best for his daughter, his sternness left Emily feeling separated from the rest of her community.

Additionally, Faulkner displays how isolationism drove Emily to insanity through her dysfunctional relationship with her lover Homer Barron. Emily becomes interested in Homer and the townsfolk believe that they are going to get married. The town’s people talk about Emily and Homer’s relationship saying, “Then we were sure that they were to be married. We learned that Miss Emily had been to the jeweler’s and ordered a man’s toilet set in silver, with the letters H.B. on each piece” (7). Emily seems to finally be coming out of her shell as she has found a man. Yet, when she finds out he’s leaving it drives her into an even deeper madness. Once Emily finds out that Homer is homosexual, she decides to poison him and then live with his dead body in her house for years after that. As Homer was coming home from out of town, “A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening. And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron…From that time on her front door remained closed, save for a period of six or seven years…” (8). Emily refuses to say goodbye to the last companion she has left; therefore she decides to keep the body with her in the house as a sense of comfort. The death of loved ones in Emily’s life causes her to do crazy things, like confining herself in her house.

Becoming less involved with her neighbors, Emily begins to separate herself more and more from society. Before Emily’s depression set in, Emily used to be very involved in the community and taught china-painting lessons to people. As Emily was once a popular teacher, her“ … painting pupils grew up and fell away and did not send their children to her with boxes of color and tedious brushes and pictures cut from the ladies’ magazines. The front door closed upon the last one and remained closed for good” (8). Miss Emily tries to avoid the pain and suffering she feels due to the loss of her father and Homer. Isolation ultimately leads to her death while she drives by cutting off all ties to her community. For most of the time during the end of her life Emily did nothing, and “… she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse. And so she died. Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows…” (8). Because Emily chooses not to deal with the pain of her past, it causes her much more anguish because she relies solely on herself to help heal her wounds. Reaching out to her community to get help with her struggles, can help Emily to diminish her feelings of loneliness.

When a person chooses to seclude his or herself from society, the overwhelming loneliness drives a person to insanity. Emily Grierson was seen as a “normal” lady of society until she let a tragedy get the best of her. Depression can often cause a person to stick more to his or herself, rather than dealing with the underlying issues and getting on with life. If a person does not have companionship, the sense of loneliness takes over, which, in turn, takes over one’s self esteem and drive in life.