Race, gender and class in Faulkners Literature Essay

William Faulkner’s short story A Rose for Emily depicts the need for a hierarchy by which to rank and organize individuals by merit of their importance. Class, gender and race each play a vital role in determining the interactions of Jefferson’s residents. Notably, these issues affect how Emily Grierson, Homer Barron, and Emily’s Negro servant Tobe are treated by the townspeople, as well as their behavior. Together race, gender and class portray and define the characters for who they are and act to elucidate their positions in society. The hierarchy in Jefferson dictates that class supersedes gender, which in turn, supersedes race. At the center of Faulkner’s story is Emily Grierson a proper, old-fashioned monument to the past.†¦show more content†¦As Emily was considered an aristocrat of sorts in the town, her actions, inappropriate by any other woman, continued without question. In Jefferson, class superseded the stereotypes against a gender, and to an extent even law and logic. With rumors of a romantic relationship between Homer and Emily, the townspeople’s first reaction was to reject the notion as folly. The women of the town speculate that a â€Å"Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer† while the town elders believed that Emily would be unable to forget the â€Å"noblesse oblige†: the obligations of the higher class (Faulkner 311). In the eyes of the town, it would be improper for a woman of such high class to intermingle with a man of lower class. This, along with his affiliation with the Yankees, results in the town turning against Homer, despite his seemingly agreeable personality. Homer and Emily’s relationship created changes to the status quo. In turn these changes resulted in the summoning of Emily’s sister from Alabama; this decision, later regretted by the town, was a last ditch effort to preserve the conventional order of class within Jefferson. Despite the criticism Emily receives , she chooses to continue in her pursuit of Homer, demonstrating her continued indifference to the opinions of those around her, a benefit available to her because of her social class. Despite the abolishment of slavery across the United States in 1865, racism plays a role in the portrayal andShow MoreRelatedA Rose for Emily Psychoanalysis2422 Words   |  10 Pagesmetaphor in our analysis. The interpretation of these elements, the making of meaning out of them, then depends on the context or method of interpretation we apply to them. Thus we can easily see why a signifying elementlike the figure of the father in Faulkners A Rose for Emily-has so many different meanings. Do we interpret him historically as a metaphor of Southern manhood? Psychologically as the cause of Emilys neurosis? 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