Differences Between Adela Strangeworth And Emily Grierson example essay topic

Shelly Moy N. Regan ENG 122 AL September 19, 2002"Evil: A Host of Happiness " In the short stories "A Rose For Emily", by William Faulkner and "The Possibility of Evil", by Shirley Jackson both authors create similar characters and settings that illustrate daring images of evil. Both Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth are women who share similar characteristics yet pose completely different motives. Their stories take place in close-knit towns, which play essential roles in their motives for evil. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth demonstrate similarities and differences that develop their actions, revealing the possibility of evil within them. Both towns that Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth exist in are important settings for their actions. Without their towns both women may not have faced their disastrous conclusions.

Emily Grierson's position in her town was not chosen, it was handed down to her by her father as an aristocrat of her small town. Her town alienated her and placed her under the high expectations of a classic southern aristocrat. They treated Emily as "a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation" (FAULKNER 89). Her town's nosiness kept her from the man she loved and ultimately alienated her from all parts of the town. Emily Grierson's role in her town was chosen for her. However, Adela Strangeworth's role was one she chose herself.

Adela Strangeworth's position was the exact opposite of Emily Grierson's. Adela Strangeworth was involved with everyone's business, "This was, after all, her town, and these were her people; if one of them was in trouble, she ought to know about it" (JACKSON 469). She wrote them secret, mean and hateful letters in reciprocation to their evil actions, which began to ruin their lives. Her nosiness, not the towns, drove her to her final fate.

Both towns played an essential role in developing the women's evil actions. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth both resort to evil actions in order to gain control over that which they desired. Did Adela Strangeworth demonstrate a greater sense of evil for invading her town's privacy, or was Emily Grierson more evil as she committed murder? The American Heritage Dictionary defines evil as "morally bad or wrong; love in public esteem" (DICTIONARY 249). Adela Strangeworth's decision to disrupt her town's privacy was bad and Emily Grierson's decision to murder Homer Barron was wrong. However in examining the second part of this definition, Adela Strangeworth appears more evil than Emily Grierson.

The second part of the definition, "low in public esteem", creates an area of contrast for the two women. "Her letters all dealt with the more negotiable stuff of suspicion" (JACKSON 467), the letters she writes are all assumptions, lacking evidence and facts for such accusations. Adela Strangeworth's acts were so cruel in the public's eye that they destroy her rose bushes. Emily's public, however, does not maintain her at a low esteem.

They actually idolize her as a "fallen monument" (FAULKNER 87) to their town's history. Throughout her story and even after the townspeople discover the murder of Homer Barron, the town consistently feels bad for Emily. By reexamining the definition provided by the American Heritage Dictionary Adela's actions are much move evil in her public's esteem then Emily's public was. Achieving control is the main motive behind Adela Strangeworth and Emily Grierson's subconscious'.

Yet each woman sought control in extremely different ways. Adela sought to prevent her whole town from committing possible acts of evil. She disguised herself by writing letters anonymously, this gives her the freedom to be unknown, yet still maintain her control over her little town. Emily Grierson's situation was different. She sought control over her own life, which her town had denied her of.

They starved her of her only love, Homer Barron. The town felt that it was improper of noblesse oblige to be engaged to northern Yankee, thus they wrote her relatives to have them break off the engagement. In the end, Emily Grierson was found dead with the corpse of Homer Barron in her house. To gain control over her life, she murdered Homer Barron. The town could then no longer take him away from her, and she finally had her control. Adela Strangeworth involves herself in everyone's business and feels the need to control the evil she perceives that may exist within the townspeople's actions.

To gain control over them she writes anonymous letters, giving her the control to speak freely of whatever she desires. Adela Strangeworth and Emily Grierson both felt different needs for control, which set the tone for their acts of evil. Differences between Adela Strangeworth and Emily Grierson exist between them, making each act of evil unique. Adela Strangeworth is extremely self-absorbed. She lives in a world were only she exists and her townspeople are simply helpless objects. In a moment of this self-absorption, the author illustrates, "Wearily Miss Strangeworth turned to go home to her quiet bed in her lovely house, and never the Harris boy calling o her to say that she had dropped something".

(JACKSON 469). Adela Strangeworth was so entwined in her own evil doings that she failed to hear the Harris boy warning her that she had dropped a letter, ultimately revealing her identity as the woman behind the letters. Emily Grierson is not a character consumed by self-absorption, she is an idol un humanized by her town and its efforts to maintain tradition. The narrator describes Emily Grierson in a helpless light, "Thus she passed from generation to generation-dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil and preserve" (FAULKNER 93). She was far from being self-absorbed, it is the town that idolizes her, not herself. Emily Grierson herself is a dying rose, lost and alienated amidst a garden of flourishing new flowers in which she does not belong.

Adela Strangeworth managed her own garden with meticulous detail and pride, allowing not one petal to fall out of place, just as she symbolically maintained her town. The differences in character between Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth further their evil degrees. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth possessed characteristics alike and different, both resulting in evil actions. Their towns create the perfect canvas on which to paint their tales of evil. The stories of Emily and Adela are tales of control.

Emily Grierson desires only love from another human being and Adela Strangeworth sought order in her live and both women use evil to achieve their desires. Adela did so by manipulating the lives of others, cruelly and secretly, Emily by extinguishing lives itself. Emily is sad and pathetic in her attempt of control. Adela was pure evil, which ultimately destroyed her.

Emily in a strange way achieved her goal, though monstrous; Adela never did and was crushed by it.

Bibliography

Faulkner, William. "A Rose For Emily". Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Kirszner, Laurie. Mandell Stephen. 4th edition. Sea Harbor: Harcourt College Publishers. 2001.
87-94 Jackson, Shirley. "The Possibility of Evil". Kirszner, Laurie. Mandell Stephen. 4th edition. 2001.
463-474"Evil". American Heritage Dictionary. 1973 ed.