Miss Emily's Next Male Figure example essay topic

Miss Emily's male interaction in A Rose for Emily The way that a person is raised has a lot to do with their personality and actions as an adult. The protagonist in "A Rose for Emily" is an example of just that. Miss Emily was raised to be very dependent on the only male figure in her life, her father. This set the type of interaction that she would have with the male figures throughout her life. Even though there were few, Miss Emily was dependent and unable to let go of her men that she encountered during her lifetime. The first male figure in Miss Emily's life, and the one that caused Emily's dependency, is her father.

All through Emily's life, her father kept her close at home and didn? t allow her to see other men. This of course caused Emily to realize that she would spend the rest of her life with her father. When her father died and left her alone Miss Emily did not want to face reality and tried to keep the body. This proves her inability to let go of her first true male figure. Miss Emily's next male figure is one that helped her earlier in her life. Colonel Sartoris was able to remit Emily's taxes under the impression that the town owed her money.

This act of kindness by the Colonel caused Emily's dependence upon him and what he did for her. Later in the story, the Board of Alderman approached Miss Emily at her house in the attempt to get her to pay her taxes. When the Board started questioning Miss Emily about why she would not pay she told them to talk to Colonel Sartoris. Even though the Colonel had been dead for almost ten years the old women insisted they see him and leave her alone.

Emily's dependency on Colonel Sartoris caused her to believe he was still alive, showing again how she is not able to let go of the male figures in her life. The most disturbing evidence of Miss Emily's male problems is her interaction with Homer Barron. Homer was a foreman who was in town helping with the construction of sidewalks. Emily became infatuated with Homer and would have probably married him. Unfortunately for her though, it was rumored that he was gay.

When it came time for Homer to leave, Miss Emily could not deal with that as she had become dependent on him. In order to keep him for herself she poisoned him. This shows how extreme her dependency on her lifes male figures was. Miss Emily was a deeply troubled woman who had to have everything her way. She was too dependent to live on her own without the presence of a male authority figure. Her father's death brought denial, as did Colonel Sartoris? death.

When Homer came around Emily couldn? t afford another man to leave her and she did what she thought she had to do. With Emily's dependency on her father she was caused to depend on each man she came in contact with, keeping each close to her anyway she could.