How do gender roles and the culture in which the women live impact their identities? What connections can you make between female “madness” and being isolated or locked away in both stories?
In the early 19th century the expectations of women in society were different from those of today. In that time women were expected to get married and have a family at a young age. They were expected to be submissive to their husbands and not really have a say in any matter. In “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Emily was a lady who was depressed because of losing her love life because her father isolated her. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells a tale about an unnamed female character who is isolated by her husband because of her condition. Her creative outlet is writing; however, her husband doesn’t allow her to express herself. Both Emily and the unnamed female character have been isolated from a life which, caused their madness.
In a “Rose for Emily,“ Emily has been isolated for so long that she went mad. For example, the story mentions she denied her father ‘s death. The story says “She did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke down, and the buried her father quickly(98).”Keeping her father’s dead body for three days until she was forced to let him go shows, she is strange acting. According to the story, from the town person’s perspective, who recalls that “all the young men her father had driven away and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her as people will (98).” This represents how her isolation was forced because of her father not allowing her to have a life. So he was literally her world. All Emily knew was her father so she had no life or anyone to care for her so she clearly didn’t know what to make of her life. “According to the town goers in the story, she, after her father’s death went out very little after her sweetheart went away, people hardly seen her at all(97).”
The author mentions this to show how depressed she got and how it affected her mentally because of her loneliness. When Emily cousins were in town according to the story she told the druggist “I want some poison.” I Want the best you have I don’t care what kind it is”(99). He suggested arsenic and told her the law requires her to tell him what the use was for; however her face was stern and he ended up handing the delivery boy the package to give to her .” According to the story, “when she opened the package at home there was written on the box with a skull on it and bones for rats” (99), which means Emily is not inclined to care about the poison facts and demand the strongest one. She has a tone of someone who wants to commit suicide because she has nothing to live for. In spite of the druggist’s warnings, she seemed to be obsessed with the poison and was determined to get whatever can kill her the fastest. According to the story Homer Baron was let in Emily’s back door and was never seen again. ”The man himself lay in the bed. For a long while we just stood there, looking down at the profound and fleshless grin”(102). Coming from a town person they discovered Homer’s body in a room. Homer mysteriously disappeared who was last seen at Emily Greisens’ house, he was killed by her. When the Author describes Homer’s body having fleshless grin shows evidence that he is dead and his body is deuterated . Faulkner through Emily is trying to show society that isolation can cause a person to become lonely and that it will cause them not to ever want to be alone.