A Rose for Emily - William Faulkner

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a literary example of human cruelty and the effect is can have on certain individuals. Emily was clearly mentally unstable after her father’s death and this instability was only perpetuated by the uncaring people of her town. The character of Emily is seen purchasing “rat poison, the arsenic” (Faulkner 407) while people in her town said nothing but “Poor Emily” (Faulkner 407). It is clear to me that actions such as Emily’s require some inquiry, yet no one thought to ask questions. Instead, the towns’ people rejected Emily; not one person cared enough to investigate her strange behavior but pretended to feel sympathetic for her. Sadly, no one had thought much about Emily during her life except to gossip about her; it was only during her death that people seemed to take notice of a person who had lived her life practically alone. “When Miss. Emily Greirson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly of out curiosity to see the inside of her house” (Faulkner 404). Emily’s funeral was simply an indifferent town coming out to witness the spectacle that her death had turned into. Perhaps Emily’s mental state could have been helped had she received the proper attention following her father’s death. Unfortunately, Emily never fit into her town’s social structure but was instead a burden to it; only through Emily’s death did the town realize the seriousness of her mental state and their inability to recognize it.