Roselily and A Rose for Emily Essay Example

Emily’s bed.

Walker, in turn, creates ceremonial atmosphere of a matrimony whose major participant is the main character. Furthermore, given that “Roselily” is organized as a flow of consciousness, the protagonist imagines and recollects a number of places like Chicago, cities of New England and Mississippi positioned as either prospective or past milestones of her life.

Importantly, the story ends with the couple’s departure from Roselily’s hometown which probably means the absolute abandonment of the past lifestyle, culture, habits and even social characteristics of a single woman of non-white background, as the light colors of the wedding ceremony seem to have “whitened” her own social position given her quitting of the hard “blue-collar” work: “Not to have to go to a job. Not to work in a sewing plant. Not to worry about learning to sew straight seams in workingmen’s overalls, jeans and dress pants” (Walker).

The two plots are similar in terms of the inclusion of Emily and Roselily’s longing for humanity and emotional comfort that imply love and respect normally developing in cross-gender romances. As both authors narrate, the protagonists endure physical and nervous break-downs, whereas Emily suffers primarily because of her defenselessness and “otherness” that become apparent after her father’s death, whereas Roselily has simply undermined her health and thus needs to eliminate this fatigue.

For this purpose, both females decide to create families, yet Emily marries her dead victim: “The man himself lay in the bed” (Faulkner, V). However, Faulkner’s writing also addresses the mental illness that has been maturing in Emily following her father’s death, whereas Walker’s Roselily demonstrates perfect sanity and self-consolation skills, when her panic attacks are about to begin under the

effect of the minister’s speech.

Finally, both literary works in certain sense depict abandonment, including the social death of Roselily as an independent, yet socially unstable single mother, the expiration of Emily’s reason as spiritual death, followed by her physical departure from this world. Moreover, both characters seem prone to insecurity and uncertainty that can be viewed as a logical continuation of the stories .

Emily, who looses her common sense under the psychological effect of emotional deprivation, secures herself by killing her boyfriend and putting his corpse into her bed, similarly to children who sleep with teddy bears as remedies against solitude and nightmares; therefore, passing away can be equated to quitting supportive and defensive environment. Roselily, in turn, questions her future security in the final episode, when she notices her spouse does not look back and thus will probably intend to de-valuate her as a mature and experienced personality.

Although the general setting of both short stories is countryside, Faulkner tends to compress the atmosphere with the dark mystery by darkening imagery, while Walker adds more light colors to the physical environment and suggests a socioeconomic improvement in the protagonist’s new life, yet the emotional aspect of her union with the Muslim man refers rather to uncertainty, which actually is a common theme in both stories along with insecurity.

As the analysis shows, Emily and Roselily are entering the shadowed dimension and leaving their relatively secure homes and respond to the perceived danger with leaning on the defining person or experience of their lives.