Get help from the best in academic writing.

The Decline of Emily in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily

The south went through major political and cultural changes after the Civil War as it became less agrarian and more industrialized. The previously insatiable need for slave labor to run the South was eventually lessened by the use of machinery making it more profitable to farm without an enslaved human workforce (Engle). Thus the entire way of life for both black and white southerners changed. However, the change in cultural norms seemed to be a slow progression. Faulkner symbolized the decline of the old ways in “A Rose for Emily” through the aging process of Emily Grierson and the relationship between Emily and her house servant, Tobe, which symbolize the depth of cultural norms and slowness of their change.

The main character in “A Rose for Emily” is a single woman living in her father’s home shortly after the Civil War. The Grierson’s considered themselves of a higher social class; a belief rejected by the townspeople who “believed that the Grierson’s held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (518). Her father didn’t believe that there were any suitors in …

A Tale of Two Cities Essays: A Critical Analysis

A Critical Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities

Three Works Cited A Tale of Two Cities is a novel that is very complex and intense. Once you get to know the characters you can feel what they are going through and form a kind of bond with them. A Tale of Two Cities grabs the reader’s attention with the history of revolutions in the nation and the generations of that time, but it also keeps the reader reading with a sense of a pure violence that is hard to create.

The combination of critical literary and historical methods brings out the novels complex structure and intense impact on the reader. Dickens brings out the historical side of the Victorian age with examples and details of the French Revolution and Victorian Revolt. Lee Sterrenburg says that Dickens’ vision of the revolution was probably influenced by “a personal day dream only he can fathom. But he is able to render his day dreams in terms of a publicly Victorian Iconography”. (Hutter 37) The Victorian revolt happened late in the Victorian Age and was a turning po…

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.