Essay 2 . A Love the Never Perishes

Desmine Roberts
Mrs. S Aiken
English 1102-45
October 4, 2009
A Love That Never Perishes
On cold, dreary night, a young, lively Emily Grierson stares down at the peaceful face of her beloved Homer Barron. She traces the outline of his features with her eyes, before wiping a strand of hair away from his forehead. Sighing with relief, she ponders on how wonderful her life has become with him. Resting her head upon his breast, she drifts off into a sweet, blissful, dreamland. “This time,” she chuckles “this time, will be different, we have a love the will never perish, a love the will always last forever.”
In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the adoration for the beloveds of Miss Emily Grierson is painted as that of constant and eternal. Her love and attachment for such is so deep that she goes as far as murdering the man who she comes to have romantic, extensive feelings for. Armed with only a pack of arsenic and an urge of desperation that often drives one to make unwise and uncommon choices, Emily Grierson makes a positive assurance that she will be neither left nor forsaken a second time around. Killing Homer Barron marks the loss of any remaining sanity possessed within the broken Emily and opens the door to a decrepitating mind of the figure that becomes known as the “fallen monument” in the town of Jefferson.
When the only male figure, her father, the late Mr. Grierson, to occupy the life of Emily Grierson dies, she refused to believe that the man who had been the up bringer and enforcer in her life could perish and leave her alone.
Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no trace of grief
on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. 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. (Faulkner 529).
The townspeople find the reaction not surprising and distasteful but view the action as accepting and expected. “We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that….. we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.” (Faulkner 529).
Emily is raised up with only the allowance of contact with one male, her father. “We remember all the young men her father had driven away.” (Faulkner 529). Emily’s mindset is to that of finding a replacement link to the one she used to have and she finds that connection of authority like her father within Homer Barron. “A big, dark, ready man, with a big voice….the little boys would follow in groups to hear him cuss the niggers.” (Faulkner 531). Because he has the same qualities as her father, Emily’s feelings and emotion grow deeper and more desperate as time passes. Emily does not want Barron to leave her unaccompanied and empty as her father has done so. Her lack of male contact and the townsfolk’s words of Barron leaving serve as major responsibility in her decision to murder Homer Barron.
Emily Grierson, the “duty and tradition” of the town of Jefferson because of her extensive history within the community, is a victim of worship and a prisoner of loneliness. She single-handedly kills the man with whom she begins to form an attachment with and with that deed, is everlastingly at peace. No more can the clutches of dark vacancy occupy her life as he father had forced upon her. The great momentous figure, once seen as an obligation for the town, perishes. She is the “fallen monument” that never once lost sight of loyalty and faithfulness in the diversion of life.

Clean, Well-Lighted Place Essay

Desmine Roberts

Mrs. S Aiken

English 1102-45

September 9, 2009

Setting’s Comfort

The street lights of the cold, harsh city flicker on and off continuously as Roger walks quickly, head down, collar pulled over his neck. He silently curses to himself for not bringing any type of protection to ward off thieves. He stops only to light a cigarette and then continues to journey on, everlasting darkness trailing and biting at his heels. With disgust, he trudges on, trying to distance himself from the unsafe life that lay behind him.

Settings fashion the tone and mood felt when reading any poem, story, or novel. A dark, clammy room might render some to feel something of fear or depression and a grassy meadow full of daisies and butterflies can cause one to experience euphoric and joyful sensations all at the same time. Be it the room or the meadow, the aura accompanies the character placed in it well, and crafts a sense of connection. In Ernest’s Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well- Lighted Place,” the locations that the characters preside in serve as an endless connection between their personalities and why they are there.

In the beginning, the old man is placed outside the café. It is a clean, quaint nicely lit up building and serves as a safe haven and escape from the old man’s terrible and lonely life at hand. The young waiter who servers the old man describes the man’s life as a pitiful one, “He’s lonely. I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me.” (Hemingway 96) The young waiter suggests that the old man’s attempted suicide should not have failed for he would be better off dead, “You should have killed yourself last week.” (Hemingway 96) A regular customer, the old man comes often and stays for a plentiful amount of time, drinking more than his fill but always leaving with an air of dignity and decorum. “The waiter watched him go down the street, a very old man walking unsteadily but with dignity.” (Hemingway 97) The old man has no wife and is taken care of by his niece, a wretched, bitter life to endure. The elder waiter stating he “lacks everything but work,” does not find his life as wretched perhaps but understands the need for the café. For the old man, the café serves as lighting to the darkness in his life. The younger waiter having youth, confidence and a wife only see’s the café as a job, a place to earn money. The elder waiter compares himself with those like the old man who go to the café to seek pleasant peace. As described by the older waiter, the café is for “all those who do not want to go to bed” and for “all those who need a light for the night.” This relationship between life and light contributes greatly to the well being of both the old man and waiter. As the older waiters himself travels to a bar he realizes with satisfaction the significance the café serves. “He disliked bars and bodegas. A clean well lighted café was a very different thing.” (Hemingway 99)

Settings have great impacts upon those who dwell in it, they can lead to dangerous emotions or emotions associated with safeness and warmth as the old man and older waiter felt in Ernest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.”