A Rose for Emily
... also characterizes Miss Emily’s attempt to remove herself from society through her actions. “ After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all”. The death of her father and the shatter relationship with her sweetheart contributed to her wanting to be alone. Though her father was responsible for her becoming a loner, her pride also contributed to her isolation. “ None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such”. Her pride has kept her from socializing with other members of the community thus reinforcing her solitary. But Miss Emily’s father also plays a big part for making her a hermit. “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away…”. I f he had not refuse the men who wanted to go out with Miss Emily, she may have not turn out the way she did. Miss Emily may have wanted isolation, but her heart lingered for companionship. Her desire for love and companionship drove her to murder Homer Baron. Also they fact they she could not deal with the reality that Homer did not want to go out with her anymore. She knew her intention when she bought the arsenic poison. Miss Emily’s character adds a mystical tone to the mood of the story due to her incapability of being able to live in reality. After she refuses to pay her taxes, directly to the mayor, she tells them to go and see Colonel Satoris, who has been dead for ten years. “See Colonel Satoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson.” “But, Miss Emily-“ “See Colonel Satoris.” (Colonel Satoris has been dead for almost ten years.) “I have no taxes in Jefferson. Tobe!” The Negro appeared. “Show these gentlemen out”. This portrays that Emily’s illusion of reality was greatly distorted. The second character I have chosen is the mother from the story, “Borders”. In the story is she is portrayed as a person who worries about what other people think about her and her family. An example of this is when she was explaining to Mrs. Manyfingers about her Daughter leaving. “She did real good”, my mother would say. Then there were the fine points to Laetitia’s going. She had not, as my mother liked to tell Mrs. Manyfingers, gone floating after some man like a balloon on a string. She hadn’t snuck out of the house, either, and gone to Vancouver or Edmonton or Toronto to chase rainbows down alley. And she hadn’t been pregnant.” The mother in the story has very limited views of the United States, she doesn’t want to be associated with the US and she doesn’t want people to get the impression that she is from there. An example of this is when she and her son is getting dress to go across the border; she makes a point of trying not to look like Americans. “So I was surprised when she bought two new tires for the car and put on her blue dress with the green and yellow flowers. I had to dress up, too, for my mother did not want us crossing the border looking like Americans.” The mother also portrays a very strong-willed character, but this can be considered a worthy characteristic, but it can also be a person’s downfall. At the border the guard asked the mother her citizenship, and she said Blackfoot, but they wanted to know if she was from America or Canada. The mother wouldn’t budge on the issue, she felt that saying she was Blackfoot was substantial enough. Also Indians usually don’t feel that they are either Canadian or American; they feel that they just belong to certain nations. “Purpose of your visit?” “Visit my daughter” “Citizenship?” “Blackfoot”, my mother told him. “Ma’am?” “Blackfoot,” my mother repeated. “Canadian?” “Blackfoot” “I would have been easier if my mother had just said “Canadian” and been done with it, but I could see she wasn’t going to do that.” Even though in the end they let her through to America, without saying her citizenship, she did not really accomplished anything because the next time an Blackfoot goes to cross the border the guards are still going to ask them their citizenship. Her actions are not going to change the way people think of the Blackfoot nation, they are still going to consider them American or Canadian. Even though her strong-willed persona changes things for her, it will not be a big change for every native person that crosses the border. Also wh...