Motionless as an Idol - Columbus State University

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Bullock 22Faulkner had his own influential experiences with Confederate women; during aquestion-and-answer session, a student asked Faulkner if he remembered talking toConfederate veterans as a boy and hearing their war stories. Faulkner replied:Yes. I remember a lot of them. I was five-six-seven years old [...], old enough tounderstand, to listen. They didn't talk so much about the war, Ihad got that fromthe maiden spinster aunts which had never surrendered. [...] (Faulkner in theUniversity 249)I find it valuable to examine how Faulkner's childhood recollections of unvanquishedaunts must have informed his writing of Miss Emily Grierson. Like Faulkner's aunts.Miss Emily was that contradictory maiden-spinster, caught in the liminal asexual positionallowed her. She, too, clung to the past, although she, for more symbolic reasons thanperhaps Faulkner's aunts, as already discussed in her representation as a relic. However,in Miss Emily, the perseverance Faulkner assigns to his aunts can also be seen in hersubversion of the role into which her community forced her; she operates within thesystem but covertly, as revealed through the murder of Homer Barron. By portrayingMiss Emily as dangerous. Faulkner elevates her authority and asserts her autonomy in away not previously done in the story. As Jesse Nash says, "When the cultureacknowledges that women are potentially dangerous, it recognizes their real and potentialpower; dangerous women, as one young woman told me, are women men have torespect" (19-20). Miss Emily is never able to enjoy the benefits gained as a result of hercommunity's newfound respect for her but she possibly paves the way for the changeFaulkner desired to see in the Southern community.
Bullock 23Community and Religion in Faulkner's SouthRelated to each of the ideas Ihave addressed so far is the idea of woman as arelic, another community creation crafted to serve its own purposes. The concept of therelic is most evident and important within "A Rose for Emily." As dreadful a murdererthe community would have readers believe Miss Emily to be, itis impossible to imaginethat she is ever exposed to a positive example of how to live or participate in healthyrelationships when Faulkner clearly demonstrates the restrictions within which both herfather and her community forces her to function within. In pursuing Homer Barron, MissEmily takes the only course of action she had ever witnessed. That is,she does whateveris required to possess him completely. Perhaps the community thinks Miss Emily wouldbe the key to their own healing, that she would be the patch between the past and thefrightening future, preserving the way of life for which each member had beenindoctrinated to fight. However, if indeed they had formulated such a plan, it goes awrywhen Miss Emily becomes a person with desires and a will of her own, acting withoutpermission."A Rose for Emily" demonstrates the subjugation that women living in thepost-Confederate South dealt with daily, and while it does not offer a viable plan forchange, it insists upon reevaluation of the status quo.Faulkner makes it clear that he understands the way a Southern town functionsand, therefore, earns the credibility needed to be critical by emphasizing the importanceand influence of the community. The community in Faulkner's novels providescharacters with common interests and acquaintances and also serves as a moral compassthrough which all community members' actions are judged. Cleanth Brooks recognizesthe element of community in Faulkner's work and elaborates on its significance:
Page 2 and 3: Digitized by the Internet Archivein
Page 4 and 5: Bullock 2TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCT
Page 6 and 7: Bullock 4Iseek to establish my argu
Page 8 and 9: "Bullock 6wrote about the artists w
Page 10 and 11: Bullock 8As I Lay Dying and The Sou
Page 12 and 13: Bullock 10Another art metaphor Faul
Page 15 and 16: Bullock 13essence, both necessary s
Page 17 and 18: Bullock 15We had long thought of th
Page 19 and 20: Bullock 17but no longer considered
Page 21 and 22: Bullock 19Miss Emily as idol, thus
Page 23: Bullock 21The art metaphor of Miss
Page 27 and 28: Bullock 25Faulkner's response allow
Page 29 and 30: Bullock 27setting. It is this preoc
Page 31 and 32: Bullock 29male-dominated system whi
Page 33 and 34: Bullock 31for Faulkner to communica
Page 35 and 36: Bullock 33skewed sexuality and misp
Page 37 and 38: Bullock 35from all walks of life, "
Page 39 and 40: Bullock 37townspeople, readers can
Page 41 and 42: Bullock 39one in which male dominan
Page 43 and 44: The Eternal Feminine, Paul CezanneB
Page 45 and 46: Bullock 43—. AsI Lav Dying . 1930

Motionless as an Idol - Columbus State University

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