Neglect In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

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Being neglected is something no person should ever have to experience. Neglect from a family member may not seem very harmful at the time, but in the long term it can affect a person significantly. A friend can cause neglect on another friend without even being aware of doing so. When people are aware that someone is being neglected, they should try to help the situation. William Faulkner’s, “A Rose for Emily,” constantly shows that neglect can negatively affect someone and the decisions that they make throughout their lifetime. Emily Grierson, William Faulkner’s protagonist, experiences neglect from multiple areas, but it all started with her father. When Emily’s father was still alive, he controlled Emily in every possible way. Emily…show more content…
This is represented when the narrator says “We remembered all the young men her father had driven away…” (704). If he would not have done this, Emily would have most likely had someone to care for her and her to care for. Instead, he died and left her alone to try to fend for herself without any experience of independence. Even after her father passed away, that “crayon portrait” still had a large role in her life, and the effects of his neglect were still being felt. His neglect is still being felt because he has her living in the past. He has caused her to find it extremely hard to deal with change. A simple example is “When the town got free postal delivery Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to it” (708). Her not being able to deal with change all dates back to the neglect from her father. The free postal delivery had a harmless effect, but when it came time for Homer Barron to leave to go back North, this did not settle well with Emily. If Emily’s father had not neglected her as a young woman, she would not have been dependent and…show more content…
Homer provided Emily with friendship, but since she was neglected of love and companionship by her father, she was in need of someone to love. Homer Barron was not going to be that person. He could not be that person because “…he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club”(706). Mr. Barron should not have gotten involved with Emily if he knew he could not be the one that Emily needed. Another way he neglected her that was stated earlier was how he was not in town permanently. He could not be there for Emily due to having to go back North. This left Emily with the decision to either let him go or make him stay. In the end, Emily was not willing to give up her only friend and the person she

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