Literature (Essay Sample)

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Exploring the Idea of the Past's Impact on Faulkner's A Rose for Emily
And Walker's Everyday Use.
A Discussion on How the Past Affects the Characters and Conflicts in the Stories
According to William Faulkner, the past never leaves because it is the experience that becomes part of the person. This idea is explained in the book A Rose for Emily, where the protagonist’s past is always with her. In his work, Faulkner uses his characters to demonstrate the effects the past has had on them. The past is not always pleasant, but with optimism, characters seem to thrive. One of such characters is Emily. She is the main character in Faulkner’s narrations. Her past is dramatic, and she lives in a world of historical injustices. As a woman, she dwells in her world, where she has denied all customs and the lapse of time.
To begin with, she does not appreciate the transformation that her community and environment is undergoing and instead clings onto what the author refers to as her past. Therein, this character serves to show the difference between the preserved history and the current era. For Emily, the past holds all the memories. She is from an era where social injustices were the order of the day, and where she witnessed the old-fashioned life of the South, cursed with the atrocities of slavery and the Civil War. The society that she comes from is the one taking cover in the Code of Chivalry meant to protect women but instead working against them. Emily lived in her past years witnessing it, which is the primary reason why she chose to cling to it (Faulkner).
All in all, the past for Emily is the time that does not allow her to dive into the current regime. Thus, she is in a state of a constant conflict with the new environment. As a result the character does not appreciate the ways of the modern generation because, in her words, it adores impure forms of life. Apart from conflicting with her transformed environment, the woman also struggles with her own-self. She not only believes in a preserved inner-self but also holds morals that she sees as the best, which eventually causes her trouble. Thus, she is once accused of smelling awful but cannot admit it because her inner ego would not allow her to do so.
Finally, in the story A Rose for Emily, the Griersons house, which was once iconic, has lost its glory. The old goodness that the home presented to the owners is gone, and the present has shown its encroaching and obliteration powers. The previous description of the house is used in the narration to enlighten the reader of the need to adapt and change with the times. If people do not do so, they can hardly hope for anything good as the past is in a constant conflict with the present. The conflict adversely affects Emily as she does not want to let her past go and in