Miss Emily: Are Her Actions justified or is She Simply Crazy

During the Civil War, slaves were declared free by Abraham Lincoln. This new-found freedom led the slaves to look for work elsewhere, leaving the South in a deep depression. Everywhere you looked, there were starving Southerners, desperate to find a solution to this hindered economy. The South was literally “raped” economically by the capitalist North, which would become grounds for the death embrace of Barron seen in “A Rose for Emily.” Up in the North, business was booming and the towns were growing. Since the North was industrialized and didn’t count on slaves for work, the Civil War didn’t bring about any major changes. The Southerners hated the North and dammed their very existence, however, they admired the North’s power, as we

Now, it could be argued that Ms. Emily was indeed a crazy woman. However, she was no murderer, only a killer. A murderer has intent to kill, but Ms. Emily didn’t have an intent to kill Barron, not until she found out he was being unfaithful and going to leave. Only then did she feel the only way that she could conquer Barron was in death. To go to all extremes was the only way to have what she wanted; in Emily’s mind, this was the only way to go about doing things. Even though Ms. Emily was irrational in killing Barron and keeping him around after she did it, it was everything around her that drove her to commit the murder. Her mind couldn’t handle all of the new ideas that were presenting themselves. Holding onto the only thing that really mattered was the only way that Emily perceived getting through life.

Ms. Emily’s and Barron’s relationship created conflict in the South because two completely different backgrounds were emerging together. Since the South had been so brutally damaged by the North, this wasn’t a relationship that would do anything good for either side. However, it was the only way for Ms. Emily to hold onto some image of a father figure.

Not being the type to care what others thought of her, Ms. Emily went about her business, acting as if she was doing nothing disrespectful. Ever since the “new government” in town came to request taxes from her, taxes that Colonel Sartoris had declared non-existent, Ms. Emily had a deep hatred for the new generation and vowed to push herself further and further back from the community. Perfectly enough, when Barron came into the picture, this was Ms. Emily’s chance to really get at the community. Unfortunately, Barron didn’t know what he was getting into.

To the reader, Ms. Emily’s actions could be justified just by the way she was raised. Her mother was never mentioned in the story, leading the reader to believe that she had either died or left a long time before. Having only her father, a man, as a companion, Ms. Emily would become very reliant on men. Relying on someone for so long, like Emily relied on her father, becomes a necessity for some people, especially after they pass on. Emily was looking for something solid to cling to, even if

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