Isolation
The opening words of the narrator of the story A Rose for Emily point towards the recluse life led by Emily. When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral..which no one save an old manservant---a combined gardener and cook-had seen in at least ten years. (Faulkner). As the people gathered for the funeral talk about the kind of life led by Emily, the reader becomes aware of the negative effect that seclusion has on Emilys life. The first instance when the people of the town witness the abnormal behavior of Emily is during the death of her father. Emily refuses to accept that her father his dead and therefore forbids the people from carrying her fathers body for burial. She told them that her father was not dead. (Faulkner). In the face of crisis, she loses control of herself and behaves in an unusual manner.
Emilys deviant behavior is noticeable once again when the city authorities pay a visit to her house to collect taxes from her. She refuses to pay the taxes and tells them to meet Colonel Sartoris, See Colonel Sartoris. I have no taxes in Jefferson. (Faulkner). But she fails to realize that ten years have passed by since Colonel Sartoris has died. Emily never tries to understand what the city authorities are trying to telling her. She keeps on repeating the same thing and shows complete disregard to the laws of her society.
Emilys death brings one more aspect of her life before the people, which reinforces the notion that she has lost her mental balance. When people enter Emilys house after her death, they find the corpse of her lover on her bed. The rotten state of the corpse in Emilys bed points towards the eccentric behavior of Emily. Emily not only kills Homer but also sleeps beside his corpse till the end of her life. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay and upon him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding dust. (Faulkner). Years of isolation has turned Emily into a depressed and eccentric woman who kills the man she loves so that she can have him forever. Emilys social isolation has a negative influence on her thinking
and behavior. Social isolation leads Emily towards depression and results into a state where she loses her mental balance.
Similarly, the character of Mrs. Wright in the story Trifles is overwhelmed by her isolation to such an extent that she goes on to strangulate her own husband. The findings of Mrs. Wrights neighbors reveal that Mrs. Wright had killed her husband. When Mrs. Hale searches for scissors in Mrs. Wrights sewing box, she finds a fancy box. Heres some red. I expect this has got sewing things in it. What a pretty box. Looks like something somebody would give you. Maybe her scissors are in here.Theres something wrapped up in this piece of silk. (Glaspell). Then the women notice that there is a dead bird wrapped in a piece of cloth in the box. But, Mrs. Peterslook at it. Its neck Look at its neck Its all--other side to. (Glaspell). When the women see that the birds neck was twisted by someone, they figure out who had killed the bird and Mr. Wright. The women understand that Mr. Wright had killed Mrs. Wrights canary by twisting her neck, her only companion in times of her solitude, and in retaliation Mrs. Wright had murdered her husband in a similar manner.
The conversations of the women who have converged at Mrs. Wrights house bring forth the disturbed state of mind of Mrs. Wright. The discussion of women upon noticing the quilt which Mrs. Wright was sewing shows that Mrs. Wright was nervous about something. The other thing that points towards the isolation of Mrs. Wright is the description of her house by Mrs. Hale and her comment that she never came to visit Mrs. Wright. I stayed away because it werent cheerful--and thats why I ought to have come. I--Ive never liked this place. Maybe because its down in a hollow, and you dont see the road. I dunno what it is, but its a lonesome place and always was. I wish I had come over to see Minnie Foster sometimes. (Glaspell) This shows that Mrs. Wrights rarely interacted with other women, and her whole time was spend in her lonely house. It was in 1916, during the peak of her career, that Glaspell wrote this story. Susan Glaspells (1876-1948) literary career increased in significance when she and her husband George Cram Cook moved to their summer residence in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1915. (Keller). The feelings of an isolated women caught in a loveless marriage are very well depicted by the author through the symbols of quilt, broken cage and the dead bird.
Reasons
Although both Emily and Mrs. Wright behaved in an abnormal manner owing to their isolation, the reasons for their isolation were different from each other. Emily refuses to accept changes in her life and therefore she is unable to connect with her society which has undergone numerous changes. Being a member of a Southerner family, she wanted to hold on to her past as firmly as she can, so she avoids interacting with the other members of the society or changing herself according to the changed times. As Faulkner himself had grown up in a Southerner family and witnessed the decline of the South during his lifetime, he is able to portray the attitude and behavior of Emily in accordance to the image of a Southerner lady. Faulkners own ambivalent feelings of love and hate for the south inform every aspect of this story, from its narrative technique to its title (Volpe 99). Emilys refutation to accept changes in her life is noticed by the people of the town on numerous occasions. Her inability to accept changes results in a situation where she has to resort to killing Homer to be with him forever. Emily had expected that Homer would propose her but when he failed to do so, she kills him and keeps his body near her in an attempt to save her life from being changed. The more she tries to avoid her
life from being changed the more Emily distances herself from the society. As she retreats more and more into herself and defends her privacy, she refuses even the routine ties with the rest of the town. (Brooks 161). It is Emilys clinging to her past that results in her isolation and consequent loss of mental balance.
Mrs. Wrights isolation was caused by her husbands behavior. Even though it is never mentioned in the story, the discussion of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters points towards the indifferent and abusive attitude of Mr. Wright. Although she has often been referred to as disturbed and abused, there has been little speculation about the nature of her mental condition or the types of abusive behaviors that she experienced in her marriage. (Schanfield). Mrs. Peters comments about the uncaring nature of Mr. Wright, But he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters. Just to pass the time of day with him. Like a raw wind that gets to the bone. (Glaspell). This comment and the killing of canary by Mr. Wright prove that he neglected the emotional needs of his wife. The broken cage and the dead bird suggest that Mrs. Wright abused her wife. The mutilated cage and bird signify the brutal nature of Wright and the physical abuse the wife has borne. (Ben-Zvi 35). As Mrs. Wright was leading a lonely life with a hardhearted husband, she succumbs to the negative influence of isolation.
The short stories Trifles by Susan Glaspell and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner depict the damaging effect of isolation on the thinking and behavior of human beings. Although both Emily and Mrs. Wright commit the heinous act of killing the men in their lives, the reason behind their isolation is different from each other. Emilys isolation is caused by her inability to accept the changes in her life whereas Mrs. Wright experiences isolation owing to the brutal nature of her husband.
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