Claudia Migliau 10th grade Literature ( word count 700)

Is Miss Emily a round or a flat character? Static or Dynamic ?

Is Miss Emily really a round and dynamic character or instead is a flat and static one . In this essay I will illustrate this by giving specific exemplas from the text and at the end I will set down a conclusion .

In the story A rose for Emily written by William Faukner , Emily Grierson is the protagonist. What is strange about this story is how it is rearranged by the author indeed the orders are reversed , the author with the help of an un-known narrator , they begin the story with the protagonist funeral with all the towns people at here huge , white and decorated house. The narrator says that Emily when she was alive she had been a tradition a duty and a care but know as a dead person has become a fallen monument .These two statements are very important because they state that a change of the protagonist had occur during the story . Another factor that makes Miss Emily a Dynamic person is the fact that when she went out with Homer Barron she was kind and friendly but her kindness went over her and she became so afraid that Homer could go away and live her alone that she murder him with arsenic and kept him in her house in secret , in an upstairs room.

However, the story can possibly prove in some way , that Emily could be instead a static character. Throughout the story she never accept the idea of paying taxes also if the new generation imposed to do so , she always said NO . In the past , when also his father was still alive , family Grierson made an agreement between them and the previews mayor of the town, their family had tax free but in return they had to give money to the town. A good example of this is : (page 593 section 1 ) I have no taxes please go and see Colonel Sartoris (Emily replied with her cold and dry voice ) . Another thing , that makes Emily a static person is the fact that she doesnt like

changes in the town such as : the new generation giving their opinions , changing rules and of course technology ; we could state that she is an old-style person .

What I can say for sure is that Emily is a round character and not a flat one because throughout the story many details are given of her 3 changes : mentally, socially and physically . First of all, Emily changes mentally throughout the story. After Emily father's death, she vary, but people in town did not notice it. Emily becomes depressive, which leads to her physical and of course social problems . Emily when she was younger she was a nice , skinny person she also taught to the neighbors pupils how to paint with specific china techniques ,but after the depressive period she stayed at home isolated from the towns people and from technology a good example of this is : ( page 598 section 4 ) Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mail box to it . From these sentence you can understand how Emily was angry about the new stuff . Miss Emily was recluse in her huge house ,the only two persons that were in connect with her were Negro his black servant and the corpse of Homer Barron . During the story Emily changes physically , because of the isolation , from a good ,helpful, slim girl to a 74 isolated ,fat ,old woman with irony gray short hair .

It seems to me that Emily Griereson , the protagonist of this novel , is for sure a round character, because of the many traits given with details , but Im not convinced about whether or not she is a static or a dynamic character because there is evidence to support both points of view .