Analysis Paper

Janay Graham
03-19-2013
ENG-102-0849
Paper 1

In the short story a “Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Where are you going, where have you been “by Joyce Carol Oates, the narrators frequently uses symbolism. In the short story “A Rose for Emily” Faulkner uses Emily’s old house as a symbol of Emily and her mental illness, also the meaning of the house to the town’s people of Emily’s neighborhood. “Where are you going, where have you been” Oates shows us how music is largely used in the text. The type of Music that both Connie and Arnold listen to is who they are. Connie uses it for her fantasy world and Arnold uses to manipulate Connie. Emily’s house that is very similar to her is a structure of a memorial, the only remaining of a symbolic representation of the past. The house “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores (pg204). The house is an extension of Emily. It is a tradition but now it’s out of place because of the society that has changed around her. The house, like its owner, is an object of interest for them. They create their own interpretations of the inside of Emily’s torn down house. While Connie was talking to Arnold in front of her home the music was always in the background. The narrator makes it known that music was something to depend on. Throughout the story music is being played out of radios in cars and home. Connie who seems to be associated with the feeling of sexual beings has devoted herself to music expressing how she feels about boys “the insistent ponding of the music” (pg317). And its “slow pulsed joy” (pg319). Music to Connie is a bridge from the real world to her fantasy world. Connie enjoys escaping her life by listening to music and daydreaming about boys and then she would gather all her thoughts from the songs that are being played. Even when Connie wasn’t listening “her walk that could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head” (pg313). When Arnold appears at her house, she is getting pleasure in the music she is listening to, and it takes her awhile to realize that it is the same music that is playing in Arnolds car. Arnold on the other hand exploits the rhythm of a more up to date music, when he tries persuade Connie to come with him “a simple lifting voice exactly as if he were reciting the words of a song” (pg321).while music relaxes Connie, Arnold uses his voice as music to soothe Connie into coming for a ride. Being that music plays a huge role in this story; music can mean a lot of different things like culture, sexual desires and manipulation.
In conclusion “A Rose for Emily” and “Where are you going where have you been” are stories that portray symbolism as strength, happiness and personality. Miss Emily home was a weakness for her being that she never left or invited people to her home. To Miss Emily it was a safety zone and to the town’s people it was an antique that they were waiting to get inside. Connie found happiness in music which gave her the fantasy world she always wanted and for Arnold it gave him a personality that he really didn’t own, like his age. Symbolism made Miss Emily, Connie, and Arnold who they are, that’s why Faulkner and Oates used it.