The High and Mighty Miss Emily

Ashley Jones
Mrs. Aiken
English 1102-45
October 5, 2009
The High and Mighty Miss Emily
William Falkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” focuses on Miss Emily Grierson, an aristocratic woman deeply admired by a community. The town judges Miss Emily as a fallen monument, but simultaneously as a lady who is above reproach, who is too good for the common townspeople, and who holds herself distant. In Falkner’s story, he describes Miss Emily’s home which contrasts striking similarities to her; for they have both deteriorated over time. While the narrator obviously admires Miss Emily greatly- the use of the word “Grierson” evokes a certain type of aristocratic behavior- the townspeople resent her haughtiness and her dominance; longing to place her on a pedestal above everyone else, at the same time they wish to see her dragged down in disgrace. Nevertheless, the town, including the new council members, shows complete deference and subservience toward Miss Emily and admiration to her home.
The description of the Grierson’s house reinforces the disparity between the past and the present. Once a place of splendor, now modern encroachments-gas pumps and cotton wagons-demolish most of the neighborhood and leave untouched only Miss Emily’s house with its “stubborn and coquettish decay” (Faulkner 526). The disparity between the past and the present is evidenced by the different approaches that each generation takes concerning Miss Emily’s taxes. In the past, Colonel Sartoris had remitted her taxes for her because he believes it is uncivilized to remind a Southern woman to pay taxes, which Miss Emily does not do after her father dies. The next generation, with its more modern ideas, holds her responsible for taxes. Miss Emily, however, returns the tax notice saying, “I have no taxes in Jefferson” (Faulkner 527).
Throughout Faulkner’s short story, he uses descriptive phrases to compare the physical appearance of Miss Emily and her house. When Miss Emily enters the room with the deputation, she is dressed in black and leans on a cane; her “skeleton” is small; and she looks “bloated,” with a “pallid hue.” Faulkner doesn’t come out and say Miss Emily looks like a dead person; for it is only in retrospect that we realize that the dead-looking Miss Emily has been sleeping with the very dead Homer Barron. Miss Emily’s decaying appearance matches not only the rotting exterior of her house, but the interior as well. For example, the crayon, pastel, picture mentioned prior to the narrator’s description of Miss Emily is supported by a “tarnished” stand, and Miss Emily supports herself by leaning on the “tarnished” handle of her cane.
Two years has passed and a smelled developed around the Grierson’s home. Some ladies in the town just thought since they only saw a Negro man going in and out the house with a market basket that a man couldn’t keep a kitchen properly, and were not surprised about the dreadful smell. “It was another link between the gross, teeming world and the high and mighty Griersons” (Faulkner 528). The older generation, which feels that it is improper to tell a lady that she stinks, arranges for a group of men to spread lime on her lawn and inside the cellar door of her house.
During the summer after Mr. Grierson’s death, Miss Emily falls in love with a Northerner, Homer Barron. The townspeople didn’t believe that Miss Emily would take him seriously because he is a day laborer, and she’s a Grierson. The townspeople relegates her to adultery, condemning has as “fallen,” and the first sentence of the story says, “the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument” (Faulkner 526). A year later, Miss Emily enters a drug store and announces she wants some poison. When the druggist is reluctant to sell her any without a reason, Miss Emily uses her aristocratic bearing to intimidate him. “Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (Faulkner 530). Again, Miss Emily is not condemned for her actions.
The townspeople, never suspecting that the poison is for Homer Barron, conclude that Emily will likely use it to kill herself. After Homer announces he is not a marrying man, the townspeople think that they should stop the relationship. The townspeople write Miss Emily’s cousins and they come to live with her. During the time Emily’s cousins moved in, Homer disappears. After the cousins leave, Homer returns and the narrator notes, “And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron” (Faulkner 531). The townspeople never suspect the horror of what happens; believing that such an aristocratic woman as Miss Emily, could never do any wrong.
In Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” the townspeople places Miss Emily Grierson on a pedestal and sees her as “a tradition, a duty,” or as the narrator describes her, “a fallen monument.” Throughout this short story, there are conspicuous descriptions that link Miss Emily’s appearance to her home. Because the Grierson’s held themselves a little too high, Miss Emily is never held guilty of her actions, yet she uses her high position, respect, and authority to avoid the laws.

Ashley Jones
Mrs. Aiken
English 1102-45
September 9, 2009
A Bright, Clean Place
Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” takes place at a clean café late one night, where two unidentified waiters-one old and the other young-are discussing an old man who comes in every night, sits alone, and drinks brandy until past closing time. The old, deaf man is facing a world that is meaningless, and he is unaccompanied in this sterile world. The old man is trying to avoid the darkness of nothingness. Hemingway’s short story is not only about the condition of the world, but the way that the old man and the old waiter feel and respond to this nothingness. Thus, Hemingway’s real subject matter is the feeling of man’s condition of nothingness, and not nothingness itself.
It was late and the young waiter was angry and wished that the old man would leave the café so that he and the older waiter could close the café and go home. He insults the deaf, old man and is painfully apathetic to the older waiter’s feelings when he states that, “An old man is a nasty thing” (Hemingway 89). When the young waiter says that old men are nasty, the old waiter does not deny the general truth of that statement, but he does defend the old man by pointing out that that particular old man is clean, even when drunk.
In Hemingway’s story, the waiter mentions that the old man tried to commit suicide that previous week. The old waiter realizes the man is lonely and that is why he tried to hang himself. The young waiter tells the older waiter that the old man was consumed by despair. The young waiter does not think the old man has a reason to commit suicide because he is rich. For an old, rich man to try to commit suicide over the despair of confronting nothingness is beyond the young waiter’s understanding. However, nothingness is the reason the man comes to the café every night and drinks until he is drunk.
In contrast to the young waiter, the old waiter understands what it is like to have a light for the night. The old waiter also knows fear. “It was not fear or dread,” Hemingway says of the older waiter, “it was a nothing that he knew too well. It was a nothing and a man was nothing too” (Hemingway 98). After the young waiter tells the old man to leave and that he can’t have anymore brandy, the old man finally gets up and depart. The old man leaves the café with dignity. In the face of the human condition of nothingness, Hemingway is saying sometimes that is all an individual has.
After closing, the older waiter walks to an all night bar thinking of the emptiness of the old man’s life and how he can relate to it. The older waiter orders a cup of nothing where the bartender just defines him as another crazy old man. Left alone, the old waiter is isolated with his knowledge that all is nothing. He is standing at an unclean, unrefined bar. He cannot achieve even the dignity that the old man at the café possessed; he also knows that he will not sleep. Perhaps he has insomnia, but we know better: The old waiter cannot sleep because he is afraid of the darkness, afraid of nothingness. In a sense, the old waiter is Hemingway’s spokesperson because he points out that the old man leaves the café with dignity and he affirms the cleanliness of the old man. Unlike the young waiter who is impulsive and has a wife to go home too, the old waiter is in no hurry because he has no one at home waiting for him. The older waiter is wiser, and more liberal than the young waiter. In Hemingway’s, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” Hemingway is saying in order to hold nothingness, and darkness, we must have light, cleanliness, and dignity. If everything in life fails, then a man should have an alternative other than suicide.

Life in High School

When I was in high school, I was like the most popular girl ever. Everyone knew me because of my reputation of being the smartest in my class as well as the cutest. I participated in a lot of activities in high school. I was a cheerleader (became captain junior yr), I was in the science club, math club, FCCLA, FBLA, Debate Club, the chorus and I was also class president. So as you can see, I did a whole lot. I was favored by all my teachers and still today, they check up on me. My favoritest teacher was Mr. Troutman. He was my math teacher for two years. He taught me Trig and Calculus. I love that man, he knew his math. I loved being a cheerleader more than anything. I liked being the center of attention everywhere we went. The football and basketball players really appreciated all the hard work we did for them. Everyday after school, we had practice. We would immediately after class go get changed in the bathroom and head to the gym. We started out every practice with stretches and jumps. After that, we jumped right into rehearsing the different cheers and chants or dances we may have to perform at games. During football season it was mandatory that we made the cutest run through sign. So at practice we would think of the cutest theme ever for our team to run out through. In high school I graduated with honors. I was saludictorian. I worked extra hard in my academics to get there. I was offered scholarships from schools all around including Macon State. I received most scholared athlete, hustle and desire award, MVP, and Top Dawg from cheerleading. I am very proud of my accomplishments in high school.

Evaluation

Ehrenreich assesses how she did in these three experiments. She concludes that she did well at her jobs, stressing that there is no such thing as unskilled labor, as every job has specific damands and skill sets that must be learned. Her ability at work, however, is distinct from how she did in ends meet; she believes she came closes in making earnings match expenses in Maine and was least sure of this goal in Minnesota. Ehrenreich examines the general social issues underlying her experiences. The constant problem of housing is caused by the rich competing with the poor for living space, with the rich inevitably coming out on top. And though market forces drive rent up, the same cannot be said for wages available to the lower class. While the legal minimum wage and actual wages earned have both risen for the lowest ten percent of workers, Ehrenreich believes it is not nearly enough. Employers will do anything to aboid raising wages, such as providing minor benefits that can be taken away more easily when costs tighten. Further, minumum-wage workers employees do not have the same resources as other workers to allow independent comparison of wages and job markers. Even if they did, their ability to change work situations is often restricted by outside concerns such as home environment, transportation, and second jobs.

Selling in Minnesota

Ehrenreich chooses Minneapolis for her last experiment, based on news of its robust job and housing markets. She initially stays at the apartment of friends who are awya on a trip, in exchange for watching their pet cockatiel Budgie. Deciding to explore factory or retail work and become more aggressive with the application process, Ehrenreich succeeds in getting jobs at at Walmart and a Menards housewares store. Unfortunately, both require a drug test, and Ehrenreich has recently smoked marijuana. She tries to detoxify by drinking great deals of water and buying products designed to clear your system. Ehrenreigh takes time out to meet Caroline, a relative of a friend. Carolina has done in real life what Ehrenreich pretends to do with her experiments: relocated from one state to another to start a new life at minimum wage. Ehrenreich and Caroline become friends. The search for affordable houses grows more desperate, but she is promised an apartment at the Hopkins Park Plaza when it opens up. Meanwhile, she reserves a room at the Twin Lakes, a residential hotel. Menards contacts Ehrenreich and tells her to report for orientation on Wednesday Morning. When she does, she is told she will be paid ten dollars an hour. Walmart contacted her too and they would only be paying her 7 dollars an hour. She turns down the Menards and accepts the Walmarts offer.

Continued............

In chapter two, Ehrenreich chose Maine for its whiteness. She had once been to the Portland area for a speaking engagement and had noticed the almost total lack of people of color- in any walk of life. In addition to the population primarily white, everyone spoke English, and the Portland area employment base seemed anxious for new bodies. Traveling by bus from FL, Ehrenreich arrives in Portland August 24, nearly 2000 miles away fromeverything she is familiar with. He personal inventory includes a suitcase of clothes, a tote stuffed with toiletries, books, and hiking boots, and her laptop. She also has a 1,000 in cash. He first surprise is that there are no low-rent apartments in Portland. Affordable housing is 30 minutes away. The following day she finds a tiny cottage in Old Orchard Beach for 120 a week. It is time for her to find a job. She applies at various places for a job, including taking personality tests at Wal'mart and The Maids, a housecleaning service. She starts to working at both jobs. On Monday morning, Ehrenreich begins work at the Maids by watching a series of videotapes describing how to clean according to company policy. On Friday, one of her team assignments includes the home of Mrs. W, who ends up watching Ehrenreich as she cleans the kitchen floor on her hands and knees. Ehrenreich develops a rash but is not sure where it comes from; further, the aches and pains from her job take their toll. She makes observations on the physically damaging nature of her maid work, as well as the ostentatious nature of the houses she must clean. On her last day at The Maids, she reveals to co-workers her real reason for working there. They didn't have much to say.

Continued..............

In chapter one, Ehrenreich began her low-wage life in Key West, Florida, where she actually lived as a writer. Initially, she was afraid someone from her "real" life would recognize her and she would have to explain her project. No one recognized her. She found her first housing in an economy efficiency 30 miles distant from the employment opportunities of Key West. Ruling out various occupations because of physical limitations or personality, she began filling out applications for jobs in such fields as housekeeping, grocery clerking, and fast food. After 3 days of job searching, one of the big discount hotel chains where she had applied for a housekeeping position contacted her. They inquired if she would be interested in waitressing at the attached family restaurant. She learned that waitressing was not just taking orders and serving customers, but included all the invisible work- sweeping, filing condiment containers, or cleaning out the freezer. Ehrenreich was unable to financially support herself with a single job. She approaches the management of the hotel protion of the restaurant and applies for a housekeeping job on the assumption that it would be less strenuously physical. On her first day of housekeeping, she makes beds, folds towels, etc... She works there from 9am to 3. Ehrenreich, who, up to this point, had mentally and physically immersed herself into her role, suddenly realized she was not trapped by circumstaces and could just walk away without financial consequence. Although she did immediately walk out-leaving behind unfinished work, collectable tips, and final wages.