What Emily Grierson Attained and What She Didn't When Her Father Died

Miss Emily Grierson in "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner was an extraordinary, rather strange woman. When her father had passed away, she kept his body in the house claiming that he is not dead, until she finally broke down (Bohner and Grant 406). Did she act in such way purely out of love? He was her only immediate family left. Her father, however, had a complete control over her, I would say in more of an authoritarian way, as the "we" or the townspeople in the story recalls: "We remembered all the young men her father had driven away" (406 Bohner and Grant 406). Would she have had only love towards him? I believe she would have had a mixed feeling of love, respect, a type of resentment towards the controlling, and a kind of a disgust towards the lack of freedom because of him, unless she believed that was the way of living-that it was the only way and the truth, there was no "other way" of being given at least some sort of liberty. Why would she cling on to him? Perhaps, since she was brought up completely controlled, she had no clue what she should and could do without him. She hadn't acquired the skills to live by her self and terrified by the idea that she had to. Or perhaps, she was invaded by the sudden attainment of freedom, the realization that there was no one to hover over her and take control of her life anymore, and didn't know what to do, or fearful of it that she couldn't let go of what her life was until then. Like Mrs. Mallard in "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin, she could have "loved him--sometimes" which didn't matter at the moment because she was free, free from his control and had her very own life (Bohner and Grant 268). She may have been confused, not knowing what she was really feeling, sorrow or ecstasy. She could have been feeling both at the same time. The "too much control" does not do any good to anyone. As in psychology, especially concerning parenting styles, the authoritative one is considered the best, and I think this is one of the things, that both "A Rose for Emily" and "The Story of an Hour" is trying to convey-leading us to the present society, always encouraging for more and more improvement.