Loneliness in William Faulkners A Rose For Emily and Anton Chekhovs Misery :: A Rose for Emily, William Faulkner

Loneliness in William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily and Anton Chekhov's Misery Although the authors, setting, and time period of each story is unique, the character of Miss Emily in "A Rose For Emily" by William Faulkner and Iona in "Misery" by Anton Chekhov share much in common.   Iona and Emily spent their entire lives searching for fulfillment. At the end of their lives they are still lonely souls - never achieving fulfillment. It is so terrible with "A Rose For Emily," the horrible feelings come up immediately when the story ends with two dead bodies in the old and dirty house. One is Homer Barron, Emily's lover. The other is Emily herself. What a pity for a woman like Emily. No, Emily is not really a woman. She is just a child (or a daughter). Since being born, her life was framed strictly by her selfish father." Miss Emily, a slender figure in white in the background, her father a large silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip, the two of them framed by the back-flung front door." Miss Emily could not find her own real life. And then her father died. Everyone in town was very pleased that Emily might have a chance to be happy from then on. But very shortly after the shock of her father's death, Emily had another shock when her sweetheart left her alone and went away. Nobody was expecting that. Poor Emily! She was just a little girl having no experience over thirty years of age. Homer, the young man that everyone believed would marry her, was just a liar, as well. And as a result, Emily killed Homer and lay beside his dead body for years. At the age of forty, Emily was still a child -- an old child with loneliness and unfulfilled soul. William Faulkner introduces the story with the gathering of the whole town at Emily's death. The author marks a big curious question for all readers. What happened and how? Then he goes back to the past of Miss Emily, leading us to travel around the closed time circle of her life: present back to past and past to present. This is an unusual order. The normal time order consists the progression of the human being from birth through youth, to age and final death. The confusion that Faulkner has given produces a confusion in Emily's life.