A Rose for Emily

The best representation of who has power in the story is in section 4. In this section the story is told in the point of view of the people that live in the town and the person who has all the power is Emily because the towns people saw Emily with Homer Barron and when they found out they were not marrying they forced the Baptist minister to go interview Emily.

“Then some of the ladies began to say that it was a disgrace to the town and a bad example to the young people. The men did not want to interfere, but at last the ladies forced the Baptist minister–Miss Emily’s people were Episcopal– to call upon her. He would never divulge what happened during that interview, but he refused to go back again. The next Sunday they again drove about the streets, and the following day the minister’s wife wrote to Miss Emily’s relations in Alabama.”

This shows that Emily holds the power because the town people sent a Baptist minister to her in effort to call her out, but since Emily was Episcopal (meaning that Emily has relation to a church that is control of a Bishop) the Baptist could not do anything to her. Another part that shows the towns people have no power is when after they failed with the Baptist, the Baptist’s wife had to write the Emily’s relatives who lived in Alabama to go over to Emily.

Through out the entire section 4 it talks about Emily and her relationship with Homer Barron and gives hints on how Emily has the power in the relationship between them. the first hint is when the towns people assume that they were getting married, but Homer said that they were not getting married. It was shown later that even though Homer did not want to get married, Emily had a different mindset on that and was preparing for the wedding by buying a ring and suit for Homer.

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