Submitted by cornellgoldw@fo... on Sat, 2012-06-30 12:23
This icon represents the "next generation" of town authorities," (120) who lead Jefferson in the early 20th century with their "more modern ideas"; this cohort includes the "deputation" of Alderman who pay a call on Emily Grierson to tell her that there is no record that her taxes had ever been remitted (120). Their unnamed spokesman is polite but firm, though his courteousness is soundly defeated by her intransigence - and the unwritten chivalric rules that still govern relations between men and ladies.
Submitted by cornellgoldw@fo... on Sat, 2012-06-30 12:14
Mr. Grierson has been dead for some time when he is first referred to in the story. Alive he was an old-fashioned, over-bearing patriarch who did not allow his daughter to mingle with any men, keeping all possible suitors at bay. Nonetheless Emily keeps "a crayon portrait" of him displayed in the parlor "on a tarnished gilt easel before the fireplace" (120).
Submitted by cornellgoldw@fo... on Sat, 2012-06-30 12:09
In both "A Rose for Emily" and "Uncle Willy," characters go to the "mayor's office" to complain about things ("Willy," 237), but it's unclear whether Jefferson's 'town hall' is a separate building (as it was in Oxford) or a set of offices inside the courthouse.
