Symbolism of Houses in A Dolls House and A Rose For Emily...

The state of a flawed society is an issue that many people recognize, but have different ways of approaching it. In the case of William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose For Emily† he examines the raw truth of the act of avoiding a flawed and evolving society. Whereas, â€Å"A Doll’s House† by Katherine Mansfield portrays the way that a flawed society can change through small acts of resistance that break the boundaries of social hierarchies. Both Mansfield and Faulkner use houses as symbols of a flawed society in their stories, however the manner in which they use these symbols are very different. In a â€Å"Rose for Emily†, Faulkner uses Emily’s house as a symbol of the barrier Emily forms between herself and society. As society moves through generations and†¦show more content†¦The pairing of the symbols of the house and the character Emily is similar to the way that Mansfield portrays Kezia and the dollhouse. Kezia is one of the central images in the story; she symbolizes the silent opposing side to the influence of a social hierarchy. The story deals with the division of social and economic classes, and it is greatly amplified with the simplified setting of a childhood peer group. Mansfield uses the dollhouse to symbolize all of society. The higher-class, the Burnells, are the only ones that are permitted use it for their benefits. The children admire the â€Å"perfect little house† and dote upon every detail of the immaculate house. Kezia, on the other hand, is drawn to â€Å"an exquisite little amber lamp with a white globe†. This lam p, as the story progresses, symbolizes the small piece of hope, that fixes into the society perfectly, but that no one except for a few people actually see and appreciate it’s beauty. Upon noticing this piece of perfection, she criticized the other parts of the house such as, â€Å"the father and mother dolls, who sprawled very stiff as though they had fainted in the drawing-room and their two little children asleep upstairs, were really too big for the doll’s house†¦but the lamp was perfect†(119). Her recognizing of the imperfections symbolizes the overall functioning of society. The lower class is symbolized in the Kelveys, who are cast out of the social group,Show MoreRelatedLiterature and Aspects of the Human Experience Essays1584 Words   |  7 Pagesliterature that share this theme of love are: â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, â€Å"Love Song†, and â€Å"A Doll’s House†. Although some of the stories deal with family and parental love, this paper will focus on the aspect of romantic love. In the story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner romantic love was between Emily and the doomed Homer Barron; the poem â€Å"Love Song† by Joseph Brodsky gives the declarations of a man in love; and finally in the drama â€Å"A Doll’s House† Nora is fighting for the romantic love of herRead MoreBusiness and Management2600 Words   |  11 Pages | | | | |Misery, Anton Chekhov (pp. 83-87) | | | | |â€Å"A Rose for Emily,† William Faulkner (pp. 236-251) | | | | |Boys and Girls, Alice Munro (pp. 772-781) |