Real Love

Introduction

After reading the two stories, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and “Desiree’s Baby” written by Kate Chopin, it is clear that both stories revolve around love. The authors of these different stories use the theme of love to capture the reader. The writers use love as the main theme which increases the anxiety of the reader. Although the theme of love is obvious in both stories, the different tools of literature show the uniqueness of each story. The authors help the reader to identify and understand the traits of the main characters by using the theme of love. The storyline of both books helps the reader to know the characters of Emily and Desiree in “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner and “Desiree’s Baby” by Chopin respectively.

Faulkner who is the author of the first story “A Rose for Emily”, reveals to the reader the pride in Emily’s family that in the end ruins her relationship with the society and even that of her own lover. Immediately after the death of her mother (Emily Grierson), Emily’s pride increases to the point that she does not associate with the rest of the family members. The death of Emily Grierson is not only a blow to the family but also to the entire community. This is for the chief reason that Emily’s mother in one way or another used to connect the community and the family. The remaining members of the family, Emily’s father and Emily herself have similar traits of pride. Emily’s pride made it almost impossible for her to get married to any of the members of the society. In her own opinion, Emily considered herself above the rest of the members of the society. In the story, Faulkner illustrates that “Emily’s beauty and family pride made her consider all men in the society filthy and poor hence not her class” (p.87). However, after two years following the death of her father, Emily eventually met with Homer Barron and became friendly with him. Emily accepted their friendship even though Homer was a Northern laborer who was hired to contract the sidewalk pavement in town. The friendship between Emily and Homer surprised the rest of the community since Homer’s status was far below her earlier standards. To add on this, Homer admitted that, “I am not a marrying man” (Faulkner 109). However, Emily fails to get this information because she does not relate directly to the rest of the community. Even her distant cousins do not inform her of Homer’s claims because they fear Emily’s abuses. 

The second story, “Desiree’s Baby” written by Chopin, is steeped in innocence and coming of age and displays the love Desiree has for her husband. Armand, who is her husband, neglects her together with her son because she is nondependent. Although the two partners felt love in the beginning, Armand and Desiree separated because of Armand’s pride and prejudice. In each of the stories, “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner and “Desiree’s Baby” written by Chopin, each of the main characters has opposing views of love. Emily’s perception of love relates to wealth as an essential tool for love. In Faulkner’s story, it is evident that Emily did not participate in early marriage because of her status and family wealth. This is evident when Faulkner states that “Emily until the age of thirty lacked a perfect man from the community” (119). 

In relationship to the story, the author identifies that Emily did not find her appropriate soul mate because many of the men in the community were poor (Faulkner 119). Emily never imagined that love existed without wealth in this world. She never seeded a hand in marriage to any of the male members of her society. She waited for almost thirty-five years only to realize that love is not associated with wealth. Eventually, after mourning for two years for the death of her father, Emily decides to get into a relationship with Homer Barron. The reader gets a different perspective of Emily in relation to love when Emily decided to solidify her relationship with Homer. After her little stay with Homer, Emily neglected the entire society and stayed indoors with her lover. The two never left the house and abandoned the rest of the community. Eventually, the author reveals to the reader that Emily killed Homer because of the love that she had for him (Faulkner 131). This phenomenon depicts that Emily did not want any other woman to feel Homer’s love. Therefore, Emily was selfish because she wanted Homer’s love all by herself and her selfish needs. 

Desiree, who is the main character of the second story, is married to a typical wealthy man. Her husband, Armand, owns almost everything. It was almost difficult for Armand to show love to his wife since he was famous and had all the resources (Chopin 74). Armand at first ignored the entire obstacle that stood their way and married the beautiful Desiree because of their mutual connection. Chopin indicates this in the story when she writes that…..he married one of the oldest and proudest in Louisiana, he married Desiree, who had no identity.” (p. 98). Their love made Armand imagine that his famous name would provide everything to Desiree. In the story, “A Rose for Emily” the author Faulkner discusses that the relationship between Homers and Emily solidified slowly making the two couple to start marriage preparations. This idea stunned the entire community that never expected Emily to fall in love with a man in her entire life. Emily’s relatives decided to clear up this issue by visiting her in her own house. Emily reveals that she is in love with Homers and was even willing to marry him and create a family. Homer leaves the same evening to give room for Emily to discuss their wedding with her cousins. After his return, Homer lives with Emily in the same house but refrains to interact with the rest of the community as usual. In the end, the book depicts Emily as a murderer because she killed Homer. Furthermore, she leaves Homer to rot in the bedroom. Emily eventually dies after slowly turning into a recluse. Later, the townsfolk while searching for Emily’s remains in the house; find the decomposed corpse of Homer Barron on the Bed. Faulkner concluded that because Emily loved Homer, she decided to kill him so that she could own his love. Conversely, in her narration, Chopin writes that Armand’s pride to his wife eventually yielded cold answers to his wife Desiree. This is evident from the statement in the narrative “….you are not white”. (Chopin 100). Furthermore, Armand later tells Desiree, “…Yes, I want you to go” (p.101). Even though Desiree tried her best to make the relationship with Armand worthwhile, it becomes impossible for the two to relate after these words. Armand left Desiree and her son because he wanted to maintain his pride and his family status. He left Desiree with nothing but hopelessness. 

Conclusion

In both stories, “Desiree’s Baby” written by Chopin and “A Rose for Emily” by Faulkner the main characters, Desiree and Emily respectively depict different elements in relationship with the theme of love. In the first story, “Desiree’s Baby” the author illustrates Desiree as faithful, committed and loving to her husband Armand. At first, Armand falls in love with the beautiful Desiree and loves her without limits. However, Armand’s pride and wealth later ruined their marriage. Armand abandons Desiree even though they were married with a son. In the second story, Emily considers wealth as a necessary element in steering marriage ties. For this reason, she uses the aspect of wealth and pride in selecting the rightful partner in marriage. This forces her to live for thirty-five years without getting the rightful man. Emily abandoned the entire society and stayed indoors with her lover. The two never left the house and did not bother about the rest of the community. However, Emily kills Homer for her own selfish reasons even after having a prosperous relationship. Later, the townsfolk while searching for Emily’s remains in the house; find the decayed body of Homer Barron on the Bed. It was after Emily’s funeral and burial that the townspeople went upstairs to break down the door of the room that they realized that Homer had died for almost forty years. The author concludes that Emily decided to kill him because she wanted to own his love. The other story by Kate Chopin is similar in theme but differs in perspective. This is because even though Armand and Desiree were longtime partners who loved each other from the beginning, they separated because of Armand’s arrogance and prejudice. Their love’s ending is comparable to the death of Emily and Homer in that Desiree becomes hopeless and does not have anything to cling on except for her son. The two stories have the moral lesson that even the bond between two loving partners can end. Although the theme of love is evident in both narrations, the different implementation of literature depicts the uniqueness of each tale.

Works Cited

Chopin, Katherin. The Father of Desiree's Baby and Other Stories (Dodo Press). Lightning Source Incorporated, 2008. Print 

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Logan, Iowa: Perfection Learning Corp, 1990. Print.