Tobe's Isolation

788 Words4 Pages
When people are isolated, they often keep themselves away from the outer world. In “A rose for Emily”, the author, William Faulkner, examines the importance of the “Negro” in Emily’s isolated life. The “Negro”, Tobe, is shown to be the only person present in Emily’s life while she isolates herself from the outside world. Despite the fact that all the townspeople haven’t had any glimpses of Emily in years, Tobe lives in Emily’s house as her servant/slave. Though Tobe is only a servant/slave, he is also the symbolism of Emily’s freedom. By being isolated from the outer world, Emily keeps Tobe to be a symbol of her freedom by making him her connection to the outer world. Tobe is seen to be a loyal servant as he was a slave from the black color…show more content…
The ladies of the townspeople are really curious of Emily’s life because she was the richest person remaining of the Grierson family after her father’s death and they wanted to see her, but the “only sign of life about Emily’s house was the Negro man …with a market basket,” (Faulkner 2). This is significant because Emily stays isolated in her house while she sends Tobe to the market in the town. Which symbolizes her freedom within Tobe, because Emily is using Tobe to capture the surroundings of the society. Also it represents the loyalty of the slave in Tobe, because at that time period slaves had to be loyal to their masters or owners in order to…show more content…
This is ironic because until Emily’s death, 40 years in future, the death of Homer Barron was kept in secrecy. Faulkner writes, “A neighbor saw the Negro man admit him at the kitchen…one evening…and that was the last seeing of Homer…and Emily,” (Faulkner 4). This signifies that during all of this, the “Negro” man, Tobe, knows that Emily did poison Homer. He is the person who keeps Homer’s poisoning in secrecy. Again, this shows Tobe’s loyalty towards Emily and this is because his color of the skin. This is significant because if Tobe had told the townspeople about Emily poisoning Homer, the townspeople wouldn’t have believed Tobe and instead accused him of lying; these all represent the reasons of why Tobe kept Homer’s death a secret. In the other hand, Emily is never seen after the incident, but Tobe still goes in and out of the house with his market basket. Emily sending Tobe outside of the house until her death where she has kept the corpse of Homer represents Emily’s way of freedom from her isolated life inside her
Show More
Related

  • What Does The Eagle Symbolize In A Rose For Emily

    1887 Words  | 8 Pages

    “Symbolism is a language or form of communication used to convey meaning through the use of symbols – whether that is through imagery, ideas, sound or metaphor…” (TokenRock). In literature, many things are represented through objects or characters, but in the world today, many things represent a whole different idea. For example, in the Shakespearian play Macbeth, any type of bird is a symbol of evil. However, in the United States of America, it is common knowledge that the Bald Eagle represents

    Read More

More about Tobe's Isolation

Open Document