Sunday, July 1, 2012

Is Emily crazy?

I loved this question! If you are writing an essay on this matter, however, be aware of the use of the word "crazy" if you are going to include it in your narrative. In this day and age everything has a politically-correct terminology...DSM IV can definitely help you find her an accurate diagnosis ;) .


But: To answer your question directly- In the years I've taught this story, I have not been able to come to terms with Emily being "crazy."


She is the Faulkner ideal persona of the Old South, itself: The hard-headed, norm-oriented, value-based, old school-ridden individual with a natural inability to accept what has happened: Change.


Surely, the consequences of her thoughts are irrational, criminal, and lead us all to do deem her as "crazy". Yet, if you look at the rationale behind her actions, her "craziness" can actually be labeled under "post traumatic stress" if you want to be real anal about it; the trauma of losing her father, and seeing the world (as she knows it) fade away steadily and leaving her with nothing, and nobody, as  support systems.


Concisely- Emily is a traumatized human being who, in her natural state, was borne and raised to be head-strong, value-based, and co-dependent. There is nothing terminally "crazy" about a human being who acts (even if irrationally) in defense of what he or she was made to believe to be reality.

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