Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Choices
In today's class, we discussed Miss Emily, Faulkner's main character in the story we read for this week's class, and Aileen Wuornos, the so-called first American "female serial killer." We discuss often in class how society forces certain people into the roles they exist in, but here, I am more interested in the choices these women make to contribute to their roles in society. How did these women come to end up in the positions they do (re: recluse, prostitute)? What are some choices you've personally made that have effected your position in life (negative or positive)?
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It is hard to say how these women ended up in the positions they are. Although, I think some of the possibilities that their lives all of sudden took a sharp curve is because maybe they put too much trust or faith into someone and return got ‘screwed’ over. Like Miss Emily, she probably had a very romantic relationship with her Yankee Homer but when found out that he could be gay, she probably did not know what to do with herself. The only way out seemed to kill him at this time period. How could she face society with this matter? What other choice did she have? Some of these questions might have crossed her mind. As for Aileen, it seems as though prostitute was a way to get money and attempt to get her life back in order. She also appeared to be very vulnerable, which leads me to think that she was hurt in the past either physically or mentally or even both. She was trying to change, and although her past wasn’t far behind, who can blame her for trying to make an attempt to start off? Society certainly does force people into certain roles, but we all start off as individuals first, and in that case need to prove something to ourselves before we do to the world.
ReplyDeleteMeghan Viola
I believe Emily ended up the way she did because she lost the only thing she loved which was her father. It was also very hard for her to be accepted my others because she was found to be isolated by the town people. The town people just looked at her from a distance and did absolutely nothing. The only thing they were capable of doing was gossiping. Instead of helping poor Emily, the town people would just judge her and gossip about her which lead her to kill Homer. When Emily found out that Homer was attracted to the same sex, it made her feel upset and alone which lead her to kill him. The town people could of prevented Emily from doing this by reaching out to her and by letting her know they want to help her. I believe Aileen ended up being a prostitute because know one gave her the attention she needed. Growing up, she never had a father and at the age of fifteen she got kicked out of the house which lead her to become a prostitute. Since she didn’t receive loving care from her family, she came to the conclusion that being a prostitute was the only way out. When she tried to change things for the better, know one listened or even tried to help Aileen. To prevent things like this happening in today’s world, I believe people need to reach out to others by letting them know they care.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Bordiere
Unfortunately, it's difficult to say what really drove these ladies to do what they did without being in their shoes. The best we can do is to speculate, from what I've read and from what we've discussed in class about Miss Emily -- It seems as though she was forced by society to kill Homer. It appears that he may have been hiding his homosexuality, and the same stereotyping and judging that exists today existed back then as well. Currently many try to keep an open mind about sexuality and it is generally not a big deal, back then if it was discovered society would most likely turn it’s back on you. The same goes for Aileen, she was repeatedly turned down when being interviewed for job positions as she had a different background than desired. Since she was young she did what she had to do, even though most of the time she didn’t want to, simply to make “ends meet”. She did it to survive and support herself, but in society’s eyes it was meaningless. In this case, she took her anger out on abusive clients.
ReplyDelete- Chad Beatty
Based upon the limited information presented in both cases, it would safe to assume that by both the actions of others and those done to themselves led Emily and Aileen to turn out the way they did. Shifting more of the blame toward the societies in which were exposed would be easier but it is ignorant of the choices of the individual. While Emily did become a recluse with no small part from the townspeople, she could have moved out of the town and chosen to start her life again in a new town. It ultimately comes down to many factors in determining what kind of person one may become, but no sole reason can be the decider because there are many exceptions in every case.
ReplyDelete-Will McMullan
In the short story A rose for Emily and the movie clip we saw about Aileen are two women who can connect to eachother. Both women are treated by society in the wrong way and shouldnt be treated this way. These women come to end up in the positions the way they do is because they do it to themselves. Ya maybe they had a rough life in the past with family being poor or parents splitting up, there are many ways people can turn into because of situations like this. But when it comes down to it at the end, it is no one elses fault but themselves. They can avoid situations like that and try to become the best in their life but they choose not to.
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ReplyDeleteI personally do not think society is to blame for Emily or Aileen's actions. People decide daily what they want to do, the difference between these two women and other people is that the other people choose the way they are going to get tasks accomplished. These two women made their life like this by not fighting against what was wrong, it was easier for them to just go with the wrong rather than to change. A decision I have had to make that has altered my position in life was realizing that I don't have to please everyone else in order to make myself happy. I have come to realize that at the end of the day I have to live with my mistakes and I am no longer letting anyone influence me in a negative manner.
ReplyDeleteBoth of the women we discussed contributed in part to their own misfortune, while also being victims of the society they were part of. Miss Emily struggled to find happiness for her entire life and never actually became happy. This was partially because she faced so many trying circumstances in her life. Her repeated attempts to live up to her father's expectations and find a worthy partner all failed. The emotional stress this caused for her led to her isolation from the rest of the town, eventually becoming known as "crazy" and avoided by the townspeople. However, the decision to murder Homer was a choice she made on her own, signifying that she had completely given up on her search for love. Although Aileen had a rough childhood, she potentially brought upon herself the difficult situation she faced. By becoming a prostitute, she took a risk of encountering dangers such as the ones that drove her to murder. As sad as it was, she paid for her own mistakes and poor decisions. It's not that what had happened wasn't obscene and terrifying, but that it could have been totally avoided had she taken some precautions earlier in her life. Personally, I have made many mistakes, big and small, throughout my life that affected me in some way. I try to take these mistakes and learn from them so I can grow to be a better person rather than let them push me to the point of giving up. Most people deal with some sort of hardship throughout their lives, and everybody makes mistakes, but what separates the successful and happy people from the others is the ability to overcome problems and convert them into lessons and experiences that can lead to positive outcomes.
ReplyDeleteEveryday, people are caught in situations that they cannot help. In the short story, "A Rose for Emily," Emily could have probably been very much in love with Homer, until she had some suspicion that he was gay. And in that day and age, this could have been the most realistic thing to do for Emily and could have caused a highly psychological problem for this woman, since it was her first love. And for Aileen, she seemed to be stuck in a position where prostitution was the only scapegoat that she could have to get her out of extreme money problems and was a good paying source of income. People who prostitute don't do it because it's something they've wanted to do ever since they were a kid, they get stuck in a situation where they have no other form of money making and no skills. One positive decision i have made in my life is the choice i made to go to college. I will now have an upper hand in the future when trying to find a job, especially since it's increasingly getting harder and harder to be able to go to college with all of these current economic problems.
ReplyDeleteIn the story of Emily, she stays in the house and does not talk to her neighbors. This causes the neighbors to gossip about Emily. She puts herself in this dilemma because she isolated herself. In the first female serial killer she does not dress right for the job interview and then snapping at the interviewer. This shows that she cannot change and proves the interview to be right. This then leads to prostitution because she does not believe in herself and let’s people walk all over her. A choice that I made that has affected my position in life was me making a mistake in one of my soccer games which lead to me not playing the rest of the season.
ReplyDeleteThese women contributed to the way they are thought of in socity by continuing to live be the ways that society has put them. They don't really try to change how they look in society. the "female serial killer" lets this happen because she continues to be an uneducated prositute and doesn't really do anything to change this. Emily does this by allowing herself to stay closed in in her home. she doesn't do naything to change what people think of her, she gives into it.
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