Compare/ Contrast Essay
Many people read stories without even analyzing the story for any hidden meaning, facts, or religious hints. Out of the many sins that are mentioned, one of the most common in the two stories that will be discussed is Wrath. You wouldn’t believe the things you can find in a story when you start breaking it down into little parts. Wrath is a big part of a lot of tragic stories and is also one of the seven deadly sins.
The word “wrath” stems from the Archaic adjective “wroth,” which for centuries-?from before 900 A. D. Ђ?has been changed-?verbally and scripturally-?throughout Old and Middle English texts and languages. The meaning of Wrath is a “strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire. ” (Harper) It also means a “vengeance or punishment as the consequence of anger. ” (Harper) Two stories that have this deadly sin are “A Rose for Emily,” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find. ” Both stories are perfect examples of Wrath whether there are little or a lot of them. A Rose for Emily’ is about a woman, Emily Grievers, in her mid-thirties who was forced to take care of her controlling father, who purposefully ran off any suitors for is own daughter. Eventually, after her father’s death, she found her first love, Homer Barron, only to have a tragic ending to her “love” life-?which she herself sees through “rose-colored glasses” up until her own death. The author of this short story, William Faulkner, was a man from Mississippi who loves to write Southern Gothic stories.
Gothic stories are a literary tradition rooted from the popular Gothic European style of writing. Gothic Styles ALWAYS have the seven deadly sins implied in their stories. “A Rose for Emily’ has many of those deadly sins (like pride, wrath, envy, and greed) implied in its story. One of them is Wrath. Emily, for being unable to accept that the man she loved didn’t love her, got fed up with his not caring for her and cheating on her to the point where she ended up killing him with arsenic. A Good Man is Hard to Find” is about an elderly woman living with her uncaring and loosely-knit family that she tries desperately to persuade to take a trip to East Tennessee instead of Florida due to a news article about a criminal, the Misfit, on the loose and on his way to Florida-?a trip that eventually turns into a terrible scene of crime. The author of the story, Flannels O’Connor, was a countryside woman from Georgia, with a Catholic background, living in a southern protestant town.
Her style of writing is more of a Gothic-type of Writing about religion which gives the reader a shock at the end when the person’s faith in their religion and the Lord is actually put to the test and given a terrible, twisted ending. In one of her interviews, she mentions that without her catholic upbringing, she never would’ve had the inspiration to write; and her life, as it is, would have been boring because she would have “no reason to see, no reason ever to feel horrified or even to enjoy anything. Editors, Sparseness) Wrath, in this story was brought upon, also, at the very end of the story as PUNISHMENT for the family sins of false belief, and lack of love and stability in the family. It was ESPECIALLY brought upon the grandmother that, instead of risking her life to save her family, decided to try to save her own, and even doubted the Lord Himself in front of the criminals who are there to bring “Judgment” to the family.
Wrath doesn’t really happen until the ending, but is still a big part of “A Rose for Emily’ because it is part of a big, gruesome secret of Email’s. It was such that she successfully kept hidden for MANY years before, and until, her death. The same situation goes with “A Good Man is Hard to Find. ” The sin of Wrath does not happen until the end when the Misfit kills the grandmother himself while the other gang members kill off the grandmother’s son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren.
Wrath is always brought upon those who commit terrible acts of sin; and, in this case, Homer in “A Rose for Emily,” and the entire family, ESPECIALLY the grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” have committed multiple acts of sin which ended up bringing hem closer and closer to their sudden, yet tragic ending. Wrath is a big part of life when it comes down to doing right or wrong. You Just have to choose the RIGHT path so that things don’t turn out going left in that pitchfork in the road of your life.
