In A Rose For Emily by William Faulkner, there is more than enough evidence to determine that Miss Emily is mentally ill. Most of the hints and clues are subtle, but once they're all pieced together, the puzzle becomes clear. I'm not saying that what Miss Emily was suffering from is equally clear, the only way to know for sure would be if the author or narrator told us in the text. We can, however, conclude that she suffered from some form of mental illness. Miss Emily was considered a recluse and strange, but what no one in the town knew was that she couldn't help it, there was more going on with her than people could see. At the conclusion of the story, the reader can go back through the story and identify numerous episodes where Miss Emily's behavior suggested that she may have been suffering from mental illness. We see that the city wanted to deny this fact and keep it as a social idol. This information, in fact, could be used to support the claim that Miss Emily may have suffered from a form of schizophrenia as defined by the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV criteria. Miss Emily could have developed this mental illness in response to demanding living conditions as a Southern woman from an aristocratic family. This turn toward mental illness allegedly occurred because she was unable to develop healthy coping and defense mechanisms for her mind to decide what to treat and what to leave unknown. Her community viewed her as having a “hereditary obligation” (Faulkner 150) to maintain certain traditions. Her father, who placed these traditions and values ​​on Miss Emily, was rigid in reinforcing these expectations. At this point in the book, we also know that Miss Emily “had grown fat and her hair was turning gray” (Faulkner 149). This faith...... middle of paper ......ed to see the good in it and to idolize it. This again leads to too much pressure on her and causes her psychotic break. Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" is a short story that talks about the pressures of society and how they can wear people down. This story itself should implicitly and explicitly show readers the effects of terrible loss and social pressures on an individual. Miss Emily lacked adaptive coping skills to help her manage significant stressors and, because of this, she was vulnerable to the onset of mental illness. There is therefore sufficient textual evidence showing Miss Emily's compromised mental state. In each part of the story, another layer of her life is uncovered and presented to the reader for their interpretation, but to claim that she was of sound mind would not be an accurate account of the story's implications..