The Birthmark and a Rose for Emily Reading Journal

The Birthmark and A Rose for Emily Reading Journal

While reading “The Birth-mark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I kept picturing Aylmer as Tony Stark from the Iron Man series. Tony Stark, like Aylmer, are both scientists with what seems to be a good life. However, both are not really happy for their own petty reasons. Aylmer was bothered with his wife, Georgiana, birthmark on her cheek. He called it a “crimson stain upon the snow,” which I found a completely exaggerated. Georgiana is described so beautiful in this story, but Aylmer could not accept the fact she had a flaw on her cheek. Aylmer obsessed over this birthmark on her cheek throughout the entire story. He, in a way, begged his wife to remove the mark that I found rude because if Aylmer married Georgiana, why all of sudden does he cares about this imperfection? To me, this mark symbolizes mortality. With such beautiful skin, Georgiana’s birthmark ruins this “look” of immortality and perfection.

One quote I found interesting was when Aylmer describes the medicine to rid the birthmark as a “powerful cosmetic.” Although Aylmer isn’t a villain in the story, he has an cynical side. Aylmer doesn’t want to remove the exterior look of the birthmark, but rather use this “powerful cosmetic” to clean away the birthmark and wipe away freckles. Eventually while reading this story, we see a transformation of Aylmer. He goes from a concerned husband, to a controlling madman, believing Georgiana’s birthmark is a symbol of death.

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a confusing story to read. Throughout the story, I was waiting for the moment the author will introduce the rose. Unable to find what it necessarily meant, I looked closer to the text to find out “rose” doesn’t pertain to the flower. I was a bit mind-blown because under the impression of the title and first part of the story, I was assuming someone was going to give a rose