A Rose For Emily is a short story by William Faulkner. It was first published in 1930. The story is set in the fictional town of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story centers on the life of Emily Grierson, a young woman who lives in a small town. Emily is a member of a once-prominent family who has fallen on hard times. She is a recluse who rarely leaves her house.
The story chronicles the events of her life from the time of her father’s death to her own death. A major theme of the story is the decline of the old South and the changing social order that followed the Civil War. A secondary theme is the relationship between men and women in that time period.
“A Rose for Emily” is a well-known work by William Faulkner. Miss Emily Grierson, the antagonist of the story, was compelled by her tyrannical and suffocating father to grow up alone. She was raised to adhere to strict standards. As a result, she was full with old South norms.
Emily’s mother had taught her that no man was good enough for her. Her high opinion of herself is due to her father. She desired to live her life her way after the death of her father, but everyone in the community, including the authorities, made her feel she could not follow through with living a life according to old south and new south norms and customs.
So she was pushed to the brink. The story is about how A Rose for Emily deals with death, change, and love.
“A Rose for Emily” is one of William Faulkner’s most famous short stories. The story’s protagonist is Miss Emily Grierson, who is forced by her domineering and repressive father to grow up alone. She is raised with strict adherence to the rules of the old south and as a result, feels superior to those around her.
After her father’s death, Miss Emily tries to live her life on her own terms but is constantly reminded by those in her town that her lifestyle is not acceptable. Eventually this pushes Miss Emily over the edge. The story explores themes of death, change, and love.
The Colonel Sartoris’s relationship with her to exempt her from income tax is odd. However, he did not realize that after he is gone, someone else will be in a position to get her back on track. When Homer showed up, Miss Emily attempted to make some changes in her life. Her concern for losing him drove her to start working out a strategy that would keep him close until she died. The story has attracted the attention of many analysts since its debut.
It has been part of different movies, dramas and singer’s interpretations. A Rose for Emily is a story about tradition, change, love, hatred, and death. The story begins with the death of Miss Emily Grierson who was a symbol of the Old South. The narrator tells us that she died at the age of seventy-four years old. We are told that she was a small woman with white hair. She had pale blue eyes which were lost in the folds of skin.
Her father was a strict man who did not allow her to have any suitors. As a result, she grew up to be a lonely woman. When her father died, she was left alone in her large house. Her only companion was her African-American servant, Tobe.
Miss Emily was a proud and independent woman. She did not want to change her ways even when the town around her was changing. For example, she refused to pay her taxes after the death of Colonel Sartoris even though she knew that she had to. The new mayor, Mr. Williams, came to her house to collect the taxes but she would not let him in. Instead, she gave him a check which she told him was for the back taxes. However, the check was made out to Colonel Sartoris who had been dead for ten years.
Mr. Williams did not know what to do so he went to see Judge Stevens. The judge told him to forget about the taxes and just let Miss Emily alone. The townspeople were divided on whether Miss Emily was a crazy old woman or just a proud lady who did not want to change.
The next time we see Miss Emily is when she buys poison from the druggist. She does not say what she wants it for but he assumes that she is going to use it to kill rats. However, we later find out that she used the poison to kill Homer Barron who was the foreman of the street-paving crew. Homer was a Yankee from Northern states. He was a big man with red hair and a bushy mustache. He liked to drink and he was not very tidy.
The townspeople did not approve of him because he was not good enough for Miss Emily. However, she seemed to be in love with him and she wanted to marry him. But Homer did not want to marry her because she was so much older than him. He wanted to be free and have fun.
One night, Homer Barron was seen going into Miss Emily’s house but he was never seen coming out again. The townspeople assumed that he had left town and they did not see Miss Emily for a long time. When she finally came out of her house, she was wearing a man’s shirt and she looked like she had lost weight.
The next time we see Miss Emily is at her father’s funeral. She is dressed in black and she looks very thin and frail. Tobe is the only one who attends the funeral with her. After the funeral, she never leaves her house again.
The townspeople start to notice a foul smell coming from Miss Emily’s house. They assume that it is because she is too poor to afford proper cleaning supplies. However, the truth is that Homer Barron’s body is decomposing in an upstairs room. Miss Emily has killed him and she keeps his body with her at all times.
One day, a young man named Toby comes to town and he starts to court Miss Emily. The townspeople think that maybe she will finally be able to move on with her life. However, Toby suddenly disappears and Miss Emily is once again alone in her house.
Many years later, Miss Emily dies and her house is inherited by her distant cousins. They decide to clean out the house and they make a shocking discovery. In an upstairs room, they find the body of Homer Barron. He is lying on a bed with a pillow over his face. Miss Emily is lying next to him with her arm around his waist.
The townspeople are shocked and horrified by this discovery. They finally understand why Miss Emily refused to let go of Homer Barron even though he did not want to marry her. A Rose for Emily is a story about love, death, and the inability to let go of the past.
The first reason Petry gave for making “A Rose for Emily” a unique work was that the disordered chronology distinguished it. The end of the tale, which is undoubtedly a shocking conclusion to everyone reading, is also why I wanted to highlight it. So we can see how the narrator starts off by stating that Miss Emily was dead and everyone in town went to her funeral.
It is not until the end of the first section that we learn that she actually poisoned Homer Barron, her lover. This revelation changes the perspective with which we see Miss Emily and her story.
The narrator also reveals that after Homer’s death, Miss Emily refused to let anyone touch his body. She kept it in her bedroom for three days before they were able to get rid of it. The townspeople went to great lengths to keep her from being alone with Homer’s corpse, even going so far as to sprinkle lime around her house. It is clear that they were worried about what she might do if she was left alone with the body.
The second section of the story is told from the perspective of an unnamed townsman. He tells us about Miss Emily’s father, who was a very strict man. He kept her from having any kind of normal life, including relationships with men. It is clear that he was very controlling and that he had a great influence over her.
The third section is told from the perspective of the townspeople. They are discussing Miss Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron, and they are speculating about what will happen to her now that he is gone. There is a lot of talk about how she will be alone in her house with only his corpse for company.