The title, “A Rose for Emily,” is very abstract, and the author does not specifically explain how the title pertains to the story. The title begs the question as to what the author meant for “a rose” to signify and what exactly “a rose” does for Emily Grierson. The meaning of “a rose” is not the only thing the author decides to leave up to interpretation. Homer’s sexuality is too a point of debate within the story. When the meaning of “a rose” and Homer’s sexuality is thoroughly examined, it is easy to see that the two ideas interlock by the end of the story. Homer is hinted as being gay, and yet he still brings companionship, love, and comfort to Emily’s life in the form of being her “rose.”
The meaning behind the title “A Rose for Emily”…
This is presumably when Homer decides to come clean to Emily and finally confirm her suspicions about his sexuality. Emily is so distraught when she learns that the only man she has ever loved is actually gay that she panics. She realizes that she cannot have Homer as her lover and decides to kill him with the fear of losing him. The reader cannot come to this conclusion until it is revealed that Emily had been sleeping beside a deceased Homer in her home. Even this is assumed when the author describes the indentation and hair left beside his dead body. “Then we noticed that in the second pillow wa the indentation of a head. One of us lifted something from it, and leaning forward, that faint and invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostril, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (Faulkner 473). While she sleeps beside Homer’s lifeless body, he still brings comfort to Emily until her own death.
The true meaning of the title of “A Rose for Emily” is only revealed to the reader when he or she also takes into account Homer’s sexual preference. At first, Homer provides Emily with friendship in light of her being moderately disliked by the town. The more time they spend together, the…