William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is a story about the main character, Emily Grierson. Emily is a very private person and does not allow anyone into her life. She is also very suspicious of outsiders. As a result, she has very few friends and no one knows much about her. One day, a man named Homer Barron comes to town and Emily falls in love with him. However, Homer is an outsider and Emily’s father does not approve of him.
Emily’s father dies and she is left alone with Homer. The two of them live together for a while, but it is clear that Homer is not happy. He eventually leaves town, but not before telling Emily that he is going to marry someone else. This news devastates Emily and she kills Homer. She then lives with his corpse for several years until she is found out and taken to an asylum.
In William Faulkners A Rose for Emily, the death of her lover, Homer Barron, was caused by a combination of events, including the culture in which she lived. The Grierson family’s snootiness and high standards made it difficult for Emily and Homer to be a couple.
The townspeople’s gossip and prying into Emily and Homer’s relationship also made it difficult for the two to be together. It was because of the pressure from society that Emily killed Homer. She did not want to be an outcast, she wanted to keep up the family name, and she wanted to keep Homer all to herself. All of these things led to Miss Emily murdering Homer Barron. (5) William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is a story about how the expectations of society can lead someone to do something they would not normally do.
The cousins met with Emily, whom Homer had to leave for a while. She went to the local pharmacy to buy arsenic (later used as rat poison) in case it was the only way to keep her lover from departing her. Her father scared all of her suitors away because he thought she was too good for them, leaving her single at a young age. Because of her overly possessive father’s actions, she became convinced that she would be alone forever.
Emily was a very prideful woman, and she was not about to accept charity from anyone in her town, let alone be dependent on someone. William Faulkner portrays Emily as a victim because she is controlled by the men in her life, whether it is her father or Homer. Emily’s story is one of unrequited love that turns into obsession and ultimately murder. William Faulkner uses a number of literary devices to tell the story of Emily, including foreshadowing, irony, and symbolism. Faulkner employs these devices to great effect in order to create a tragic story that speaks to the human condition.
The title “A Rose for Emily” is ironic because the rose is a symbol of love, and Emily’s love is anything but romantic. The title also foreshadows the ending of the story, when Homer’s body is found in Emily’s bedroom, clutching a handful of her hair. The symbolism in “A Rose for Emily” is Faulkner’s way of hinting at the true nature of Emily’s relationships with the men in her life. The poison she buys is symbolic of the poison that her father put in her mind, and the rose she is given at the end of the story is symbolic of the love that she never received from Homer.
As her father smothers her with over-protectiveness, she is destroyed as a woman in the Patrimony of a man. He prevents her from courting more (Internet 1). Her father never gave her the chance to enjoy a happy, joyful family life, which everyone deserves. She became attached to this guy the minute she learned he had died and was not willing to let him go.
When he left her, she was not able to cope with the rejection and took matters into her own hands. Emily’s actions were a result of her upbringing and lack of love in her life. William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily is a story about a woman who is so desperate for love and attention that she turns to murder. Emily Grierson is a tragic figure who is destroyed by her past. Her father’s over-protectiveness and control led to her eventually snapping and taking matters into her own hands. While it is clear that Emily is a victim of her circumstances, she is also responsible for her own actions.
In an attempt to retaliate against her absentee father, who never allowed her to have what she wanted most, Emily chose the first man feasible. With her father now gone, she had complete control over whom she accepted and kept. Because he had never experienced this before, Emily had no clue how to be a buddy or lover for the opposite sex. This might explain why Homer Barron is so strongly bonded to the first man who came along.
Emily’s lack of social skills and poor understanding of relationships could also be a result of her overbearing father who never let her have any contact with the outside world, furthering her seclusion from reality. Emily was not accustomed to being around people, or even talking to them for that matter. The only person she ever really talked to was her father, and even then it was mostly one-sided conversations.
Therefore, when Homer Barron came along she was more than happy to have someone to talk to, even if it was just small talk. It is possible that Emily saw Homer as a way out, a means of escape from the life she had been living up until that point. She may have thought that by marrying Homer she would finally be able to experience the life she always wanted, but never had. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Homer was not interested in settling down and starting a family, he was more interested in going off and living his own life. Emily soon realized this and became desperate to keep him with her, which ultimately lead to her murdering him. In a way, Emily’s father was right about one thing: she should have never let Homer Barron into her life.
