A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

In the short story A Rose for Emily written by William Faulkner, readers are immersed in the narrative of a supposed town member who describes the impact that the recent death of an old woman has had upon their small community. In the narrative, readers are taken on a journey through the life of Miss Emily, an old, lonely woman who is seemingly frozen in her own timeframe. As the story unfolds, readers learn about the various tragedies Emily encountered in her lifetime such as the sudden death of her controlling father as well as her alienation from other family members that leaves her utterly alone following his death. Audiences also learn about events that happened throughout Emily’s life that both molded her as a person and aided in shaping her reputation around the town. From her controversial relationship with a construction worker named Homer Barron to her suspicious purchase of arsenic at the local drug store, there is no question that Emily lived under the constant scrutiny of her fellow townspeople. After reading the initial sentences, it can be concurred that this story doesn’t simply describe the life of an old, questionably insane woman, but also the story of the age-old battle between old and new. Through symbolism and an artful arrangement of the events described, Faulkner is able to meticulously weave a tale of the clash between newer and older generations’ views and standards.

William Faulkner uses imagery to represent Miss Grierson’s confrontation to change by vividly describing her appearance. With the description given of Emily, readers might conclude that it symbolizes her inability to change. He describes

William Faulkner writes “A Rose for Emily”, which is a tale about the peculiar events in a small town in Mississippi. The protagonist, Emily Grierson, is an eccentric lady that encounters tragedies throughout her life. Unexpectedly, she meets Homer Barron whom she considers the love of her life. In this tragic love story, Faulkner reveals the true identities of these individuals. The main character, Emily Grierson, in the story “A Rose for Emily”, is portrayed as a dynamic character, an anti-hero in the story, and a mysterious citizen in the small town of Jefferson.

Among many twentieth-century writers who have attempted to write about murder and mystery, William Faulkner’s ability to create an uncomfortable mood is incomparable to any other. "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral." In the introduction of A Rose for Emily, the pages are immediately infested with the theme of death, which brings the reader to question why this story has such a depressing tone upon separating the front cover from its pages. Making the solemn mood such an integral part of this piece not only provokes thought within the reader, but also gives a sense of security. It is clearly spelt out that the author is trying to make the audience feel a certain way. This specificity so early on in the piece makes his writing more believable and settling into the discomforting tone. A Rose for Emily is a poetic collage of psyche solutes meant to provoke life-altering observations and internal search.

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a story about an elderly woman, Emily Grierson who represents the old south. “A Rose for Emily” consists of five parts. The story begins with the death of Emily Grierson. Then, the narrator takes the readers into a flashback to the time Miss Emily Grierson is alive. The narrator explains Grierson as a representation of the old south. The narrator describes Miss Emily Grierson actions rather than explain her thoughts on why she choses not to accept the new way of life or the New South. “A Rose for Emily” ends with a twist which is why readers view the story as a southern gothic. By the end of the story, the townspeople discover that Miss Emily Grierson was psychotic. She kills her companion, maybe-lover, Homer Barron with arsenic poison. Emily Grierson could not accept the changes that came along with the new south which transforms her into psychologically damaged spinster. In a sense, Grierson symbolizes the old south to the townspeople; She’s unwilling to change her old ways of living and accept the new south. Faulkner’s story, “A Rose for Emily” protagonist, Emily Grierson and the town symbolizes the old south, which readers can imply by the poor conditions of Grierson’s house, the reconstruction of the town, and Grierson’s funeral.

The manner that Faulkner applies point of view in "A Rose for Emily" provides the readers with the idea of the dying values, traditions, and customs of the “Old South”.

“When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral- (Faulkner,1)”, this is the opening sentence to Faulkner’s short story. Immediately the reader is left wondering who is Miss Emily and how did she die. As the story begins to unravel, more suspense is built. The first major instance is after Emily’s father dies. She claims he is not dead

In 1930 William Faulkner published his very first story, “A Rose for Emily.” The story emerges with the funeral of Emily Grierson and discloses the story out of sequence; Faulkner brings into play an anonymous first-person narrator thought to be the representation of Grierson’s municipality. Miss Emily Grierson’s life was read to be controlled by her father and all his restrictions. Grierson was raised through her life with the thought that no man was adequate for her. Stuck in her old ways, Grierson continued with the Old South’s traditions once her father had passed. Awhile following her father’s death, Emily aims to put the longing for love to a stop and allows Homer Barron to enter her life. Faulkner portrays the literary movement of Modernism utilizing allegory through the post-bellum South after the American Civil War. In the short story “A Rose Emily,” William Faulkner uses a series of symbols to illustrate the prominent theme of the resistance of the refinement of life around Miss Emily.

In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily” Miss Emily Grierson holds on to the past with a grip of death. Miss Emily seems to reside in her own world, untarnished by the present time around her, maintaining her homestead as it was when her father was alive. Miss Emily’s father, the manservant, the townspeople, and even the house she lives in, shows that she remains stuck in the past incapable and perhaps reluctant to face the present.

William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” is an example of gothic literature. Faulkner shows sadness for the love that is not returned and a drive that Emily uses to get what she wishes for. He has a gloomy and mysterious tone. One of the themes of the story is that people should let go of their past, move on with the present so that they can focus on welcoming their future. Emily was the evidence of a person who always lived in the shadow of her past, because she was afraid of changing for the future. She would not let go of the past throughout all her life, keeping everything she loved in the past with her.

In the short story, “A Rose for Miss Emily", the main character, Emily, is shown as a wealthy socialite’s daughter, southern belle, and easily sympathized by most readers. The townspeople view her as a strange, lonesome individual; however, there is more to Miss Emily that meets the eye. Miss Grierson is a victim of circumstance. She was clearly depressed and had definitely had a case of separation anxiety, along with many other psychological demons. Miss Grierson is not a cold-hearted villain, but a sad, and misunderstood heroine who just longed to be loved.

In “ A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner tells the complex tale of a woman who is battered by time and unable to move through life after the loss of each significant male figure in her life. Unlike Disney Stories, there is no prince charming to rescue fallen princess, and her assumed misery becomes the subject of everyone in the town of Jefferson, Mississippi. As the townspeople gossip about her and develop various scenarios to account for her behaviors and the unknown details of her life, Emily Grierson serves as a scapegoat for the lower classes to validate their lives. In telling this story, Faulkner decides to take an unusual approach; he utilizes a narrator to convey the details of a first-person tale, by examining chronology, the

In this story the old south is address with a strong emotion of nostalgia and sadness because of the way Faulkner describes the life of miss emily.

“A Rose for Emily” is a story that happens in the south in the state of Mississippi, the author William Faulkner presents a story of a woman that has been a monument, and that has fallen. Faulkner’s titular character raised as Grierson that has power and a famous surname in the south. After a death of a loved one, Miss Emily life becomes one with the lovely house that she lives. The titular character has not lived up to what the townspeople expectation are. Miss Emily being frozen in time gives a foundation to flashbacks in “A Rose for Emily” to the point that Faulkner excites the readers by flashbacks.

William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily,” was written after the civil war and is often considered a piece of Southern Gothic literature (Davis). Southern Gothic is a subgenre of the gothic culture, which typically relies on the use of supernatural, unusual, and ironic events to drive the plot, all of which can be seen as a driving force throughout the story development of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” (Davis). Through Faulkner’s ingenious short story, “A Rose for Emily,” he demonstrates the powerful yet internal conflict that comes with change, and the tension it creates between the realms of the past and the future. Upon further analysis, we come to see the story as a representation of the fallen south coupled with societal commentary and a depiction of the characters as spirits from the past stuck in a present time they struggle to come to peaceful terms with. We can see the powerful message Faulkner creates illustrated throughout his use of symbolism, his protagonist Emily, the community that surrounds her, and the incongruent timeline of events he depicts throughout the telling of his story.