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Analysis Of A Rose For Emily

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Madison Chickonoski
Professor Taylor
Lit 1000
30 September 2017
Analysis of “A Rose for Emily” William Faulkner’s story “A Rose for Emily” which is a story about an old pauper whose life is turned upside down after the death of her father. Faulkner uses a lot of symbolism in this story to give a glimpse into the mysterious life of Miss Emily Grierson. Things such as the rose itself, which is a symbol of love for which she is searching for throughout the story. Another one being her hair which is a symbol of the rise and decline of her sexual maturity. And last, the Grierson home is a symbol of her state of mind and mental stability. These symbols enforce the key theme of the story which is the power of death and the hold it takes on the lives of many. Emily’s behaviors and stubborn way of thinking and living are important to the story, showing how death can take hold of a person’s life and consume it completely. Before the death of her father, Emily was known to the town as a young vibrant woman who had many suitors and was very desirable, so for Faulkner to use a rose as a symbol was a very clever tactic. A rose is often used as a symbol of true love, this love is the love that Emily seeks as a young woman into her later years. As was mentioned before, Emily, as a young woman had a plethora of suitors and the town was led to think that she would finally accept someone’s proposal, but soon became suspicious of why after all this time she was still single. “So when she got to thirty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn’t have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized” (227). It wasn’t until Homer Barron came around that things began to change. The reader is brought to believe that Emily has finally found this essence of true love with Homer, she would do anything to preserve this love, just as someone might do with roses from a special occasion. By killing her sweetheart, she preserves his body in a tomb-like bridal suite with the artifacts they would have shared together, this was her way of preserving the love she believed they had together. “She keeps her own personal rose, her lover, preserved in the bridal

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