Emily Grierson In A Rose For Emily

When Miss Emily finds somebody, though, it quickly pushes her to desperation. Her relationship with Homer Barron is a result of the life and death of her father. Ironically, he is a northern, roughneck Yankee, the exact opposite of any connection a Grierson would consider. Unsuspectingly, Emily is attracted to him, which is an oddity itself considering her lack of personality and his obvious charisma, for “whenever you [hear] a lot of laughing...Homer Barron [will] be in the center of the group” (560). He is also the first man to show an interest in her without her father alive to scare him off. The town is doubtful that the pair will remain together, but Emily's attachments are extreme, as seen when she would not surrender her father's body. The circumstance exhibits how her feelings are greatly intensified towards Homer. However, he is “not a marrying man” (561). When it appears as though he will leave her, she kills him with poison. While seemingly the opposite effect of love, killing Homer is quite in line with her obsession. If he is dead and she keeps Homer all to herself, Emily will never lose him; he can never leave her. Other such details that express her extreme attachments appear as she buys him clothes and toiletries before they are even considered married. There is also the revelation at the end of the story that she has been keeping his body for over thirty years and sleeping with it, clearly demonstrating her overt desperation

In the short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, Emily, the protagonist, is shown as someone who’s life is falling apart and brought down by society. Emily in this story could be described as a victim to society and her father. Emily Grierson’s confinement, loss of her father and Homer, and constant criticism caused her, her insanity.

Emily’s father, as well as the people of Jefferson, had always pressured Emily to marry. Her father was never able to find a match for her though, and he eventually passed. Emily then met Homer Barron, a contract worker for the town. They begin to see each other more often, and the townspeople are shocked that Emily would lower herself to being with a man of low class. This shows a bit of irony, in that there has always been pressure for Emily to marry, yet when she finally meets a man she loves, people think she is wrong in her decision. Another piece of irony in this relationship, comes after Emily dies. The body of Homer Barron is found in the attic of Emily’s home. Next to the body are signs that Emily had been sleeping next the corpse. It can be assumed that Emily did murder Homer with the arsenic she had purchased earlier in the story. It

Once it becomes apparent that Homer is not the marrying type and that he represents everything that she is against, Emily murders him with rat poison. It is revealed that Emily kept Homer’s corpse in her bed throughout the rest of her life, when he is found in the bed by the townspeople after she dies. Homer represented the more modern and industrialized South to come and Emily murdering him

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” starts out at Emily’s funeral and then goes onto a story about taxes, which Miss Emily is exempt from paying for life by Colonel Sartoris. During her life, Miss Emily’s father kept her isolated and ran off any potential suitors with a horsewhip. When her father died, Miss Emily refused to acknowledge the fact for three days. Soon after, Miss Emily met and started dating Homer Barron, “a northerner and a day laborer.” The town goes from being happy about the relationship to thinking of it as indecent. Homer seemingly deserted Miss Emily shortly after she bought poison. All is quiet for the next 40 years until Miss Emily’s death when Homer’s corpse is found sealed in an upstairs room (Faulkner 323-327). This paints a picture of a lonely, desperate woman. Miss Emily was isolated with just a butler for company. That does not make her a murder. Emily Grierson is innocent of murder because any evidence is circumstantial or illegally obtained, Tobe cared for Miss Emily enough to kill for her, and Miss Emily is legally insane.

Miss Emily was a dynamic character because she changed and became withdrawn from the people in her community over the course of the story. In the exposition, she is a prominent and active figure in her community. Her character changed as she encountered the tragedy of her father’s death. However, she still was spotted occasionally by the townspeople. Faulkner shows this by declaring, “She carried her head high enough- even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson; as if it had wanted that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her imperviousness” (Faulkner 36-37). After Homer’s disappearance, Miss Emily became a true introvert. The author supports this idea when he states, “After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (Faulkner 34). The townspeople noticed changes

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a very chilling story that opens with a brief first-person account of the funeral of Emily Grierson who is an old widow. Her father died when Emily was about thirty and she refused to accept that he was dead for three days. Mr. Grierson choked Emily’s social ability. After a life of having potential husbands rejected by her father, she spends time after his death with a newcomer, Homer Barron who is a northern laborer. Emily buys arsenic from a shop in town for no

Why does Miss Emily kill Homer Barron? Miss Emily was a loner who kept to herself in an old southern house. She was a private person and the only person who every really knew Emily was her father and Homer Barron, who both end up dying. Making Emily having to accept change and face being alone.

As little girls, women are taught to see their father’s as the only man in their life. The father’s are seen as their knight in shining armor and they want their future husband to have the same characteristics as their father. If their father disapproves of their potential companion, then the man is considered not the perfect guy. In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” Emily Grierson has a normal young girl’s aspirations to find love but her decisions are controlled by her father since he sees no man being the right man. Her father drives Emily to become in a torn situation between a woman’s obligations of following their father’s rules or to find true love.

He also uses her new boyfriend Homer Barron as a tool to trick the reader that she had found someone to marry so the townspeople thought, the townspeople loved Homer but her dad forbid Emily from having a relationship with a black man but she could care less. Homer soon revealed he was into guys, coming back from out of town a week later they had separated and suddenly Miss Emily had vanished from the streets for months, while the townspeople stalked her they only saw that the deliver’s a market basket at her house then fleas without the front door being open. The townspeople talked and repeatedly said “Poor Emily after a year of hearing that Emily goes out to buy arsenic but would not tell the clerk why she wanted it or was going to do with it. The townspeople said “She will kill herself” (Faulkner pg. 148). Making the readers think she is going to commit suicide because she felt she had no one due to the relationships she didn’t have with her community By this time Homer was done with his work that was to be done at Miss Emily’s house normally he packed up and left that evening however he returned mysteriously, “A neighbor saw the negro man admit that he him at the kitchen door at dusk one evening and claimed that was the last time seeing

Not only because of his good look, but also because of his fun personality and good sense of humor. Despite his many admirers, he is more interesting in Emily and start building a relationship with her which will eventually make him regret the day he met her. Homer is an outgoing person, who brings joy and fun into Emily’s life. Moreover, even though Homer was a good looking man, he was seen as a poor man in the community, some people dislike him because he is a day laborer and the fact that he was going out with Emily would become a scandal because she was more seen as a respectable, higher social class woman.

Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in the short story “A Rose For Emily” was a very peculiar woman. Often prideful and aloof towards others, Emily stands her ground as a static character in Faulkner’s work. She is withdrawn from the ever-changing world around her, living in a world of delusions and neglect. Although many pitied this fallen monument, she learned to live in isolation in her decaying home. Surrounded by lavish furnishing and the only people desperate enough for her love; a silent Negro servant, and a dead lover.

And of course, what she chooses to do is kill Homer. The townspeople already gossip when she goes to the druggist and she buys poison. In killing Homer, Emily can continue to be pitied instead of being humiliated because she cannot engage in healthy relationship. The townspeople turn a blind eye to the smell, which is referenced several times in Faulkner’s story. It is incomprehensible that no one acted sooner to reveal the gruesome secrets Miss Emily Grierson kept.

Judith Fetterley argued in her critical essay that Emily Grierson from a “Rose for ‘A Rose for Emily’” was empowered and victimized by her gender and class. However the girl from “Boys and Girls” and Gertrude from Hamlet had not been as lucky as Miss Emily.

suggests that Homer Barron is a fun loving person. While, Emily comes out of the house very few times, and is never seen having fun with people. When Emily proposed Homer Barron for marriage, Homer refuses to marry Emily, as he did not wanted to overtaken by time and become dull as Emily would have wished. Thus, Emily poisons Homer Barron and killed him and kept him forever with her.