Rose For Emily

According to Faulkner, “After her father’s death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all” (805). Occurrences such as these are private instances that took place within Miss Emily’s life. They are very important instances that undoubtedly caused Miss Emily to shift to an isolated lifestyle. On the other hand, actions displayed by the townspeople provide a viewpoint of Miss Emily’s relationship with the public. “Arguably, the townspeople’s actions serve to protect Miss Emily’s privacy- by preserving her perceived gentility-as much as they effectively destroy it with their intrusive zeal” (Crystal 792). The actions of the townspeople fuel Miss Emily’s desire to remain isolated from everyone else in her

Either way Miss Emily had an issue of clinginess. For three days after her father’s death, she refused to believe that he was gone. She also kept Homers body for ten years, maybe because she was upset that her father was taken away. Although Emily’s father rejected any man that she brought over, perhaps keeping Homer was a way to get what she always wanted, a man in her life. The reasons behind Emily’s psychological behaviors vary.

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

Despite all the rumours talk by the towns people, Miss Emily had her own plan, but as Faulkner wanted to let the readers contradict what is the use of the arsenic he didn’t stated why and how does Homer disappeared. But as a clue, Faulkner come out with the smell, however, continues to persist, rapping on the reader’s curiosity. Miss Emily emerges as a figure frozen in a short of stasis, though throughout it all, Faulkner never makes her character any less complex and ambiguous.

Being a member of an antebellum southern aristocracy meant that she was in a family that was defined as a “planter” also known as a person owning property and twenty or more slaves. After the Civil War, the family went through another hardship. The woman and her father kept on living their lives as if they were still in the past. Her father refused to let her get married. When the woman was thirty years old, her father died. This took her by surprise. After her dad passed, the woman refused to give up his body. The town thought it was just part of her grieving process. After she finally accepted her dad’s death, she grew closer to Mr. Homer. This took the town by surprise. Homer explained to Emily that he wasn’t the marrying type. She did not like hearing those words. Emily went to town and bought arsenic from a drug dealer. Because of this, the towns people were certain she was trying to kill herself. Emily’s distant cousins came to visit because the priest’s wife had called them. Homer left for a couple of days, but then came back after the cousins had left. Emily wouldn’t talk to any of the towns people. They wouldn’t confront her given her reputation. They wanted to ask her about the awful smell that had been coming from her house and to talk to her about her taxes. At first, they said her taxes were over looked in debt to her father, but then they changed their minds and sent her notices. The woman refused to pay them! Years later Emily had

Miss Emily’s life was one of deep isolation and possible mental illness. The town’s people seemed to put her up on some sort of pedestal. Everyone in town was curious about her life, she hardly ever ventured out giving her a mysterious persona. The idea that Emily was some type of monument is perplexing since she didn’t interact with anyone other than her manservant.” People in our town, remembering how Old Lady Wyatt, her great-aunt, had gone completely crazy at last, believed the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were.” (Norton, 806) Emily going to the drug store asking for poison, specifying arsenic and not furnishing a reason for it’s use was an example where she thought she was above everyone. Emily didn’t care about laws she just wanted what she wanted and people gave in because they pitied her. Eventually, you learn that her lover Homer Barron wouldn’t be one that the coroner would get out of the house like he was able to do with her father, which took three

In Faulkner's story, an onlooker tells of the peculiar events that occurred during Miss Emily's life. The author never lets the reader understand Emily's side to the story. Instead, the reader is forced to guess why Emily is as strange as she is. In the story, Emily had harbored her father's dead body in her house for three days (par. 27). The reader is told of how the town looked upon what Emily had done, but the reader is never able to fully understand Emily's actions until the end of the story.

“And that was the last we saw of Homer Barron. And of Miss Emily for some time,” (Faulkner 47, 86). After the death of Homer, Emily hides herself away, exhibiting the same behaviors as she did after the death of her own father. Miss Emily starts showing insane behaviors by distancing herself once again. Emily’s emotions force the townspeople to believe she wants no help from them, making the townspeople to feel bad for Miss

In the short story “A Rose for Emily,” author William Faulkner shows a woman, Miss Emily Grierson, who is seen as an upholder for tradition by the community. Emily lives on her own with a butler in her old, dusty mansion and has her story told by the viewpoint of unnamed narrators in a total of five sections, each depicting her life from someone one in the community's perspective. The story demonstrates Emily's life through the eyes of bystanders. We are introduced to the main character through her funeral being hosted in her home in which has not been seen in over ten years, excluding the single servant. Miss Emily had a special relationship within the community since 1894 when they remitted her taxes.

Unfortunately, this led to a grotesque fate for her boyfriend Homer. When Miss Emily’s father died, she hid his body and denied his passing for three days. The townspeople had to work to get the body. This should have been the first sign that Miss Emily was a problematic individual. Another alarming signal that something was wrong was Miss Emily’s insistence that

At one point in the short story, it is said that there is a wretched scent coming from Miss Emily’s house and, instead of finding out why, the Old generation simply covers it up by sprinkling lime around her home to cover up the scent. With all that the Old generation did for her, it is evident that, to them, Miss Emily was some sort of prized possession, one that was not to be touched. However, as time went on, the Old generation moved on and the New generation came into play. Those of the New generation called a meeting to speak with Emily about the taxes that she had not paid in many years, with the intention of getting her to pay them again, just as every other person in the town did. As this was brought up to her, Miss Emily quickly became offended and defensive, ultimately telling the city authorities to “See Colonel Sartoris,” who had passed away many years ago, because she refused to believe that she had to pay taxes in her city, because the Old generation had convinced her that she would never have to. The more that the New generation and the society around her developed, the more Emily fell behind and struggled to keep up with the changes that were being made around her. This resulted in Miss Emily hiding herself away in her house for many years, as an attempt at escaping the changes being made to the society that she once knew so well. At some

The townspeople felt bad for Emily and thought the reason for her craziness was because her family had a history of it. Emily also waits three days before revealing the death of her father. Emily allows the dead body of her father to lie in her home rotting away. Another crazy action that Emily does is when she goes to the pharmacy to purchase “rat poison”. When Emily goes to buy the arsenic she doesn’t tell the druggist what exactly she is going to use it for, but stares him down making him feel uncomfortable. “Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up” (213). One of the most extreme actions Emily performs is being responsible for Homer Barron’s death. But, after fully reading the story the reader understands that Emily not only kills Homer but sleeps with his corpse. “What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay… Then we noticed that in the second pillow was 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 nostrils, we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (215) There the reader’s thought of Emily sleeping with the dead body and her psychotic tendencies is confirmed.

Another thing that might have contributed to Miss Emily’s motive was all of the gossip about her. In the small town of Jefferson, there was an abundant amount of gossip. Miss Emily was a main topic of that town gossip. When Miss Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron began, many of the townspeople looked down on the relationship. Scherting asserted that “Miss Emily’s conduct during the time baffled the people of Jefferson” (401). At this time the women were held to certain standards. Miss Emily was meeting none of the standards that the time

In the eyes of the folks who lived in Jefferson, Mississippi, Miss Emily Grierson was a very eccentric woman. She kept to herself, only employed one servant in her house, and was a shut in for the last thirty years of her life. Even before she became a recluse, the townspeople found her odd because of how she acted towards them. Emily was considered eccentric because she did things no normal woman of her station would do, and yet she still tries to hang on to her traditional ways in fear of change. Renee Curry, author of “Gender and authorial limitation in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily,’” suggests that “Faulkner designs this narrative position as a reflection of his own stance toward patriarchal and societal structures and

Everybody in town feels sorry for Emily when her father passes away. When Emily decides to isolate herself, the town automatically assumes that she is up to something without giving her a chance. Throughout the entire story, the townspeople are whispering and repeatedly saying “Poor Emily”. They label her as “crazy” as soon as they feel she was acting abnormal. Every action that is taken by Emily creates a reaction from the townspeople. “So, the next day we all said, ‘she will kill herself’, and we said it would be the best thing” (Faulkner 85). The town gives off the impression that they despise Miss Emily, they lead the readers to believe that Emily is doing some type of harm to the community. Mr. Grierson supports the town financially and physically. When the mayor exempts her from paying taxes it starts a conflict between Emily and the town of Jefferson. Since Emily has special privileges, the townspeople are now unsatisfied. Jealousy and hatred plays a major role in why the town feels and acts the way they do towards Emily.