'A Rose for Emily'

By:
Somoud Barghouthy

'A Rose for Emily,' a short story written by William Faulkner in 1931,
unravels the mysterious and strange life of a recently deceased Southern
woman named Emily Grierson. The story is known for its themes of
death, sexuality, the roles of women, and the tensions between the
changing, more modern North and the resistant, more old-fashioned
South. It is Faulkner's descriptive, detail-oriented writing, along with his
skill at creating suspense that makes his story 'A Rose for Emily' an
enduring American classic.

Introduction to the Author & the Story

William Faulkner was born in 1897 and died in 1962. He grew up in a
small town in Mississippi, which is the setting for many of his novels
and short stories. Faulkner's family had lost power and money during the
Civil War. His work is deeply rooted in the story of the South, tackling
issues such as race, gender, and class, as you'll notice in 'A Rose for
Emily,' which was published in 1931. Also, this story is considered
Gothic. Gothic literature includes elements that verge on horror and
Romanticism. 'A Rose for Emily,' in other words, is a tad bit creepy.

Story Summary & Analysis

'A Rose for Emily' is divided into five parts. Part one opens at the time
of protagonist Emily Grierson's death. A protagonist is the main
character in a story. The entire community attends Emily's funeral, but
as the narrator suggests, no one really knew Emily. The narrator is the
person telling any given story. In this case, the narrator is unnamed and
assumed to be one of the townspeople. As the narrator tells the reader,
no one really knew Emily. Emily rarely went out, had never been
married, and died alone at age 74. Her entire existence was a puzzle for
the townspeople to piece together.
Part one also reveals part of the reason Emily died alone: Emily's father
had turned down most of Emily's suitors. By the time he died, Emily had
no more suitors. At this point in American history, women were
generally defined by their role as a mother, wife, or daughter. Because of
this, the town felt bad for Emily. Also, out of respect for Emily's
deceased and well-regarded father, the county made Emily exempt from
paying town taxes.
In part two, the narrator further elaborates upon the collective pity the
town felt for Emily once her father died. All her father had left behind
was the house. When people stopped by to express their condolences
about her father's death, Emily told them that her father was not dead.
Eventually there was a strange odor that emanated from Emily's house.
Faulkner alludes to the possibility that Emily had kept her father's corpse
in her home. The narrator confides, 'We did not say she was crazy then.
We believed she had to do that. We remembered all the young men her
father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would
have to cling to that which had robbed her, as people will.'
Part three describes how Emily had started to physically transform.
While she rarely left her house, the public did manage to see her now
and then. The narrator describes an Emily sighting that occurred after
her father's death: 'When we saw her again, her hair was cut short,
making her look like a girl, with a vague resemblance to those angels in
colored church windows - sort of tragic and serene.' The narrator clearly
still feels sympathy for Emily, viewing her as something to at once pity
and worship.
A significant aspect to part three is that Emily meets Homer Barron, a
single Northerner who is in town to oversee the construction crew
making new sidewalks. Homer's reputation is scandalous. The narrator
describes him as a man never meant for marrying. It is still in question
whether Faulkner's reference suggests Homer is gay, or rather, just a
man who isn't meant for settling down.
When the town noticed Emily and Homer spending time together, the
town frowned upon the union. Emily, in spite of her lack of money, was
still revered with old-fashioned Southern expectations. Homer was a
working class fellow, not good enough for Emily by most standards.
Also, that Emily and Homer were dating without any talk of marriage
was considered scandalous. The narrator describes Emily as a fallen
woman. A fallen woman is a woman who has been guilty of adultery or
sex before marriage. It's an outdated term. This is just an example of
how society judged women at this point in history.
The climax of the story takes place in part three, when Emily decides to
buy arsenic from the local pharmacy. While she allows the pharmacist to
assume it's for killing rats, there's definitely a red flag here for the
reader.
In part four, the narrator describes how everyone believed Emily would
kill herself with arsenic. Then, the narrator tells us that shortly after
Emily's trip to the pharmacy, the town stopped seeing Homer around.
Some time passed, and Emily grew very overweight. Her hair had turned
an 'iron gray.' Her door remained closed for six or seven years until she
started giving china-painting lessons. The narrator describes how one
day the townspeople just stopped seeing Emily, until they learned of her
death.
Part five puts all the pieces together. Once Emily's cousins come to take
care of Emily's estate, they discover Homer's corpse in Emily's bed. On
the pillow next to the corpse, there was a strand of Emily's iron gray
hair, which suggests that the arsenic had been used to poison Homer.
Also, Emily may have had a fetish for dead people. Many readers
consider Emily to be a necrophiliac. A necrophiliac refers to someone
who likes to have sex with corpses. This creepy element offers a Gothic
feel to this story.
The metaphorical rose for Emily is the narrator's way of honoring and
paying tribute to a woman who had suffered years in silence.

Themes of the Story

Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily' can be analyzed on multiple levels. Some
argue that the major tension in the story is Southern pride versus
Northern influences. It was the North who had argued for the abolition
of slavery, not the South. Emily's relationship to Homer could be seen as
an extension of this North-South tension.
There is also a deep tension between change and resistance to change.
Emily's decay is metaphor for the death of Southern pride, the end of
old-fashioned values.
Another notable theme is the role of women. Faulkner's treatment of
Emily suggests that readers should ultimately feel sympathy for Emily.
Because she lived in a small town, everyone had known her suitors were
all gone. Without a husband or children, Emily did not have many
options for how to spend her time.
Other critics argue that the story is intensely sexual. Emily's relationship
to corpses (both her father's and Homer's) suggests that Emily had a
desire for the dead. Also, as mentioned earlier, Homer is often
characterized as bisexual.
And death is an obvious theme. Faulkner opens with Emily's funeral.
The death of her father deeply influences her dark attachment to Homer.
Perhaps the only way she could have kept him was by killing him.
Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily' is often noted for its suspense. Faulkner
cleverly arranges the story so that he begins at the end, and then his
narrator goes back through time, telling Emily's story. The delay in
receiving important details increases the reader's suspense. The arsenic
is an example of suspense, since readers don't learn until the end that the
arsenic had been meant to poison Homer.