Short Story: “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner, Essay Example

“A Rose for Emily” is a short story written by William Faulkner. The story is told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. This adds suspense to the story because the reader gets the sense that the narrator may have been a member of the community. Faulkner uses a great deal of symbolism in the story. Emily represents a dying era of slavery and racial inequality in the South. Emily’s house represents the way of life for Blacks during this time. The story is divided into five sections that do not flow in any type of orders. Faulkner does not use chronological order deliberately to convey the state of mind of Miss Emily, the main character. The fact that the story is not told in a particular order heightens the climax because the reader is unaware of when the climax will occur.

The story opens with the death of Emily Grierson, a matriarch in a small southern town. Faulkner describes the relationship the people in the town had with Emily. With the description of t he relationship between the town and Emily, one can conclude that Emily’s lifestyle was dictated by the actions and behaviors of the town’s people.  The very first sentence of the story states that when Miss Emily died that whole town attended the funeral. However, Faulkner goes on to say why particular people attended. He says that the men attended out of respect and affection, while the women attended out of curiosity. The women wanted to know what Emily’s house looked like on the inside. People in the town were envious of the Grierson family. For example, Faulkner said that the “Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner). Early on Emily is depicted in a somewhat superior manner by the narrator and the town’s people. After her father’s death, she rejects the role of subjective woman.  Surprisingly, she is allowed to reject this role by the town’s people; thus, indicating that they too see her as being superior to them.

There are several underlying themes present in Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily.  Resistance to change is one theme. Emily is unable to let go of her past. Because of this, she is unable to adequately live in the present or look forward to the future. A Rose for Emily has a common theme of women being inferior to men is present.  Emily was constantly in the shadows of someone of thing. First, she was over shadowed by her father, then by Homer, and finally by society. As a result, Emily was afraid of change. Emily was unable to accept the passage of time and the changes that this passage brought about. One example of her unwillingness to change was the description of the house she lived in. Emily’s house was a symbol of the seventieth century while the town is changing and adapting to a new time era. Yet another example of Emily’s resistance to change was her refusal to pay taxes. The Grierson’s had been a powerful, wealthy family in a time that has passed. However, in Emily’s mind, she is still rich and powerful, which places her above the rules that regulated other common members of society. For example, “The detailed descriptions of her house, along with Miss Emily and her ways, also have an important role in the story and suggest that she is high and mighty” ( Swiggart, 2014   )  .Finally, finding Homer Barron’s skeletal remains in Emily’s bed is the most profound example of Emily’s resistance to change, it was foreshadowed when Emily purchased the poison.  Emily was so afraid the Homer would leave her that she killed him. By killing him, she is finally taking control of her situation.

The theme of class, race, and status is also present in A Rose for Emily. The community of Jefferson is separated by race and class. People in Jefferson are very conscious of societal class and ranks. When Miss Emily is seen in public with Homer Barron, the town’s people are horrified. First, they are upset that Homer is a “Yankee”. Morris adds, “The woman herself is sometimes unsure of which suitor to pick, and often makes a fatal choice which leaves her captured in a deadening relationship”( Morris, 1993  ).This means that he is not a Southerner and probably does not agree with some of the views that people from the South believed in. Secondly, Homer is a day laborer. They felt that a true Southern woman of Miss Emily’s status should not be seen with a man of Homer status.  For example,

“Nevertheless, Miss Emily spends Sundays with Barron, ignoring the whisperings of her fellow Jeffersonians. And true to her character, when Miss Emily visits the druggist to purchase some poison for reasons not yet known, she refuses to tell the druggist the purpose of the poison. And true to the townspeople’s relationship with Miss Emily, the druggist does not press the issue and gives Miss Emily what she wants.” (Faulkner)

The Element of imagery is present in A Rose for Emily.  Emily is described as being strange. For example, “She looked bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water, and of that pallid hue. Her eyes, lost in the fatty ridges of her face, looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough.” She is described as a living death” (Faulkner) so, even in life, she was described as someone who may have met a horrible death.  Also, Emily refused to let the town’s people know that her father was dead. For three days she denied it to the members of the community, leaving them to only imagine how the body must look and smell.  Finally, the scent of a rotten corpse began to escape the house.  The town’s people were about to resort to getting the law involved to remove the body from the house.   The most telling element of imagery was revealed at the end of the story when the reader finds out that Emily has been sleeping in the bed with Homer’s dead body for some time. A single strand of Emily’s hair is found on the pillow next to Homer’s body.

Finally, irony is a theme in the story. Emily buys poison to kill Homer because she is afraid that he going to leave her. Sadly, she doesn’t seem to realize that if she kills him he will no longer be with her.  Emily uses her social status to avoid an explanation as to why she wants to buy the poison. This is foreshadowing for the reader that something deadly is yet to come in the story.  Blythe adds, “After Miss Emily had requested rat poison from the druggist, the town assumed that she was planning her own suicide. The facts of her relationship with Homer Barron, a Northerner, were too great a disgrace in the town’s eyes, and suicide seemed a viable option.”(Blythe, 2014   )

A Rose for Emily is one of William Faulkner’s most famous works. The story can be a little confusing to read because Faulkner chooses not to write the story in chronological order. However, he uses that tool to fully convey they mental makeup of Miss Emily. The story takes place in the South-a place that has many deep rooted evils that people around the world were unable to understand. However, Faulkner uses themes that transcend the boundaries of southern living. Love, death, pride, and honor evoke the same feelings from readings regardless to background. Faulkner conveys through this short story the devastation of oppression-something that was very prevalent in the South during this time.

Works Cited

Blythe, Hal. “Faulkner´s A Rose for Emily.” Explicator, Winter 89, Vol.47. Issue 2: 49. Ebsco host. Web. 21 February 2014.

Morris, Pam. Literature and Feminism: An Introduction. UK: Blackwell Publishing, 1993 Ebsco host. Web. 21 February 2014.

Swiggart, Peter. The Art of Faulkner´s Novels. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963. Ebsco host. Web. 21 February 2014.