“A Rose for Emily,” published in 1930, is one of the classic short stories written by renowned author, William Faulkner. It is a story that has left many questions by readers in terms of the meaning or symbolism behind Emily Grierson’s character and the events that take place surrounding her life and death. The story has a macabre feel to it, as it is examines the possibly insanity of the main character and the strange decisions she has made in regard to the dead body of her father, and then Homer, the man she was hoping to marry. The following essay will explore the short story through summarizing the events that take place in the story, the backdrop of the author, as well as a literary analysis of the story to better understand its significance as an American literary classic.
About Faulkner
In order to better understand the story, “A Rose for Emily,” it is best to gain some knowledge on the background of the author, William Faulkner. Often time writers base their work on aspects of their own life and the events occurring during that period of time. William Faulkner was born in Albany, Mississippi during a time when tensions were high among Blacks and Whites who were still living in a segregated manner. A large majority of the focus of his work was on the decline of the elite members of society in the South (“William Faulkner Biography” 2016). Growing up in the South during the earlier part of the twentieth century with the challenging conditions of the Great Depression and racial issues are aspects of his novels, short stories, and poetry that can easily be seen. Additionally, Faulkner presented a cryptic tone in his writing style that is seen throughout his short stories and novels (Williamson 355).
Summary of the Story
The story begins with the funeral of Emily Grierson who is compared to a town monument that people knew very little about. Nearly no one had been inside her home in years beside her house servant. A fascination with what was happening in her home was enough to bring out many of the women folk in town to attend her funeral. Miss Grierson grew up with a father who never approved of any of the possible suitors for her, which left her as an unmarried woman into her thirties.
There was talk among the townspeople that she may be a bit crazy because there is was a family history of mental illness. What further enforced this rumor was the fact that she refused to acknowledge the death of her father for nearly three days after he died. Once her father died, she became quite isolated and refused to pay taxes making delusional claims about Sartoris. The authorities eventually gave up on collecting taxes because it was so difficult to convince her with her erratic behavior.
As time went on, Emily met a man named Homer Barron who came to town as a foreman. They were seen together on many occasions and rumors began to start about their relationship, which concerned people since they were not married. Emily’s family was brought to town out of concern for her relationship with Homer. She began to purchase things for Homer, which had people assume that they had married.
At one point she went to purchase poison from the store and ended up buying arsenic. There is nothing mentioned in the story of her poisoning Homer, but that is what is assumed. Homer was no longer seen out in town, which is why it is easy to assume that he was poisoned by Emily because she knew she could not have him as her husband. A smell would linger from near her home that concerned the neighbors and people walking by, but no one ever thought that it would be a dead body in her home that was the cause of the stench. It is when she dies that they find Homer in a bedroom upstairs that is set up as a bridal suite with his body lying in the bed decayed. Right next to him is an indentation in the pillow indicating that someone was lying next to him. In addition, there was a long gray strand of hair found on the pillow, which is assumed to be Miss Griersons.
The depressing tale of Emily Grierson leads the audience to believe that perhaps she was crazy. After all her unwillingness to let go of her father’s dead body as a way to deny that it was happening is an unusual way to handle his demise. After that came the fascination with Homer Baron who she seemed to have murdered in order to keep him by her side even as a corpse.
Analysis
One of the interesting things about the way that Faulkner wrote the story “A Rose for Emily” is the unusual narrative style that transitions throughout the story. The reader is never quite sure who the narrator is, whether it is a male or female or if it is more than one individual (Klein 2007). Often times the narrator speaks using “we” and there is a sudden transition from third person to first person in the narration style (Klein 231). Klein suggests a “ghostly gossip” tone to the writing style of Faulkner’s story (Klein 2007).
The main character of the story, Emily Grierson is an intriguing individual that appears to represent much more than what is told in the story. A Jungian analysis suggests that there is a masculine feminine identity confusion that exists in Emily’s character as a result of being raised only by her father, with no mother present (Hsu and Wang 89). “An individual with an imbalanced anima or animus might suffer mental disorder, “which appears to be the case with Emily (Hsu and Wang 89). Perhaps Faulkner was telling a tale that may have been all too common during that period in time as many of the elite Southerners were losing their positions and facing hardships that would often result in mental illness and erratic behavior.
Conclusion
Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a short story that perfectly represents many of the societal events and issues that the author was witness to in his town at a point when the South was experiencing a large amount of difficulty as a result of the changes, as well as the Great Depression. The main character Emily is a complex aspect of the story that leaves readers questioning her motives and her sanity. The cryptic nature of Faulkner’s style is present in the odd behavior that Miss Grierson presents by hanging onto the dead bodies of the men she is challenged to let go off; first her father, then the murder of Homer Baron. In conclusion, Faulkner’s short story brought a great deal of attention to him as a writer in his publication of “A Rose for Emily.”
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Works Cited
Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." A Rose for Emily. N.p., 1930. Web. 04 May 2016.
<http://xroads.virginia.edu/~drbr/wf_rose.html>.
Hsu, Chenghsun, and Ya-huei Wang. "The Fall of Emily Grierson: A Jungian Analysis of
A Rose for Emily." K@ta 16.2 (2014): 87-92. ProQuest. Web. 5 May 2016.
Klein, Thomas. "The Ghostly Voice of Gossip in Faulkner's A ROSE FOR EMILY." The
Explicator 65.4 (2007): 229-32. ProQuest. Web. 5 May 2016.
"William Faulkner Biography." - Life, Family, Childhood, Parents, Name, Story, Death,
History, School, Mother. Advamag Inc., 2016. Web. 05 May 2016.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Du-Fi/Faulkner-William.html>.
Williamson, Joel. William Faulkner and Southern History. US: Oxford University Press
(US), 1995. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 5 May 2016.
