FREE ESSAY ON FAULKNER'S ROSE FOR EMILY

FAULKNER'S ROSE FOR EMILY

Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily"
"A Rose for Emily" is one of William Faulkner's famous stories. The antagonist of it is
Miss Emily Grierson, which was forced by her dominating and repressive father to grow up
alone. She was raised to adhere to a certain standards. So, she stocked with the old
south's rules. Miss Emily was raised with the belief that no man was suitable for her.
And her father is the cause of her superior feeling. After her father's death, she wanted
to live her life her way, but every body in the town including the authorities make her
feel that her life of living is unacceptable, and that based on old south and new south
traditions and beliefs. Her relation ship with the Colonel Sartoris to make her exempt
from paying taxes is suspicious. But, he did not realize that once he is gone, there
would be some one else to put her in the right track. Miss Emily tried to do some changes
in her life when Homer showed up. But her feeling of loosing him made her start with a
plan that kept him close until her death.
Many analysts give attention to the story since the first time published. Petry mentioned
two reasons for making "A Rose for Emily" a special. First, the disordered chronology,
Second the end of the story which is definitely a shocking ending to every reader. So we
can see how the narrator starts off telling that Miss Emily was dead and everyone in the
town went to her funeral. Then, he went back to tell about Emily's life, which ended by
killing Homer and keeping his body in the "bridal bed." (52-54)
Loneliness can be a terrible thing to prey on someone's mind. Apparently no man was good
enough for Emily, that why she never got married and was by self Her father gone and now
she is alone, even though she still have Tobe to help her with the market and other
chores. Then, the foreman Homer Barron showed up in her life. He was sent by the
Construction Company to pave the sidewalks. But, his job did not finish there. He is the
only one left, a northerner that would love her despite of all the southerners who were
scared of her weird family. Truly, Homer can not give her what she is looking for neither
did her father. The need for companionship is the basis of courting Homer Barron. When
the work finished and Homer left town, Miss Emily was once again alone. And the insanity
began to set in. Even though her cousins stay with her for a short while, this is not
what Emily wants. When Homer came back, her chance for everlasting companionship was
available. So, she killed him to secure the fact that she will always have him by her
side, and she will never be alone again. Blythe think that the most provocative aspect in
the story is the motive in killing Homer Barron. And he suggested that homosexuality is
the reason for Emily to poison him. Homer himself said that he only like men, and whether
this means he is gay as his last name would imply, or he simply is just like to be around
men, he will not settle down. Emily could not stand the thought of loosing another man;
she wanted to save face, her pride, and loneliness (49-50). In the other hand, Wallace
mentioned in one of his articles that he denied the knowing that Homer Barron is a gay,
because he is wandering how the narrator know all of the details in the story. Beside
that, he did not get to write about Emily until fifty years passed, which will make every
thing he says is suspect. The narrator just wants to trap us (105-107).
Miss Emily is a southern lady. She was raised to adhere to certain standards by stocking
to the old south's rules. She locked herself in her house and refused to see any one but
her servant. She represents the past south (a fallen monument). In the story we can see
how Miss Emily tried her best to keep the southern tradition, she write on "note paper of
an archaic shape" in "faded ink." After her father's death, she kept him for three days
maybe because he was the only symbol of the south that left for her. She told the tax
collectors to go and ask Colonel Sartoris to explain why she is exempt. Even though, he
had died long time ago (Kurtz). By looking at Schwae work in analyzing "Rose for Emily",
we see that he think the watch in the golden chain is the symbol of time. It is in her
pocket and not pinned to her, so she can have a total control of time. She thinks that
any changing in time will involve a loss. The loud sound of watch ticking will never let
her forget about her duty to stop time and stay in the past (512-517).
In the story we noticed that there was an unclear relationship between Miss Emily and all
men that the narrator mentioned. As Curry says we do not know exactly what happened after
the Baptist minister visited her (397-402). Even the Negro manservant who lived with Miss
Emily left. There was something needs to be cleared about his leaving the scene after
some curious lady came to visit. Carry thinks that Tobe has some important information,
but since he was an African-American, the narrator considered his information
insignificant (397-402). Even though Tobe is minor character in the story, he might be
the one who killed Homer to protect Miss Emily from further humiliation that started when
her father was alive. Pretty much any idea is possible since the author did not give
clues to the death of either man.
I feel sad about Miss Emily; every thing in her life was not fair. Is it her problem to
have a measurable life as a child? Is it her fault to have maybe a mentally sick father?
I think Miss Emily is a victim of her society. I do not blame her, because I really can
not feel what she went through. Even the narrator is not close enough to her to explain
exactly how she feels. Her life was translated by others feelings and from their point of
view. Her life is going to stay as a mystery.