By William Faulkner
(Katelyn and Rachel)
 Broken
into five sections
 Starts with the funeral and ends with her
death
 Many flashbacks
 The
narrator recalls the funeral for Emily
 Many people attended because they
wanted to see the inside of her house
 No one has been in her house in 10 years
except her servant, Tobe
 She never paid her taxes
 30
years earlier
 The townspeople complain about the
odor coming from Emily’s house
 They trespass into her property to try and
rid the smell
 We find out her father had died and her
sweetheart had left her (still single by
age 30)
 Took her 3 days to turn over her father’s
body
 Takes
place before part 2
 Emily starts to become ill
 She meets Homer who is a construction
worker and he isn’t accepted into her
social class
 Her reputation is compromised
 She bought poison, “for the rats”
 The
townspeople call upon Emily’s family
to come and stay with her
 The townspeople are hopeful for Emily’s
marriage with Homer
 She buys the toilet set and nice men’s
clothing
 Homer enters Emily’s home and is never
seen again (only the servant is seen
entering and leaving her house)
 Emily ages and falls ill and dies
 Emily’s body is laid out in the parlor
 Everyone from town and Emily’s two
cousins
attend her funeral
 The find a door that has been sealed for 40
years and the townspeople break into the
room
 They find all the items Emily had bought in
hopes for her marriage and Homer’s
decayed body
 They also find an indention in the pillow
next to Homer with a gray hair suspected to
be Emily’s
 She’s
a creep
 The classic outsider
 Hides her true identity from the town
 House shields herself and represents her
 Enforces her own sense of law and
conduct
 Pitied by the townspeople
 Takes Homer’s life to achieve total power
over him
 Also
an outsider and a stranger
to town
 Initially becomes the center of
attention but is soon distrusted
because he is from the North
and is a laborer
 Outings with Emily were
scandalous because he is from a
lower class
 Is portrayed as a homosexual
(enjoyed going to bars with
younger men)
 Impact
of Death:
• Through the death of her father, Emily begins to
lose her morals and her sanity
• Goes from being charming and beautiful to
decrepit and lonely
• She has a bizarre relationship to dead bodies of
men that she once loved
• She wants to fuse life and death but ultimately
death triumphs
 Her
house:
• Represents Emily and her dark side and her
sheltered nature
 The
strand of her hair:
• Represents love lost, and perverse things that
people do for their pursuit of happiness
 Emily’s
odd actions towards the men she
loved demonstrates her need for control
and acceptance in her broken life.
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0A ENJOY ;)