Theresa Nicole Paez
Journal – Critical Essay
03/11/10
A Rose for Emily
I found A Rose for Emily quite interesting and scary at the same time. Interesting in the way that
this short story is not like most short stories. Scary in the way the character is set to be. Emily
Grierson is the main character in this short story, and she’s not your average type of girl. What I
got out of reading the short story was that Emily was a daddy’s girl, crazy, and not much of a
people person type of gal. What do I mean by a “daddy’s girl?” Well, her father did everything
around the house, and took care of everything. After his death it was hard for her to accept it,
because she didn’t know what it felt like being alone. I find Emily crazy because, I believe she
was the one who killed her boyfriend, the man she loved Homer Barron. She also crazy, in the
fact that at the end of the short story it is mentioned that Homer’s body was found lying next to
her on her bed when she died. There was one paragraph that got my attention the most, it
mentioned how Homer might have been gay. I was not expecting that, not in this short story.
When reading the title you, as the reader, would think it would be either about death, or love,
or both.
I’m not sure what the lesson of this short story is. The lesson might be without acceptance in
your life, it can cause obsessions, or bad actions. Because Emily could not accept Homer being
with someone else, or being gay, she poisoned him and kept him in her bed. Her not being able
to accept his choice, made her do something wrong, and obsessive. I do not believe there is
anything symbolic in this short story.
Questions on Meaning
2. The relationship between Emily and the community was never good. On her funeral the
women only went to see what the house looked like through the inside, the men went just for
respect. Everyone saw Emily has something more than themselves that no one could compare
to her. Emily believed she deserved special treatment because of who her father was. After her
father’s death, Emily only had the house so the town felt pity for her.
Questions on Rhetorical Strategy and Style
2. Description is used well throughout this short story For example…
At the end of the story the author describes the room in which Homer’s body and was
found lying down next to Emily’s.
Theresa Nicole Paez
Journal – Critical Essay
03/11/10
“ The violence of breaking down the door seemed to fill… hung the suit, carefully
folded.. the man himself lay in the bed. … looking down at the profound and fleshless
grin. What was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt. Then we
noticed that in the second pillow was the indentation of a head…. We saw a long strand
of iron gray hair.”
This description impact the end of the story, showing how deep, and strong Emily’s
feelings or obsessions were.
These descriptions describe her looks during certain events. They have an impact throughout
the story by revealing how certain events were affecting her physically.
At the beginning – “A small, fat woman in black, with a thin gold chain descending to her
waist… looked like two small pieces of coal pressed into a lump of dough as they moved from
one face to another.”
“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.”
“She had grown fat, and her hair was turning grey. Up to the day of her death at seventy-four it
was still that vigorous iron0gray, like the hair of an active man.”