A Rose for Emily By: William Faulkner The story open with a foreshadowing introduction of the town people of Jefferson Mississippi gather for the funeral of Miss Emily Grierson. Miss Emily Grierson, is a cold and reclusive 74 year old spinster lived in the town her entire life. According to the narrator, Miss Emily was describe like a monument to the past like a strange fixture of town folklore. Colonel Santoris, a mayor tells Miss Emily that she will not have to pay taxes like everyone does. As time pass by, the story jumps forward 30 years which new win government leaders send Miss Emily a tax bill, which Emily should pay for but she ignores. Later insisting the Board of Aldermen speak with Colonel Sartoris who has been dead for years. The narrative goes back in the year 1895, two years after the death of Miss Emily’s Father where neighbors complain about a horrible smell coming from Miss Emily’s property. After that all government officials heated a discussion about how to handle the situation. So the aldermen sneak over to Miss Emily’s House after dark and spread lime to neutralize the odor. The story add a character and here comes Homer Barron, a Yankee arrives in the summer of 1894 to verse the construction of Jefferson’s new sidewalks. The town people of Jefferson Mississippi thought that they were dating because he and Miss Emily take buggy rides together every Sunday and seen to be courting. The narrative moves forward a year, when Miss Emily was purchasing arsenic from the drug store. Everyone thought and convinced that Emily will kill herself because of the reason that Homer’s insistence is not a marrying man even after a year of courtship. The Baptist minister talks with some assembly about her behaviour and the minister’s wife alerts Miss Emily’s cousins about what is going on. Miss Emily is doing things that will make the people curios and things that are not normal people do. Miss Emily purchases a man’s toilet which are a set of grooming kit, a suit and a night shirt which the people interpret as a sign that she and Homer are finally married but Homer is nowhere to be seen. He reappears on Miss Emily’s doorstep shortly after the cousins leave town but after that Homer is never seen again. Miss Emily disappears to emerging sometime later with the graying hair and having noticeably gained weight as the years pass. Miss Emily has seen less and less. When Miss Emily finally passes away in year 1937, her servant lets the women of the town into the house and then he walks out the back door for good. The story shifts back to the present where the towns people curiosity they break down the door to enter a locked upstairs bedroom in the old Grierson home a few days after Miss Emily’s Funeral. The interior is decorated like a bridal suite but it has the atmosphere of a neglected tomb. Later on, by looking and touring Miss Emily’s House. The town people discover something which answered to their curiosity, they found out the decomposed body of Homer Barron and next to Barron’s corpse on an empty pillow is a single strand of a long grey hair. OBSERVATION As what I observed in the story it has a roller coaster plot with an eye catcher scene. Miss Emily is an example of a woman living with strict rules under by a strict father. She is tied by the plans and she must protect the name of the family. When the time comes that her father died. She has a freedom and right to do what she loves but still she’s keeping the respect and value her family’s name but when Homer Barron came into her life, things change. She possess unexplainable feeling that she never ever feel before but Homer is not a type of a marrying man like every man in Jefferson’s town which the narrator describe as a homosexual person. And I think Miss Emily is being attached by Homer Barron and the narrator state that Miss Emily don’t follow government policies and pay taxes. She has her own rules, so she think and made a plan that if she can’t have Homer Barron by prayers, she will let her hand get dirty. So the people thought, she buy arsenic to kill herself because she is all alone after the disappearance of Homer Barron not until they broke the door to enter Miss Emily’s room and their they saw the corpse of Homer Baron and next to him is an empty pillow with a long gray hair which is stated in the last part of the story. I think Miss Emily just want how to be loved by someone because all her entire life she was prison by the plans and rules of her strict father. She wanted to feel having a family of her own and though she killed Homer Barron still her love last because up until her last breath she stayed and slept next to Homer Barron and leave a sign of her long gray hair which represent that until my last breath I will be here for you, even our hairs turn gray and old. Just promise me to stay by my side, so in the sense he kill Homer to stayed with her with the love of Emily that till death do us apart. CHARACTERS Emily Grierson and Homer Barron are the two central characters in William Faulkner’s gothic tale “A Rose for Emily”. Miss Emily Grierson -was born during the Civil War -She was raised by her strict father - She ignored the cultural and social progress exhibited by the new south, preferring instead to upload the customs and standards of the pre-civil war of south. - she continued their family tradition of believing that her social standing was more significant than it really was and believing her father’s insistence, that no one was good enough for his daughter. - She remained unmarried into her 30’s. - She allowed herself to be courted by Homer Barron, a man well below her class and a northerner were Yankee to boot because upholding Victorian standards for women namely becoming a wife was extremely important to Miss Emily Grierson and to the community. - Unfortunately, Homer wasn’t a marrying man. So Miss Emily secretly killed him by poisoning him with Arsenic and keeping his body in a bridal suite that doubled as a tomb. Homer Barron -described as a big, brash man with a loud laugh making him an unusual romantic partner for a cold and aloof Miss Emily Grierson. - “Far below” Emily’s social standing. -He took Miss Emily on weekly carriage rides after his arrival in Jefferson but heas had no intentions of marrying her or any other women. At one point Miss Emily’s cousins strict upholders of southern class traditions arrived and tried to keep her away from her suitor but Homer wasn’t a marrying kind. -He might be homosexual - He’s been killed and poison by Miss Emily Grierson and kept his body in her bed in that way Homer will and was never able to leave her. SYMBOLS The Grierson House -it symbolize prison. It is a squarish house where it had been constructed in a lightsome or carefree style with cupolas and spires which have scrolled balconies on the most select street in Jefferson. Throughout Miss Emily’s youth when she and the house were in their prime she saw her hopes for marriage and a family deteriorate as her father judged each young suitor not quite good enough for his daughter. Thus, the rumbling house is a physical representation of the decline of the family status and Miss Emily’s decent into madness. Gray Hair -The symbol of iron gray hair like the house itself represent a passing of time in a rose for Emily though Emily’s hair color wasn’t and never stated but when she finally emerges from her house after Homer Barrons disappearance. The narrator notices that the hair is turning gray and also her house servant’s hair turning gray. The towns people track how long it was been since this Emily was last seen by the changing color of her hair. As Miss Emily ages her hair grows grayer and grayer until it’s a vigorous iron gray like like a hair of an active man. Her hair starts gray immediately after Homers disappearance but a time her hair is completely gray, she refuses to cooperate with city officials of a number of issues. The gray hair symbolizes the strengthening of her iron like will to live life on her own terms and policies in defiance of social strictures. At the end of the story the revelation of a lone strand of gray hair on an empty pillow which is a sign that he’s been sleeping next to Barrons corpse. Men’s Toilet Set -Symbolize a love language. Miss Emily purchases for Homer Barron as a generous gift that represent the hope. Miss Emily is placed on an anticipated marriage to homer Barron usually including a crush, comb and a mirror backed with silver men’s toilet sets were more than just toiletries. They were a status symbol that indicated a membership in the aristocracy. Miss Emily believes that marrying Homer will help save her family’s name and position in society but when the toilet sets is seen later in the story it is covered in a thick layer of dust. This use has tarnished the shiny silver which symbolizes the case in the crumbling of the ways of the old south, the crumbling of a town’s connection to the past and the rumbling of Miss Emily’s heart. THEMES Post- Civil War South Southern culture specific customs and manners were ingrained way life for those who lived through the war clung to the memories of life before the Civil War began. Former Aristocrats like Emily Grierson and Colonel Sartoris had families that were prosperous and powerful before the war. From Miss Emily and Colonel Sartoris preserving the ways of the “Old South” meant protecting families’ legacies. Tradition vs. Progress This is the theme that speaks to the citizens of Jefferson, who are divided by into the older generation which upholds the traditions of the old south and the younger generation which is more focused on the progress. These two parties continually buttheads about practicality versus proper etiquette represented by how they want to deal with Miss Emily Grierson southern gentility dictates women particularly aristocratic ones be treated as if they were fragile objects. Colonel Sartoris promised that Emily will no longer have to pay taxes is an example of traditional southern manners and then 30 years later the board of Aldermen can’t understand the mindset. From their point of view no one is exempt from civic responsibilities not even aristocratic spinters everyone must pay taxes. Patriarchy Patriarchy cast a shadow over Emily Grierson’s life like it did for many women of the Victorian era. Victorian society was run entirely by men. Mr. Grierson effectively imprisons his daughter in their own home. He refuses any suitors who come to the door on the grounds, they’re not good enough for his only child. It is he, not Emily who does and make the judgement. It is she who remains imprisoned after his death. Pleasure and Misfortune This two thematically adds another dimension to this riches-to-rags story by showing how much the citizens of Jefferson. The light in the inevitable fall of the formerly mighty when the news spread that Mr. Grierson left his daughter practically nothing in a way people were glad at last they could pity Miss Emily. Her fall makes them feel they are equals or superiors which makes them feel better about themselves. LITERARY APPROACHES Feminism Approach -The story showed cultural, social, political and psychological oppression of women. Emily was being imprisoned by her father in their home. She was not allowed to entertained suitors because as what her father believe they were not good enough for Emily. Emily lived her life following and protecting the legacies of their family name. She got tied by her strict father and left without nothing. Emily was described by the narrator as “fragile like an object” which caught an attention that women are not an object and never underestimate the power of a women. Psychoanalytic Approach -It is showed in the story of how Emily change her emotions and thoughts that lead to unwanted action. When her Father was alive Emily’s life is like a puppet string girl but it change when time pass by and her father die. She has nothing but Homer came to her life which made her being unconscious and desire to have a family with Homer but he is not a type of a marrying man. The Baptist minister notice some unwanted behaviour of Miss Emily. She possess unconscious thoughts that made her buy arsenic and made her hands dirty and killed Homer in that way they’ll be forever together. Marxism Approach -The story relates and showed the behaviour of a society where there are different class and Emily was known as high class and superior but when her father died, he left Emily nothing which every women in Jefferson pity her because according to them Emily and the women in the town are all equal now. And also it is related to the historical, cultural and political system in the Post- Civil War where Southern culture specific customs and manners were ingrained way life for those who lived through the war clung to the memories of life before the Civil War began. Former Aristocrats like Emily Grierson and Colonel Sartoris had families that were prosperous and powerful before the war. From Miss Emily and Colonel Sartoris preserving the ways of the “Old South” meant protecting families’ legacies. Cultural they shaped that women should be dress like this, act like this, be with this and women are be and should be in the house only. Under Political it has different views in different time which new government leader and its new policies. When Emily is not going to pay taxes that is sign and approved by Colonel Sartoris but later on a new leader sent Emily a pay bill which were connected to this present generation that every leader have different political views and mindset. Narrative Approach -The story starts with a narration of the foreshadowing introduction of the town people of Jefferson gather for the funeral of Miss Emily and ends with the narration of how she killed Homer Barron, so that he will never leave Emily. The story contains of twisting plots that have an eye and attention catcher. The Narrator described each character and tells the whole message of the story and highlights Miss Emily and Homer Barrons love story and trage Rhetorical Approach -symbolism and presented throughout the story. Historical Approach -The story is based or connected to the history of the Post-Civil War which attempts were made to redress the inequalities of slavery and it’s political, social, and economic legacy. And just like the past the people are divided by class which is stated in the story but Emily’s Family’s legacies that she’s been protecting for are part of the Aristocrats belief and culture.
