A Rose For Emily Research Paper

The extreme example of her need to control change, to keep time "in her pocket," is her poisoning Homer and placing him carefully in the upstairs room. The townspeople have joined forces with the representatives of her own family and are on the verge o f separating her from him, just as earlier they separated her from her father. Homer alive and active in her life has become too serious an affront to those around her. The only way she can keep him with her is to arrest his activity and to suspend his vi tality. As a corpse, this Yankee outsider will be less offensive to the sensibilities of the closed Southern community. (Evidence exists of the town's complicity in Homer's murder. Their knowledge of Emily's purchase of the arsenic, followed by Homer Barron's disappearance and the subsequent odor surrounding the Grierson house indicate at least some level of community awareness of what had happened.) More important for Emily, however, Homer will now stay fixed as a part of her life forever.

When she finally found a male that showed some interest and emotion, she was attached to them. That’s where Homer Barron comes into the story. He would visit Emily and go for Sunday drives with her. When Homer told Emily that he must move on she found herself on the verge of loneliness once again. If Homer would leave it would be two men that have left her. When she realized that he was about to leave she poisoned him and would keep him forever.

Desperation for love arising from detachment can lead to extreme measures and destructive actions as exhibited by the tumultuous relationships of Miss Emily in William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily” (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 9th ed. [Boston: Wadsworth, 2006] 556). Miss Emily is confined from society for the majority of her life by her father, so after he has died, she longs for relations that ironically her longing destroys. The despondency and obsession exuded throughout the story portray the predicament at hand.

"A Rose for Emily" is a wonderful short story written by William Faulkner. It begins with at the end of Miss Emily’s life and told from an unknown person who most probably would be the voice of the town. Emily Grierson is a protagonist in this story and the life of her used as an allegory about the changes of a South town in Jefferson after the civil war, early 1900's. Beginning from the title, William Faulkner uses symbolism such as house, Miss Emily as a “monument “, her hair, Homer Barron, and even Emily’s “rose” to expresses the passing of time and the changes. The central theme of the story is decay in the town, the house, and in Miss Emily herself. It shows the way in which we all grow old and decay and there is nothing permanent

Miss Emily is the community’s subject of gossip and speculation, when she starts to take the attention to Homer Barron, a northern Yankee who has come to town on contract to pave the sidewalks in Jefferson. The townspeople where glad to see her have an interest in Homer but suggest that “Of course a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer. But there were still others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige (the traditional obligation of the nobility to treat the lower classes with respect and generosity)” (Faulkner 792). While Homer may not be the traditional suitor for Miss Emily, she takes to him due to the fact that she no longer has her father around to run anyone off and she is free to court anyone she wants. Emily, though arrogant and stubborn, grows up in a conservative society where puritan womanhood is firmly believed, so she is well aware of the power of tradition. Not only does she know the gossips concerning her dating with a Yankee, but also cares a lot about those rumors, as described in the story "She carried her head high enough—even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson." (Faulkner 792) This could be the reason why Miss Emily decides she wants to buy poison from a druggist and gives

“A Rose for Emily” is a story about Emily Grierson who kills her Yankee boyfriend Homer Barron and lives with his body in her bedroom for over forty years. However, the story is not really about Miss Emily’s actions, but more about the society that made her into who she is and how it conflicted with the ever changing post southern civil war society. Miss Emily grew up as part of an aristocratic Southern family, with an overpowering father who refused to allow her to be courted by the young men of the town. It is Emily’s father who first elevated her to idol status by keeping her segregated from her peers, and giving her this ego by putting her on such a high pedestal. Emily’s father is a proud man of his Southern

The progression of Emily’s insanity and twisted perception of reality is also seen in her relationship with Homer Baron. When Homer Baron comes to town after her father’s death, Emily attaches herself to him. Even though the townspeople are shocked that Emily is going on carriage rides with “a Northerner, a day laborer” (83), no one says anything to her despite their concerns: that “even grief could not cause a real lady to forget nobles oblige” (83). The saying “Poor Emily” (83) starts circulating among the townspeople along with the references to the fact that “old lady Wyatt, (Emily’s) … great-aunt, had gone completely crazy” (82). The townspeople seem concerned about Emily and state that they believe “her kinfolk should come to her” (83) to remind her of who she is. Meanwhile, Emily continues to carry “her head high… [and demands] more than ever, the recognition of her dignity as [being] the last Grierson” (83). Everyone in town knows that Homer has stated that “he liked men …. and was not the marrying kind” (84). Yet Emily continues to see Homer Baron [and] goes so far as to order him a “toilet set in silver, with the letters H. B. on each piece

He arrives in town for work and soon becomes acquainted with the townspeople, including Miss Emily. The town has a negative response towards the relationship between Miss Emily and Barron. Since they view Miss Emily as a remnant of the old antebellum south, her relationship with Homer Barron, a northern laborer, does not suit the illusion that the town creates. While some may have been glad to see Miss Emily finally find a potential lover, many people of town regarded her as “poor Emily” (457). This pushes the town to dehumanize Miss Emily in order to fulfill the town’s illusions which leads to the town also devaluing Homer because he spends time with Miss Emily.

The way the town constantly treats Miss Emily as though she is not responsible for her actions and coddles her just encourages her “I’m the last Grierson” mentality. This is shown when the narrator says, “We did not say she was crazy then. We believed she had to do that” (58). She refuses to let a rotting corpse be taken out of her house and they do not think she is crazy! Another example of this is when she buys the arsenic. She will not tell the druggist what she plans to use it for. The town learns of this and their response is “ “She will kill herself”; and we said it would be the best thing” (59). Living in a town who says things like that would drive anyone to the point of wanting to be a recluse. After Emily kills Homer Barron she feels no need to go into the town and becomes a recluse. She shuts herself in her house for forty years, and the town does nothing, but talk about her.

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the town takes on the collective role of the narrator and describes the events that precede the death of Emily Grierson, a member of the town who was known as “a tradition, a duty, a care; a sort of hereditary obligation…” (134). As the story progresses, many of Emily’s peculiar behaviors are revealed and her past is discussed in preface to one of her last acts which involves her murder of Homer Barron. When the story ends with members of the town finding “a long strand of iron-gray hair” (143) on the pillow next to Homer Barron’s rotting corpse, readers are left without an explanation as to why Emily would kill Homer and sleep with his dead body. This perplexing question can be explained through Emily’s relationship with her overprotective father who prevented her from learning how to develop healthy relationships which ultimately led to a fear of abandonment.

In William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” the story is revolved around the character Emily Grierson. The story is told by the townspeople where Emily lives. These people are attending her funeral and pitching in memories and tales they remember from Emily’s life. It is through the collective voices and opinions of the crowd that the reader is able to interpret Emily’s struggles. With Emily Grierson’s choices the reader can tell that she is a dependant woman, with psychotic tendencies, and does not take the thought of change and rejection lightly.

Published in 1931, “A Rose for Emily”, is a short story written by William Faulkner. The story is set around 1894 in the Southern part of the United States. This story describes the life of Miss Emily Grierson. When the mayor had brought Miss Emily taxes, she told them that she had no taxes in Jefferson. Then the story changes to thirty years before when the townspeople were trying to tell Miss Emily about the smell of her house. Then she had gotten sick, and wasn’t seen for a long time, until she was seen with Homer Barron. Eventually, Homer Barron was never seen again, and neither was Miss Emily except inside her house windows. When Miss Emily died they went into her house and found a body that had been there for sometime. This story is

Another thing that might have contributed to Miss Emily’s motive was all of the gossip about her. In the small town of Jefferson, there was an abundant amount of gossip. Miss Emily was a main topic of that town gossip. When Miss Emily’s relationship with Homer Barron began, many of the townspeople looked down on the relationship. Scherting asserted that “Miss Emily’s conduct during the time baffled the people of Jefferson” (401). At this time the women were held to certain standards. Miss Emily was meeting none of the standards that the time

The short story A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner first comes off as a disturbing story. When you realize that Miss Emily Grierson, who is the main character in this story, kills the man she’s though to be in love with, all you can really think is that she’s crazy. I think the conflict in the story is Miss Emily not being able to find love. With her father not giving her a chance to date, thinking that there was no one good enough for her. Then, the only man she has been able to love dies, which is her father. Once she has fallen “in love”, she murders her lover. Miss Emily’s necessity for love has caused her to be unable to distinguish fantasy with reality.

Another important character from the story is Homer Barron, a man who develops an interest in Miss Emily, “Presently we began to see him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays from the livery stable” (519). According to the story, it seems that the whole town was thinking they would get married: “She will marry him” “She will persuade him yet” (520). However, Miss Emily ends up killing Homer by poisoning him. There seems to be two reasons why she did it. One is that she wanted to marry him, but it appears he refused. The other one is that he might be homosexual: “he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elk’s Club, that he was not a marrying man” (520). All these speculations about the principal characters Emily and Homer have one questioning what the narrator’s intention towards them was really. “The narrator wants to trap us in the speculations made about Emily’s and Homer’s characters by making us believe that Emily will kill herself or that Homer is homosexual” (Wallace). He might be right on this statement because this is what one is most likely thinking about through the reading.