preview

“a Rose for Emily”

Better Essays

“A Rose for Emily” Character Analysis of Miss Emily Grierson “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner, is a story of Miss Emily Grierson, a woman who was born into a wealthy family in the town of Jefferson. She grew up and lived in a huge Victorian home with servants. After the Civil War, it seems that her family’s wealth started to diminish but the Grierson’s were still trapped in the past of their family’s wealth. Emily Grierson’s past and present life is being recalled by a narrator who expresses the attitudes and ideas of the community. The narrator uses phrases like “We knew”, “We said”, and “We believed” to show the towns involvement. The townspeople pity Miss Emily and look at her as “fallen monument. Miss Emily is …show more content…

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

Get Access