A Rose for Emily: Literary Analysis Essay

After reading “A Rose for Emily”, I feel mournful for Emily because of the fact that it seems like she had some sort of mental illness and perhaps she killed her husband by accident because of it. Over the course of the story, readers are most definitely puzzled by Miss Emily’s mysterious and unusual behavior. Although it’s not quite articulated by Faulkner directly, there are various instances throughout the story that hint to the readers about Emily’s awful mental condition.

In the short story, “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner uses a modernistic style of writing combined with Southern Gothic themes to show how strange or “perverse” of a character Emily Grierson is. The story is split into five parts which all take place throughout Emily’s life. These five parts are not in chronological order. Not until the story is looked at in chronological order will the reader understand the full personality and life of Emily Grierson.

In William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” the main character of the story is Miss Emily Grierson. To analyze and examine her character, it is almost impossible not to look at the psychological aspect of it. Through the narrative of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s behavior and character is revealed as outright strange from any average standard of characters.

Early in the story, before the extent of her symptoms has become clear. Rather, it is her refusal to listen to aldermen at all that makes her more than just a stubborn town weirdo. There are two other incidents that are equally telling. When Miss Emily goes to the store to buy poison, she is described as lacking in emotions, withholding information from the pharmacist about the reason for her request. The other important episode, besides the obvious psychotic act of sleeping with a corpse, involves Miss Emily’s purchases of items for the man that the town believes is her husband to be who is dead and decaying in Miss Emily’s bed. Indeed, when the townspeople kick down the bedroom door years later, the narrator describes a scene that is “adorned and furnished for a honeymoon” frozen in time and covered with spider webs and tarnish (Faulkner 2165). It is obvious Miss Emily’s understanding of reality had slipped completely

Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is definitely an odd character by the standards of an average reader. The character analysis of Miss Emily could follow any number of roads. It would be hard as a reader not to examine her from a psychological perspective as well as within the context that surrounds the character. Throughout the short story of Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Miss Emily’s peculiar and unstable behavior becomes strikingly unpredictable, and the reader like the townspeople in the story, is left to determine why Miss Emily has spent many years living and lying next to the dead body of Homer Barron. One of the important quotes in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the townspeople “did not say she was crazy” at first (Magalaner and Volpe 152), and of course, she was never evaluated by a medical professional. Yet by the end of the story, the reader can travel back through the story and recognize many occurrences in which Miss Emily’s behavior hinted towards the possibility of a mental illness, even if the townspeople wanted to remain oblivious to this fact and allow her to remain a monument in Jefferson. Emily never receives any form of mental treatment, but definitely shows signs and symptoms of mental illness. In fact, these details could be used to reinforce the affirmation that Miss Emily suffered from mental illness, quite possibly Schizophrenia as defined by the

Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in the strange short story “A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner. It would be best to examine her in a mental capacity as well as the circumstances that may affect her. Throughout the story, Miss Emily’s unpredictable and eccentric behavior becomes unusual, and the reader, like the townspeople in the story, is left to speculate how Miss Emily has spent years living and sleeping with the body of Homer Barron.

Even though, the narrator makes a slight mention that Homer was seen again entering Miss Emily?s house, the next time a description of Emily is given, she is alone, fat and her hair was iron gray. (4,

An aristocratic woman, Miss Emily Grierson, lived in the Old Grierson family home until she died at the age of 74. Everyone in the town knew of this once “Southern Belle”, but as the years passed, people of the town never really knew the secrets Miss Emily was keeping. William Faulkner’s gothic romantic story “A Rose for Emily” uses symbolism as points of time to unveil Miss Emily’s mysterious past and reveal the horror of the present. By incorporating the Grierson house, stationary, hair, body features and other objects into the story line, Faulkner explains why Miss Emily’s love life and seclusion made her an eccentric person.(Faulkner)

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”, displayed a dark and gothic tone and theme. Miss Emily was not only mentally ill, but was an old lady that needed the help that she deserved instead of people talking about her. Emily Grierson exemplifies a psychotic nature by preserving deceased bodies and by inheriting her insanity from her own aunt. Instead of assuming her insanity and questioning about her, people should have actually been worrying for the reason behind this chaos. Society judged her and gave her labels based on her surprising and disturbing actions. Being insane was just a normal for Miss Emily

With the need of a emotional equivalent, she begins to have feelings for a member of the repair crew on the sidewalk, named Homer Barron. The reality of them being married was no existent because, “Homer himself had remarked-he liked men, and it was known that he drank with others in the Elk’s club-that he was not a marrying man” (Faulkner 725). Homer basically said to the men he simply wanted to use her for her body, and after the sidewalk was finished. He would go onto his next Job and would probably never see Emily again. Soon Emily found this out and went to go buy poison from a vendor. After, “That was the last we saw of Homer Barron” (Faulkner 726). This was the last time Homer was seen before thirty years later, Homer’s body was located in a locked room upstairs. This shows how difficult it was for Emily to let go of the reality that Homer did not want to be with her. And this also explains why they found a lock of hair next to Homer’s dead body. It was because Emily had a desire for physical and emotional

As the town watched Emily and Homer’s relationship, Emily seemed to be happy and making an effort to turn her life around. She would actually leave the house and go out to town with him, the first sign of normality they had seen of her. But one day, the town realized that Homer was no longer around and was not “surprised” at his

In the beginning, it states that, “A deputation waited upon her, knocked at the door through which no visitor had passed since she ceased giving china-painting lessons eight or ten years earlier.” (W. Faulkner, 85) This indicates that Miss Emily was isolated, she cut herself off from the community and did not have much social interaction in a long period. This was after her father’s death, this may have partially contributed to Miss Emily losing her touch and becoming a delusional woman. As well as, Miss Emily isolating herself away from everyone for all those years. These are both contributing factors to what may have led Emily Grierson to become this way.

She is able to put up a front of normalcy for the town while with him by going about their business normally enough, buying him presents, hinting at marriage(Walker). But due to the strain on Emily, by her father, the town, and her own warped perspective on life, her courtship of Homer Barron ultimately led to his end. After a life of being abandoned by suitors, her father, and arguably the town, she was adamant to sustain her relationship with Homer. Knowing it was the only way to remain in her blissful state, she took her measures to extreme. Nonetheless, his death brought about a change in Emily’s mental state. The struggles were finally resolved. The tension with the town, her past abuse, and her entire life of loneliness, no longer would have an effect on her. Because of Homer’s tomb in the upstairs room, Emily was able to create a world where everything made sense. A world where everything was calm, peaceful, and normal. A world that truly made her

Homer Barron was the first person Emily has dated since her father died. Emily gifted Homer and the town was under the impression that the couple were married. Although in reality Emily has killed Homer Barron because she was afraid he would leave her, he was described as “not the marrying kind,” and that he could be gay. Emily did not know how to react to the relationship, and must have known due to those rumors she could not keep him. Therefore Emily kills Homer to keep him by her side forever, and to control him. Emily continues to sleep with the dead body until she dies because she refused to believe he was going to leave her. Once the townspeople enter the house to pay their respects they realize the horrible truth about Emily and Homer in the “wedding place.” The only reality of Emily was that she has built a frame around a world where everything felt good, and stayed in that moment where she felt the greatest in

Emily started to date Homer Barron, who was a part of the construction company in her town. Eventually they would always go out together for their Sunday drives, but the towns people would start to gossip more and more about Emily and Barron. According to her father men