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Anna Leonard
Mrs. Pettay
ENG 112 3A
19 May 2016
A Rose for Emily: a Literary Painting
Throughout literary history, color has been used to convey underlying messages in
literature. The use of these colors paints a picture of the story, but it often goes unnoticed
due to its subtle nature. A similar effect occurs in William Faulkners A Rose for Emily.
This story highlights the life of Miss Emily, showing how a series of events brought her
to the sad ending that every life must bear. In the story, Faulkner paints the picture of a
mysterious and insane woman, allowing the readers to see the effect she has on the early
20th century town. This picture is painted with several different colors, each conveying a
unique meaning that reveals changing themes throughout the piece. When examining A
Rose for Emily, it is essential to note how William Faulkner uses color to illustrate the
townspeoples awareness of Miss Emilys growing instability.
The color white shows the innocence and purity that was once within Miss Emily.
It is applied at times when the author is revealing Miss Emilys childhood. The first use
of the color white occurs in the introduction of the story after the death of Miss Emily.
Faulkner describes the house that Miss Emily lived in as a big, squarish frame house
that had once been white. This acts as an introduction to the rest of the story, conveying
the loss of innocence throughout her life. Another application of the color white occurs
when Miss Emily and her father are described as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure
in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, showing

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her fathers attempt to hide her from the world to maintain her purity, according to the
townspeople. On the authority of Mary Arensberg and Sara E. Schyfter, authors of
Hairoglyphics in Faulkners A Rose for Emily/Reading the Primal Trace, [Miss
Emilys] life has become the obsession of a community, meaning that the town is very
interested in Miss Emilys life but often fabricates and interprets the mysterious
activities within the Grierson home (Arensberg and Schyfter). In this example, Faulkner
reveals the reason Miss Emily is considered faultless by the end of the story. Her
innocence had protected her from real prosecution: starting when Colonel Sartoris, the
mayorremitted her taxes, all the way through when the men broke down the door to
the upstairs room and saw a long strand of iron-gray hair on the pillow next to Homer
Barrons decaying corpse, knowing it was Miss Emilys but never saying it for fear of
mutilating the innocent image the townspeople had of her. Laura J. Getty, author of
Faulkners A Rose for Emily, went as far as to say that certain people in town knew
that Homer was in the upstairs room, showing how the townspeople protected her and
allowed her to keep Barrons body in contrast to their generosity towards her keeping her
fathers body (Getty). Her insanity also protected her image of blamelessness because the
townspeople could not blame her for what she could not control. This color provides the
character behind Miss Emily and shows the influence it has on the townspeoples
perception of her.
The reappearing utilization of the color yellow conveys the joy of the present for
Miss Emily. The color yellow appears most frequently at times when Homer Barron is
mentioned, which is when Miss Emily is happiest. For example, the town starts to see
him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons driving in the yellow-wheeled buggy. As

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Barron begins to see Miss Emily, he is unaware of her madness, showing his closeness to
her despite the wariness of the townspeople. He again refers to Barrons and Miss
Emilys Sunday drives together using the color yellow. Both Miss Emily and Barron
appear to be momentarily joyous: Miss Emily with her head high and Homer Barron
with his hat cocked and a cigar in his teeth, reins and whip in a yellow glove. The
significance of the color in this setting is the fact that Miss Emily is also seen feeling joy,
which indicates her lack of insecurity when she is with Barron. The uses of yellow in this
story show Barrons inclination to ignore the townspeoples snide comments about him
and Miss Emily, despite their knowledge of the eminent doom to come in the future.
The color black appears throughout the story to convey the mystery surrounding
Miss Emily and to foreshadow the deaths to come. The introduction of the color black
occurs when the men from the Board of Aldermen first meet Miss Emily in her house,
describing her as a small, fat woman in black. In this case, the men were meeting Miss
Emily for the first time, and they were wary of her because of the mystery surrounding
her, showing that the townspeople knew she was troubled and were fearful of her. In
another instance, Faulkner refers to the druggist from whom Miss Emily bought the
arsenic, saying that she has cold, haughty black eyes, using color to foreshadow the
events to come after the druggist sells Miss Emily the arsenic. While the obvious
foreshadowing of death occurs during this reference, it is also used to show the aura of
mystery surrounding Miss Emily. The townspeople were clearly wary of Miss Emily and
her actions; they did not trust the Grierson family enough to ignore her conspicuous
actions, which can be shown by the mentions of the color black.

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Finally, the color gray stands out because it shows the gloom of the sad and
temporary world while also having the ability to signify destruction, just as gray clouds
suggest a storm. When the townspeople first began to notice Miss Emilys graying hair,
they realized that it would grow grayer and grayer until it was that vigorous iron-gray,
like the hair of an active man. This shows that the townspeople realized that their source
of entertainment was dying; she who had defined their town and their generation was
beginning to fade into the pervading dust of her home. In the final mention of the color
gray, Miss Emilys long strand of iron-gray hair is found on the pillow lying next to
Homer Barrons decaying corpse. This shows how life had pulled her from the man she
loved after she had killed him. Faulkners use of the color gray signifies the gloom
surrounding Miss Emily even after her death.
Faulkners use of color allows the reader to understand the perception of the
townspeople regarding Miss Emily in A Rose for Emily. The various uses of white,
yellow, black, and gray gave much insight into how the townspeople used her isolation to
guard themselves from her insanity. In addition to the prevalence of color in literature,
color is also used as an indication of specific events that happen in our lives. For
example, the color black is representative of Halloween, a holiday revolving around
terror and death. Furthermore, that color is most often found when authors are describing
fear or death. Because of this, it is clear that color is not only an aspect of literature but an
aspect of life and the cultures that arise within groups of people.

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Works Cited
Arensburg, Mary and Sara E. Schyfter. Hairoglyphics in Faulkners A Rose for
Emily/Reading the Primal Trace. boundary 2 15. (1986): 123-134. Print.
Getty, Laura J. Faulkners A Rose for Emily. The Explicator 63. 4 (2005): 230-235.
Print.