A Rose for Emily

by William Faulkner
I
WHEN Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men throuh a
sort of res!e"tful affe"tion for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of "uriosity to see
the inside of her house, whi"h no one sa#e an old man$ser#ant%a "ombined ardener and
"ook%had seen in at least ten years&
It was a bi, s'uarish frame house that had on"e been white, de"orated with "u!olas and
s!ires and s"rolled bal"onies in the hea#ily lihtsome style of the se#enties, set on what had
on"e been our most sele"t street& (ut araes and "otton ins had en"roa"hed and
obliterated e#en the auust names of that neihborhood) only Miss Emily*s house was left,
liftin its stubborn and "o'uettish de"ay abo#e the "otton waons and the asoline !um!s$
an eyesore amon eyesores& And now Miss Emily had one to +oin the re!resentati#es of
those auust names where they lay in the "edar$bemused "emetery amon the ranked and
anonymous ra#es of ,nion and -onfederate soldiers who fell at the battle of .efferson&
Ali#e, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a "are) a sort of hereditary obliation
u!on the town, datin from that day in /012 when -olonel 3artoris, the mayor%he who
fathered the edi"t that no Nero woman should a!!ear on the streets without an a!ron%
remitted her ta4es, the dis!ensation datin from the death of her father on into !er!etuity&
Not that Miss Emily would ha#e a""e!ted "harity& -olonel 3artoris in#ented an in#ol#ed
tale to the effe"t that Miss Emily*s father had loaned money to the town, whi"h the town, as
a matter of business, !referred this way of re!ayin& 5nly a man of -olonel 3artoris*
eneration and thouht "ould ha#e in#ented it, and only a woman "ould ha#e belie#ed it&
When the ne4t eneration, with its more modern ideas, be"ame mayors and aldermen, this
arranement "reated some little dissatisfa"tion& 5n the first of the year they mailed her a ta4
noti"e& February "ame, and there was no re!ly& 6hey wrote her a formal letter, askin her to
"all at the sheriff*s offi"e at her "on#enien"e& A week later the mayor wrote her himself,
offerin to "all or to send his "ar for her, and re"ei#ed in re!ly a note on !a!er of an ar"hai"
sha!e, in a thin, flowin "allira!hy in faded ink, to the effe"t that she no loner went out at
all& 6he ta4 noti"e was also en"losed, without "omment&
6hey "alled a s!e"ial meetin of the (oard of Aldermen& A de!utation waited u!on her,
kno"ked at the door throuh whi"h no #isitor had !assed sin"e she "eased i#in "hina$
!aintin lessons eiht or ten years earlier& 6hey were admitted by the old Nero into a dim
hall from whi"h a stairway mounted into still more shadow& It smelled of dust and disuse%
a "lose, dank smell& 6he Nero led them into the !arlor& It was furnished in hea#y, leather$
"o#ered furniture& When the Nero o!ened the blinds of one window, they "ould see that
the leather was "ra"ked) and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluishly about their
thihs, s!innin with slow motes in the sinle sun$ray& 5n a tarnished ilt easel before the
fire!la"e stood a "rayon !ortrait of Miss Emily*s father&
6hey rose when she entered%a small, fat woman in bla"k, with a thin old "hain
des"endin to her waist and #anishin into her belt, leanin on an ebony "ane with a
tarnished old head& Her skeleton was small and s!are) !erha!s that was why what would
ha#e been merely !lum!ness in another was obesity in her& 3he looked bloated, like a body
lon submered in motionless water, and of that !allid hue& Her eyes, lost in the fatty rides
of her fa"e, looked like two small !ie"es of "oal !ressed into a lum! of douh as they
mo#ed from one fa"e to another while the #isitors stated their errand&
3he did not ask them to sit& 3he +ust stood in the door and listened 'uietly until the
s!okesman "ame to a stumblin halt& 6hen they "ould hear the in#isible wat"h ti"kin at the
end of the old "hain&
Her #oi"e was dry and "old& 7I ha#e no ta4es in .efferson& -olonel 3artoris e4!lained it to
me& 8erha!s one of you "an ain a""ess to the "ity re"ords and satisfy yoursel#es&7
7(ut we ha#e& We are the "ity authorities, Miss Emily& 9idn*t you et a noti"e from the
sheriff, sined by him:7
7I re"ei#ed a !a!er, yes,7 Miss Emily said& 78erha!s he "onsiders himself the sheriff & & & I
ha#e no ta4es in .efferson&7
7(ut there is nothin on the books to show that, you see We must o by the%7
73ee -olonel 3artoris& I ha#e no ta4es in .efferson&7
7(ut, Miss Emily%7
73ee -olonel 3artoris&7 ;-olonel 3artoris had been dead almost ten years&< 7I ha#e no ta4es
in .efferson& 6obe=7 6he Nero a!!eared& 73how these entlemen out&7
II
3o 3HE #an'uished them, horse and foot, +ust as she had #an'uished their fathers thirty
years before about the smell&
6hat was two years after her father*s death and a short time after her sweetheart %the one
we belie#ed would marry her% had deserted her& After her father*s death she went out #ery
little) after her sweetheart went away, !eo!le hardly saw her at all& A few of the ladies had
the temerity to "all, but were not re"ei#ed, and the only sin of life about the !la"e was the
Nero man %a youn man then% oin in and out with a market basket&
7.ust as if a man %any man% "ould kee! a kit"hen !ro!erly, 7the ladies said) so they were
not sur!rised when the smell de#elo!ed& It was another link between the ross, teemin
world and the hih and mihty Griersons&
A neihbor, a woman, "om!lained to the mayor, .ude 3te#ens, eihty years old&
7(ut what will you ha#e me do about it, madam:7 he said&
7Why, send her word to sto! it,7 the woman said& 7Isn*t there a law: 7
7I*m sure that won*t be ne"essary,7 .ude 3te#ens said& 7It*s !robably +ust a snake or a rat
that nier of hers killed in the yard& I*ll s!eak to him about it&7
6he ne4t day he re"ei#ed two more "om!laints, one from a man who "ame in diffident
de!re"ation& 7We really must do somethin about it, .ude& I*d be the last one in the world
to bother Miss Emily, but we*#e ot to do somethin&7 6hat niht the (oard of Aldermen
met %three raybeards and one youner man, a member of the risin eneration&
7It*s sim!le enouh,7 he said& 73end her word to ha#e her !la"e "leaned u!& Gi#e her a
"ertain time to do it in, and if she don*t& &&7
79ammit, sir,7 .ude 3te#ens said, 7will you a""use a lady to her fa"e of smellin bad:7
3o the ne4t niht, after midniht, four men "rossed Miss Emily*s lawn and slunk about the
house like burlars, sniffin alon the base of the bri"kwork and at the "ellar o!enins
while one of them !erformed a reular sowin motion with his hand out of a sa"k slun
from his shoulder& 6hey broke o!en the "ellar door and s!rinkled lime there, and in all the
outbuildins& As they re"rossed the lawn, a window that had been dark was lihted and
Miss Emily sat in it, the liht behind her, and her u!riht torso motionless as that of an idol&
6hey "re!t 'uietly a"ross the lawn and into the shadow of the lo"usts that lined the street&
After a week or two the smell went away&
6hat was when !eo!le had beun to feel really sorry for her& 8eo!le in our town,
rememberin how old lady Wyatt, her reat$aunt, had one "om!letely "ra>y at last,
belie#ed that the Griersons held themsel#es a little too hih for what they really were& None
of the youn men were 'uite ood enouh for Miss Emily and su"h& We had lon thouht
of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender fiure in white in the ba"kround, her father a
s!raddled silhouette in the foreround, his ba"k to her and "lut"hin a horsewhi!, the two
of them framed by the ba"k$flun front door& 3o when she ot to be thirty and was still
sinle, we were not !leased e4a"tly, but #indi"ated) e#en with insanity in the family she
wouldn*t ha#e turned down all of her "han"es if they had really materiali>ed&
When her father died, it ot about that the house was all that was left to her) and in a way,
!eo!le were lad& At last they "ould !ity Miss Emily& (ein left alone, and a !au!er, she
had be"ome humani>ed& Now she too would know the old thrill and the old des!air of a
!enny more or less&
6he day after his death all the ladies !re!ared to "all at the house and offer "ondolen"e and
aid, as is our "ustom& Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed as usual and with no tra"e
of rief on her fa"e& 3he told them that her father was not dead& 3he did that for three days,
with the ministers "allin on her, and the do"tors, tryin to !ersuade her to let them dis!ose
of the body& .ust as they were about to resort to law and for"e, she broke down, and they
buried her father 'ui"kly&
We did not say she was "ra>y then& We belie#ed she had to do that& We remembered all the
youn men her father had dri#en away, and we knew that with nothin left, she would ha#e
to "lin to that whi"h had robbed her, as !eo!le will&
III
3HE WA3 3I-? for a lon time& When we saw her aain, her hair was "ut short, makin
her look like a irl, with a #aue resemblan"e to those anels in "olored "hur"h windows%
sort of trai" and serene&
6he town had +ust let the "ontra"ts for !a#in the sidewalks, and in the summer after her
father*s death they bean the work& 6he "onstru"tion "om!any "ame with riers and mules
and ma"hinery, and a foreman named Homer (arron, a @ankee%a bi, dark, ready man,
with a bi #oi"e and eyes lihter than his fa"e& 6he little boys would follow in rou!s to
hear him "uss the riers, and the riers sinin in time to the rise and fall of !i"ks& 8retty
soon he knew e#erybody in town& Whene#er you heard a lot of lauhin anywhere about
the s'uare, Homer (arron would be in the "enter of the rou!& 8resently we bean to see
him and Miss Emily on 3unday afternoons dri#in in the yellow$wheeled buy and the
mat"hed team of bays from the li#ery stable&
At first we were lad that Miss Emily would ha#e an interest, be"ause the ladies all said,
75f "ourse a Grierson would not think seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer&7 (ut there
were still others, older !eo!le, who said that e#en rief "ould not "ause a real lady to foret
noblesse oblige %without "allin it noblesse oblige& 6hey +ust said, 78oor Emily& Her
kinsfolk should "ome to her&7 3he had some kin in Alabama) but years ao her father had
fallen out with them o#er the estate of old lady Wyatt, the "ra>y woman, and there was no
"ommuni"ation between the two families& 6hey had not e#en been re!resented at the
funeral&
And as soon as the old !eo!le said, 78oor Emily,7 the whis!erin bean& 79o you
su!!ose it*s really so:7 they said to one another& 75f "ourse it is& What else "ould & & &7 6his
behind their hands) rustlin of "raned silk and satin behind +alousies "losed u!on the sun of
3unday afternoon as the thin, swift "lo!$"lo!$"lo! of the mat"hed team !assed: 78oor
Emily&7
3he "arried her head hih enouh%e#en when we belie#ed that she was fallen& It was as if
she demanded more than e#er the re"onition of her dinity as the last Grierson) as if it had
wanted that tou"h of earthiness to reaffirm her im!er#iousness& Aike when she bouht the
rat !oison, the arseni"& 6hat was o#er a year after they had beun to say 78oor Emily,7 and
while the two female "ousins were #isitin her&
7I want some !oison,7 she said to the druist& 3he was o#er thirty then, still a sliht
woman, thouh thinner than usual, with "old, hauhty bla"k eyes in a fa"e the flesh of
whi"h was strained a"ross the tem!les and about the eyeso"kets as you imaine a
lihthouse$kee!er*s fa"e ouht to look& 7I want some !oison,7 she said&
7@es, Miss Emily& What kind: For rats and su"h: I*d re"om%7
7I want the best you ha#e& I don*t "are what kind&7
6he druist named se#eral& 76hey*ll kill anythin u! to an ele!hant& (ut what you want is
%7
7Arseni",7 Miss Emily said& 7Is that a ood one:7
7Is & & & arseni": @es, ma*am& (ut what you want%7
7I want arseni"&7
6he druist looked down at her& 3he looked ba"k at him, ere"t, her fa"e like a strained
fla& 7Why, of "ourse,7 the druist said& 7If that*s what you want& (ut the law re'uires you
to tell what you are oin to use it for&7
Miss Emily +ust stared at him, her head tilted ba"k in order to look him eye for eye, until he
looked away and went and ot the arseni" and wra!!ed it u!& 6he Nero deli#ery boy
brouht her the !a"kae) the druist didn*t "ome ba"k& When she o!ened the !a"kae at
home there was written on the bo4, under the skull and bones: 7For rats&7
IB
3o 6HE NEC6 day we all said, 73he will kill herself7) and we said it would be the best
thin& When she had first beun to be seen with Homer (arron, we had said, 73he will
marry him&7 6hen we said, 73he will !ersuade him yet,7 be"ause Homer himself had
remarked %he liked men, and it was known that he drank with the youner men in the
Elks* -lub% that he was not a marryin man& Aater we said, 78oor Emily7 behind the
+alousies as they !assed on 3unday afternoon in the litterin buy, Miss Emily with her
head hih and Homer (arron with his hat "o"ked and a "iar in his teeth, reins and whi! in
a yellow lo#e&
6hen some of the ladies bean to say that it was a disra"e to the town and a bad e4am!le
to the youn !eo!le& 6he men did not want to interfere, but at last the ladies for"ed the
(a!tist minister%Miss Emily*s !eo!le were E!is"o!al% to "all u!on her& He would ne#er
di#ule what ha!!ened durin that inter#iew, but he refused to o ba"k aain& 6he ne4t
3unday they aain dro#e about the streets, and the followin day the minister*s wife wrote
to Miss Emily*s relations in Alabama&
3o she had blood$kin under her roof aain and we sat ba"k to wat"h de#elo!ments& At first
nothin ha!!ened& 6hen we were sure that they were to be married& We learned that Miss
Emily had been to the +eweler*s and ordered a man*s toilet set in sil#er, with the letters H& (&
on ea"h !ie"e& 6wo days later we learned that she had bouht a "om!lete outfit of men*s
"lothin, in"ludin a nihtshirt, and we said, 76hey are married&7 We were really lad& We
were lad be"ause the two female "ousins were e#en more Grierson than Miss Emily had
e#er been&
3o we were not sur!rised when Homer (arron %the streets had been finished some time
sin"e% was one& We were a little disa!!ointed that there was not a !ubli" blowin$off,
but we belie#ed that he had one on to !re!are for Miss Emily*s "omin, or to i#e her a
"han"e to et rid of the "ousins& ;(y that time it was a "abal, and we were all Miss Emily*s
allies to hel! "ir"um#ent the "ousins&< 3ure enouh, after another week they de!arted& And,
as we had e4!e"ted all alon, within three days Homer (arron was ba"k in town& A
neihbor saw the Nero man admit him at the kit"hen door at dusk one e#enin&
And that was the last we saw of Homer (arron& And of Miss Emily for some time& 6he
Nero man went in and out with the market basket, but the front door remained "losed&
Now and then we would see her at a window for a moment, as the men did that niht when
they s!rinkled the lime, but for almost si4 months she did not a!!ear on the streets& 6hen
we knew that this was to be e4!e"ted too) as if that 'uality of her father whi"h had thwarted
her woman*s life so many times had been too #irulent and too furious to die&
When we ne4t saw Miss Emily, she had rown fat and her hair was turnin ray& 9urin
the ne4t few years it rew rayer and rayer until it attained an e#en !e!!er$and$salt iron$
ray, when it "eased turnin& ,! to the day of her death at se#enty$four it was still that
#iorous iron$ray, like the hair of an a"ti#e man&
From that time on her front door remained "losed, sa#e for a !eriod of si4 or se#en years,
when she was about forty, durin whi"h she a#e lessons in "hina$!aintin& 3he fitted u! a
studio in one of the downstairs rooms, where the dauhters and randdauhters of -olonel
3artoris* "ontem!oraries were sent to her with the same reularity and in the same s!irit that
they were sent to "hur"h on 3undays with a twenty$fi#e$"ent !ie"e for the "olle"tion !late&
Meanwhile her ta4es had been remitted&
6hen the newer eneration be"ame the ba"kbone and the s!irit of the town, and the !aintin
!u!ils rew u! and fell away and did not send their "hildren to her with bo4es of "olor and
tedious brushes and !i"tures "ut from the ladies* maa>ines& 6he front door "losed u!on the
last one and remained "losed for ood& When the town ot free !ostal deli#ery, Miss Emily
alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers abo#e her door and atta"h a mailbo4 to
it& 3he would not listen to them&
9aily, monthly, yearly we wat"hed the Nero row rayer and more stoo!ed, oin in and
out with the market basket& Ea"h 9e"ember we sent her a ta4 noti"e, whi"h would be
returned by the !ost offi"e a week later, un"laimed& Now and then we would see her in one
of the downstairs windows %she had e#idently shut u! the to! floor of the house% like the
"ar#en torso of an idol in a ni"he, lookin or not lookin at us, we "ould ne#er tell whi"h&
6hus she !assed from eneration to eneration%dear, ines"a!able, im!er#ious, tran'uil,
and !er#erse&
And so she died& Fell ill in the house filled with dust and shadows, with only a dodderin
Nero man to wait on her& We did not e#en know she was si"k) we had lon sin"e i#en u!
tryin to et any information from the Nero& He talked to no one, !robably not e#en to her,
for his #oi"e had rown harsh and rusty, as if from disuse&
3he died in one of the downstairs rooms, in a hea#y walnut bed with a "urtain, her ray
head !ro!!ed on a !illow yellow and moldy with ae and la"k of sunliht&
B
6HE NEGR5 met the first of the ladies at the front door and let them in, with their hushed,
sibilant #oi"es and their 'ui"k, "urious lan"es, and then he disa!!eared& He walked riht
throuh the house and out the ba"k and was not seen aain&
6he two female "ousins "ame at on"e& 6hey held the funeral on the se"ond day, with the
town "omin to look at Miss Emily beneath a mass of bouht flowers, with the "rayon fa"e
of her father musin !rofoundly abo#e the bier and the ladies sibilant and ma"abre) and the
#ery old men %some in their brushed -onfederate uniforms% on the !or"h and the lawn,
talkin of Miss Emily as if she had been a "ontem!orary of theirs, belie#in that they had
dan"ed with her and "ourted her !erha!s, "onfusin time with its mathemati"al !roression,
as the old do, to whom all the !ast is not a diminishin road but, instead, a hue meadow
whi"h no winter e#er 'uite tou"hes, di#ided from them now by the narrow bottle$ne"k of
the most re"ent de"ade of years&
Already we knew that there was one room in that reion abo#e stairs whi"h no one had
seen in forty years, and whi"h would ha#e to be for"ed& 6hey waited until Miss Emily was
de"ently in the round before they o!ened it&
6he #iolen"e of breakin down the door seemed to fill this room with !er#adin dust& A
thin, a"rid !all as of the tomb seemed to lie e#erywhere u!on this room de"ked and
furnished as for a bridal: u!on the #alan"e "urtains of faded rose "olor, u!on the rose$
shaded lihts, u!on the dressin table, u!on the deli"ate array of "rystal and the man*s toilet
thins ba"ked with tarnished sil#er, sil#er so tarnished that the monoram was obs"ured&
Amon them lay a "ollar and tie, as if they had +ust been remo#ed, whi"h, lifted, left u!on
the surfa"e a !ale "res"ent in the dust& ,!on a "hair hun the suit, "arefully folded) beneath
it the two mute shoes and the dis"arded so"ks&
6he man himself lay in the bed&
For a lon while we +ust stood there, lookin down at the !rofound and fleshless rin& 6he
body had a!!arently on"e lain in the attitude of an embra"e, but now the lon slee! that
outlasts lo#e, that "on'uers e#en the rima"e of lo#e, had "u"kolded him& What was left of
him, rotted beneath what was left of the nihtshirt, had be"ome ine4tri"able from the bed in
whi"h he lay) and u!on him and u!on the !illow beside him lay that e#en "oatin of the
!atient and bidin dust&
6hen we noti"ed that in the se"ond !illow was the indentation of a head& 5ne of us lifted
somethin from it, and leanin forward, that faint and in#isible dust dry and a"rid in the
nostrils, we saw a lon strand of iron$ray hair&