The Concept of Death: Deconstructing William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily

Hanna C. Navia
M.A. ESL

“
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”
-Hebrews 9:27 King James Version (KJV)

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines the word “Death” as the passing or destruction of
something. It could also mean the permanent cessation of all vital functions or the end of life.
Doctors declare patient’s death through the absence of electrical patterns of the brain and
irreversible termination of heartbeat. In biblical aspect, death comes once or twice depending on
the assurance of salvation in Christ. Physical death arrives to everyone unexpectedly. The first
kind of death encountered by all. However, the second which is the spiritual death- is granted to
the unbelievers. As referred to the book of Revelations chapter twenty one verse eight:

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually
immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will
be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Death in all aspects has different meanings. Same is true when we talk about death in
literature. It could be taken in connotation or denotation depending on how the author wants to
deliver the story. One literary example is William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily. William Faulkner
featured several death instances in the story - in numerous forms. In the first scene, the narrator
recalls the time of Emily Grierson’s death and how the entire town attended her funeral in her
home (referring to physical death). The death of Emily’s father, Mr. Grierson and her fiancé,
Homer Barron are also counted as physical deaths which happened in the story. The death of
romance also transpired when Emily has been abandoned by the man whom the townsfolk
believed she was to marry. This results to another form of psychological death – Emily became
mentally ill out of love and desperation, poisoned Homer Barron using the arsenic intended to the
rodents. Eventually, she developed necrophilia after cherishing her fiancé’s corpse.

Death did not escape Emily even before she passed away. It occurred when her family
reputation became the talk of the town. Rumors and scandals pounced on while she was involved
to a man beneath her station. Setting also disclosed societal elite class’ death. The moment it
was labelled that Emily’s house is the last vestige of grandeur in a lost era.

In conclusion, Emily experienced many forms of death in her ephemeral life. The love of
her life, her father, her once high statured class and reputation in the society, and even her sanity.
It reminds us that everything in this world is passing and short-lived. Nevertheless, we must invest
on eternal and unseen things like faith in God and building relationships to humanity which Emily
has long forgotten after continuous tragedy embraced her life.

Death could be the end to some and beginning to others. Emily’s death ended her romantic
corpse fantasy but it paved way for the townsmen to discover her secrets.