A Rose for Emily

Study Guide by Course Hero

ABOUT THE TITLE

What's Inside Roses are often a symbol of love and romance. In "A Rose for
Emily" Faulkner uses the rose to represent the love and
married life that—due to her father's interference and Homer
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Barron's reluctance—Emily never fully experiences.

d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1

a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 2

d In Context
h Characters .................................................................................................. 3

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 5

c Part Summaries ........................................................................................ 9
g Quotes ......................................................................................................... 13
l Symbols ...................................................................................................... 15
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 16
e Suggested Reading ............................................................................... 17
The Deep South
Miss Emily Grierson, the main character of "A Rose for Emily,"
was born during the American Civil War (1861–65). The story's
events take place between the mid-1890s, when her father
dies, and the mid-1930s, when Emily herself passes away. Her
family's fall from grace parallels the social and cultural changes
experienced in the Deep South during this tumultuous period.
Industry had exploded in the North, bringing with it jobs and an
influx of money. The South, however, clung to its agricultural
roots, and profits were dwindling. Black southerners, barred

j Book Basics
from owning land, worked as tenant farmers or sharecroppers
and were forced to share the profits of their harvests with the
white landowners. As more and more people planted cotton,
AUTHOR supply outpaced demand and prices decreased—creating a
William Faulkner cycle of poverty throughout the southern states. Racial
tensions ran higher than ever as Jim Crow laws dictated a
YEAR PUBLISHED
policy of segregation and local vigilante groups used terror to
1930
enforce the discriminatory rules.
GENRE
Tensions escalated between genders as women defied the
Horror
"Cult of Domesticity" that had pervaded the 19th century.
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR Rebelling against the notion that a woman's highest calling was
"A Rose for Emily" has a first-person plural narrator who to take care of the home and its inhabitants, many women put
speaks in the collective voice of the town. aside their aprons to further their education at institutions of
higher learning. Others began championing social causes, such
TENSE as the prevention of child abuse, the mitigation of poverty, and
"A Rose for Emily" is told in the past tense. an end to unsafe labor conditions. The suffrage movement
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
gained traction. Many criticized women's more active roles
outside the home as a degradation of American ideals and
values. This was particularly true in the South, where women
had historically been expected to uphold the image of the
demure and virtuous southern belle.
Yoknapatawpha County
"A Rose for Emily" is set in Jefferson, the county seat of the
fictional Yoknapatawpha County. Yoknapatawpha
(pronounced "yok-na-pa-TAW-PHA") County is based on
author William Faulkner's hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.
The fictional county serves as the setting for 15 of Faulkner's
novels and more than 50 short stories. According to Faulkner's
descriptions the county covers 2,400 square miles and has a
population of 15,611 individuals, 9,313 of whom are black.
Jefferson is its only city. Readers of Faulkner's works will
notice Yoknapatawpha County residents and locations appear
in more than one story. Colonel John Sartoris, for example, is a
major character in the novel Sartoris, later published in full as
Flags in the Dust, and a minor character in "A Rose for Emily."
Faulkner once said that Yoknapatawpha County is both actual
and apocryphal, or of doubtful authenticity. By this he meant it
isn't a real place one can visit but its people and events are
rooted in reality. Literary critics and scholars have debated
whether Yoknapatawpha represents the South as a whole or
just a small part of it. Many have concluded it represents the
Lowland South, where the economy revolved around the
agricultural system. Also known as the Deep South, this area
encompasses Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
Southern Gothic
"A Rose for Emily" is classified as a short story in the Southern
Gothic tradition. The Southern Gothic genre, popularized by
writers such as Flannery O'Connor and Tennessee Williams, is
an offshoot of Gothic literature. Characterized by a chilling
atmosphere of mystery and suspense, Gothic literature was
particularly popular from the late 18th century through the 19th
century. Southern Gothic literature follows in the same eerie
footsteps, but authors such as William Faulkner, Flannery
O'Connor, and Tennessee Williams aren't just trying to spook
the reader for the thrill of it; they purposefully use the macabre
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Author Biography 2
and grotesque to illuminate the cultural and social issues
unique to southern society.
Common characteristics of Southern Gothic literature include:
Unusual characters: More often than not, they are "broken"
in some way, either physically or mentally. The hero is
usually an outsider who goes against cultural norms as a
means of championing social progress.
Imprisonment: This can be a literal imprisonment, such as
someone locked up in a jail or sequestered in a home. It can
also be a figurative imprisonment, such as being
constrained by fate.
Violence: Southern Gothic stories address issues of race
and class, which often come to a head through an outburst
of violence.
Strong sense of place: The setting is everything in
Southern Gothic literature. Authors craft detailed portraits
of small-town life, rural backwoods, and urban centers to
establish mood.
a Author Biography
William Cuthbert Faulkner (originally spelled Falkner) was born
on September 25, 1897, in New Albany, Mississippi. Eventually
known for his innovative novels about the highs and lows of life
in the American South, young Faulkner began his writing
career as a poet. His first collection of verses, The Marble
Faun, was published in 1924 to little acclaim. He then tried his
hand at prose with 1926's Soldiers' Pay, a novel about World
War I and its aftermath.
Although Faulkner's work is an integral part of the American
literary canon today, initially he had difficulty finding a subject
that resonated with readers. Fellow writer and acquaintance
Sherwood Anderson (Winesburg, Ohio) suggested Faulkner
write about what he knew best: Mississippi. The creative
floodgates opened. Faulkner mined his experiences as a son of
the South, as well as those of his family, to create a vast body
of work that examines southern culture and its secrets. One of
his greatest influences was his great-grandfather, Colonel
William Clark Falkner. Colonel Falkner—a veteran of the Civil
War—served as the inspiration for Colonel Sartoris, the mayor
of Jefferson in "A Rose for Emily," as well as a key character in
Sartoris, the first novel Faulkner set in the fictional
Yoknapatawpha County. More stories about Yoknapatawpha
County followed, including Faulkner's most famous novel, The
A Rose for Emily Study Guide Characters 3

Sound and the Fury, as well as Light in August and As I Lay

Dying.
His novels were widely acclaimed and artistically fulfilling, but
they didn't provide a steady income. To keep his extravagant,
southern-aristocratic lifestyle afloat, Faulkner turned to short
stories. "A Rose for Emily," published in 1930, was the first of
Faulkner's stories to appear in a nationally published magazine
(Forum). Though he often complained about having to
compromise his artistic ideals for a large commercial audience,
he proved to be a master of the art form. These brief literary
pieces also gave him the opportunity to further explore his
fictional home base of Yoknapatawpha between novels.
Homer Barron
Homer Barron is a big, brash man with a loud laugh, making him
an unusual romantic partner for the cold and aloof Emily
Grierson. He takes Miss Emily on weekly carriage rides after
his arrival in Jefferson but has no intention of marrying her or
any other woman. The implication is that he is gay. A little more
than a year after his arrival in Jefferson, he goes into Miss
Emily's home and is never seen again.

Faulkner's literary achievements have been recognized several

times over, both during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1949
he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his body of
work, followed by two Pulitzer Prizes for A Fable and The
Reivers, as well as several National Book Awards. He died on
July 6, 1962, in Byhalia, Mississippi.

h Characters

Emily Grierson
Miss Emily Grierson is born during the Civil War. Raised by her
very strict father, she ignores the cultural and social progress
exhibited by the New South, preferring to uphold the customs
and standards of the pre–Civil War days. She continues the
Grierson tradition of believing her social standing is higher than
it really is, and thanks to her father's insistence that no one
was good enough for his daughter, she remains unmarried and
uncourted into her 30s. Upholding the standards of the
Victorian woman—namely becoming a wife—is extremely
important to Miss Emily. This is why she allows herself to be
courted by Homer Barron, a man well below her class and a
northerner to boot. Homer, unfortunately, isn't a "marrying
man," so Miss Emily secretly kills him and keeps his body in a
bridal suite/tomb. She becomes a recluse after Homer's
disappearance, and the town doesn't discover her secret until
after her own passing 40 years later.

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide Characters 4

Character Map

Homer Barron
Northern carpetbagger;
suitor of Emily's

Mr. Grierson
Colonel Sartoris
Murderer Intimidator of Miss Emily's
Mayor of Jefferson
potential suitors

Tax absolver

Father

Emily Grierson Employer

Mysterious old recluse

Antagonists Employer

Board of Aldermen Concerned Tobe

Government of Jefferson voyeur Loyal black servant

Narrator
Collective voice of
the townspeople

Main Character

Other Major Character

Minor Character

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide
Full Character List
Character Description
Miss Emily Grierson, often the
Emily Grierson subject of speculation and rumors in
Jefferson, dies a spinster at age 74.
Homer Barron is a Yankee day
laborer who comes to Jefferson to
Homer Barron
oversee the construction of
sidewalks.
The Baptist minister speaks to Miss
Baptist minister Emily regarding her conduct with
Homer Barron.
The Baptist minister's wife calls Miss
Baptist minister's
Emily's cousins in Alabama to report
wife
Miss Emily's conduct.
The Board of Aldermen essentially
Board of run the city of Jefferson. The
Aldermen narrator presents them as one
character with a hive mentality.
Miss Emily's two unnamed female
cousins come from Alabama to
Cousins
speak with Miss Emily about her
relationship with Homer Barron.
The druggist is intimidated into
Druggist
selling arsenic to Miss Emily.
Mr. Grierson, Miss Emily's father,
Mr. Grierson prevents Miss Emily from being
courted during her youth.
The unidentified narrator speaks in
Narrator the collective voice of the
townspeople.
Colonel Sartoris is the former mayor
of Jefferson who assured Miss Emily
Colonel Sartoris
she wouldn't have to pay taxes after
her father's death.
Judge Stevens is the mayor of
Judge Stevens
Jefferson after Colonel Sartoris.
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Plot Summary 5
Tobe
Tobe is Miss Emily's longtime
gardener/cook.
The townspeople of Jefferson,
Mississippi, function as a group,
Townspeople playing a role much like the chorus in
ancient Greek theater. The narrator
is their spokesperson.
Old Lady Wyatt, Emily's great-​aunt,
Old Lady Wyatt is remembered in Jefferson for
"going crazy."
k Plot Summary
The townspeople of Jefferson, Mississippi, gather for the
funeral of Miss Emily Grierson. Miss Emily, a cold and
cantankerous 74-year-old spinster, lived in Jefferson her entire
life. According to the narrator who represents the collective
voice of the town, Miss Emily is more of a monument to the
past than a beloved neighbor.
The narrative jumps back to late 1893, when Colonel Sartoris,
the mayor, tells Miss Emily she will not have to pay taxes, then
jumps forward again 30 years to when the new generation of
government leaders sends her a tax bill. Miss Emily ignores it,
then later insists the Board of Aldermen speak with Colonel
Sartoris. The aldermen don't know what to do as Colonel
Sartoris has been dead for years.
The narrative goes back in time again, this time to 1895, two
years after the death of Miss Emily's father. Neighbors are
complaining about the unpleasant smell coming from Miss
Emily's property. After a heated discussion about how to
handle the situation, the aldermen sneak over to Miss Emily's
house after dark and spread lime powder to neutralize the
odor. The smell goes away in a few weeks.
It's clear the Griersons have fallen from their formerly high
status in town, and the townspeople take pleasure in pitying
the now-penniless Miss Emily. The narrator tells how Miss
Emily insisted her father was alive for three days after his
death in 1893, then she shut herself up in the house for six
months following the funeral.
Homer Barron, a Yankee—a term developed by southerners
during the Civil War to refer to their rivals from the Northeast
A Rose for Emily Study Guide Plot Summary 6

who supported the Union—arrives in the summer of 1894 to

oversee the construction of Jefferson's new sidewalks. He and
Miss Emily take buggy rides together every Sunday, which is
the source of much gossip around town. People think Miss
Emily is having sexual relations with Homer before marriage.

The narrative moves forward a year to when Miss Emily

purchases arsenic from the drug store. Everyone is convinced
she is going to kill herself because of Homer's insistence he's
not a marrying man, even after a year of courtship. The Baptist
minister is coerced into talking with Miss Emily about her
behavior. It doesn't go well, and the minister's wife alerts Miss
Emily's cousins about what is going on in Jefferson. They show
up in a flash.

Miss Emily purchases a man's toilet set, or grooming kit, a suit,

and a nightshirt. The townspeople interpret this as a sign she
and Homer are finally married, but Homer is nowhere to be
seen. He reappears on Miss Emily's doorstep shortly after the
cousins leave town and, following that, is never seen again.

Miss Emily disappears too, emerging some time later with

graying hair and a significant gain in weight. As the years pass
Miss Emily is seen less and less and her hair becomes grayer
and grayer. The only sign of life about the house is Tobe, her
aging black servant, who does the household shopping. When
Miss Emily dies in 1937, he lets the women of the town into the
house then walks out the back door for good.

The narrator's reminiscing brings the story back to the present.

A few days after Miss Emily's funeral the townspeople break
down the door to an upstairs bedroom in the old Grierson
home. The interior is decorated like a bridal suite but has the
atmosphere of a long-ignored tomb. On the bed is the
decomposed body of Homer Barron. Next to him on an empty
pillow is a single strand of long, gray hair.

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide Plot Summary 7

Plot Diagram

Climax

Rising Action 4 Falling Action

6
3

2 7
1
Resolution
Introduction

Falling Action
Introduction
6. Homer Barron's decomposed body is on the bed.
1. Jefferson's citizens gather for Emily Grierson's funeral.

Resolution
Rising Action
7. On the pillow beside him rests a long strand of gray hair.
2. In flashback readers learn Emily was told to pay her taxes.

3. A flashback shows aldermen spreading lime secretly.

4. Another flashback reveals Emily's purchase of arsenic.

Climax

5. Townspeople break down the door to a locked bedroom.

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide Plot Summary 8

Timeline of Events

1863

Emily Grierson is born during the Civil War.

1893

Mr. Grierson dies.

Winter 1893

Colonel Sartoris tells Emily Grierson she no longer has to

pay taxes in Jefferson.

Summer 1894

Homer Barron arrives in Jefferson. He and Emily go on

buggy rides every Sunday.

Fall 1895

Emily Grierson buys arsenic at the drugstore.

Fall 1895

Homer Barron goes into Emily's house and is never seen

again.

A few weeks later

Neighbors complain about the smell on the Grierson

property; the aldermen spread lime in the dark.

1925

The Board of Aldermen visit the Grierson home to insist

Emily Grierson pay her taxes; she declines.

1937

Emily Grierson dies at age 74.

Days after Emily's death

Townspeople discover Homer Barron's decomposed

body in an upstairs bedroom of the Grierson home.

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide
c Part Summaries
Part 1
Summary
Miss Emily Grierson is dead. Everyone in Jefferson, the county
seat of Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, attends the
funeral, though the majority are there out of curiosity and
obligation rather than actual mourning. Born in the South
during the Civil War, Miss Emily is raised by her father. When
he dies in 1893, Miss Emily inherits the family's "big, squarish
frame house that had once been white." Colonel Sartoris, the
mayor at the time of Mr. Grierson's death, tells Miss Emily she
no longer has to pay taxes in Jefferson because her father
"loaned money to the town."
Thirty years pass and the next generation of city officials has
no sympathy for Miss Emily, who earns no income. They send
her a tax notice followed by two formal letters requesting she
appear at the sheriff's office. She replies "on paper of an
archaic shape" in handwriting that is "thin, flowing calligraphy in
faded ink" to say she no longer leaves the house for any
reason. The tax bill is enclosed without comment.
The Board of Aldermen, which effectively runs the town of
Jefferson, calls upon Miss Emily in person. These men are the
first people in 10 years to cross the threshold of the decrepit
house save for the black servant, Tobe. Miss Emily, dressed all
in black, enters the parlor. Short and rotund she leans on a
cane as she listens to their plea. Replying dispassionately, "I
have no taxes in Jefferson," she tells them to look in the city
records, then to take it up with Colonel Sartoris. The aldermen
are at a loss for what to do as Colonel Sartoris has been dead
for 10 years. Tobe escorts them to the door.
Analysis
William Faulkner is a master of the short story form, and he
packs more information in a few short paragraphs than many
writers can manage in the course of several pages. Instead of
explicitly saying everything the reader needs to know about
Miss Emily and the town of Jefferson, Faulkner leaves implicit
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Part Summaries 9
clues for the reader to digest. This style of exposition mirrors
the behind closed doors rumor mill of the Old South. Nobody
comes right out and says what he or she thinks about
someone, instead relying on carefully worded anecdotes to get
a point across.
"A Rose for Emily" does not follow the chronological structure
common to short stories. It bounces around in time, starting
with Miss Emily's death and then delving into brief,
nonsequential flashbacks. These memories and observations
add tension to the story while foreshadowing events to come.
The purpose of this nonlinear structure isn't to relate a history
of Miss Emily's life, but rather to engage the reader in the town
gossip.
The tone of "A Rose for Emily" is set by the narrator, who
speaks in the collective voice of the townspeople. This third-
person eyewitness account reveals no personal details, but a
close reading of the text provides some basic information. The
narrator is most likely a man, as evidenced by the way he
describes the townspeople's interest in Miss Emily's death. The
men go to the funeral out of "a sort of respectful affection for a
fallen monument" while the women go "mostly out of curiosity
to see the inside of her house." The narrator portrays the men
as upstanding citizens and the women as simply nosy. The
narrator is either a member of the Board of Alderman or has
close ties to someone who is, as he knows the details of the
board's visit to Miss Emily's home as well as her interaction
with Colonel Sartoris 30 years earlier.
The aldermen's visit to Miss Emily's house is the key to
understanding her psyche close to the end of her life. It's 30
years after the death of her father, and nothing in the house
has changed. She dresses in the black clothes of mourning,
and a "tarnished gilt easel" in front of the fireplace bears a
portrait of her father. The room is dusty, and the furniture is
cracked. She thinks Colonel Sartoris is still alive and running
the town. Though her body has gotten older to the point where
she almost looks dead herself, her mind is stuck in the past.
Her life has not advanced since her father's death—nor has her
understanding of the world around her.
Miss Emily still adheres to the morals and values of the
pre–Civil War South. She expects to be absolved of her debts
because, decades earlier, her father was of some importance
in town. She refuses to even acknowledge the tax bill, which
most likely stems from an old-fashioned belief that it is
improper for women to talk about money. Miss Emily's proud
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
and icy demeanor while talking with the aldermen exposes her
conviction that she is still the beloved daughter of a powerful
man. Outsiders, however, see only a crumbling mansion and a
grumpy, aging recluse who clings to a lost way of life.
Part 2
Summary
The narrative flashes back 30 years. Townspeople notice a
terrible smell coming from somewhere on Miss Emily's
property, and the aldermen aren't sure how to handle the
situation. Mr. Grierson died two years earlier, and there hasn't
been a sighting of 30-something Miss Emily's "sweetheart,"
Homer Barron, for several weeks. Miss Emily herself has
become a recluse. The only man living on the property is the
servant, Tobe.
Eighty-year-old mayor Judge Stevens doesn't know what to
do. One of the younger aldermen says they need to tell her to
clean up the property. Judge Stevens is appalled by this
suggestion and asks the young man, "Dammit, sir, will you
accuse a lady to her face of smelling bad?" The aldermen
eventually decide to take care of the problem themselves and
sneak into Miss Emily's yard under the cover of night to spread
lime, a powder made of calcium hydroxide that neutralizes bad
odors. As they creep around the yard they spot Miss Emily's
silhouette in the window, watching their every move.
The townspeople think "the Griersons held themselves a little
too high for what they really were." Miss Emily's great-aunt
suffered from mental illness, and it seems like there might be
something wrong with Miss Emily, too. After all she's still
unmarried at the age of 30—a failing for women in this time
and place. At first her single status may have been because
her father didn't think anyone in town was good enough for his
daughter, but surely this late in her life "she wouldn't have
turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized."
This sense of happiness about someone else's misfortune
turns into pity after Miss Emily insists her father is still alive for
three whole days after his passing. The narrator says this is
understandable. Mr. Grierson had driven away every potential
suitor. Completely alone she has to "cling to that which had
robbed her, as people will."
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Part Summaries 10
Analysis
The anecdote about the smell is the first clue as to what Miss
Emily is hiding in her house. It also serves as an insider's look
into the social and cultural hierarchy of an average southern
town in the 1890s. As in most other places in the United States,
women were viewed as being less than their male
counterparts. In Jefferson their concerns and ideas are
automatically considered invalid, as illustrated by the way
Judge Stevens shrugs off the woman who first raises the issue
about the smell at the Grierson house. It isn't until a man brings
up the same topic that Judge Stevens does something about it.
Miss Emily isn't given the courtesy of addressing the smell on
her own; the aldermen simply trespass after dark and take
care of it themselves. The men of Jefferson dictate what is
appropriate for the women in town, even if those women are
not members of the men's families.
In the 1890s most of a woman's value to society directly
correlated to her ability to find (and keep) a marriage partner.
At 30 Miss Emily is considered a spinster. Her father's death
only highlights this social failing. Without him around she has
no man to dote on. She understands this better than anyone
else, which is one of the reasons she refuses to admit her
father has died. Without him she means nothing to the world at
large.
The world, even in Jefferson, is changing. "A Rose for Emily"
addresses the evolving attitudes in the post–Civil War South.
The men are in one of two camps: the old guard, who run the
town, including Colonel Sartoris and Judge Stevens, and the
young up-and-comers who question the decisions of the town
elders. The narrator presents the younger men as being more
progressive than their elder counterparts—they have no
qualms with telling a woman to pay her taxes or suggesting
she clean her property—but they are also portrayed as being
more brash and inconsiderate than the men who lead them.
Faulkner is suggesting social progress comes at the expense
of gentility, one of the trademarks of the Old South. The more
years that pass the more the South loses the customs and
values that make it unique.
Part 3
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
Summary
Miss Emily disappears for a while after her father's death.
When she finally emerges from the house the townspeople
think she looks "tragic and serene," particularly with her new,
shorter haircut. Miss Emily's childlike hairstyle isn't the only
change in town; workmen are pouring concrete sidewalks, a
first for Jefferson. The foreman is Homer Barron. He's from the
North, "a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter
than his face." His unrestrained laughter attracts a lot of
attention, and he quickly knows everyone in town.
To the surprise of everyone Homer and Miss Emily start taking
buggy rides together on Sundays. It is originally thought Miss
Emily is just being gracious, for a Grierson "would not think
seriously of a Northerner, a day laborer." The older generation,
though, thinks Miss Emily's actions go way past the duties of
noblesse oblige, or the responsibility of being considerate of
one's inferiors. Hushed rumors about Miss Emily and Homer
Barron start flying around town, all ending with "Poor Emily."
Yet Miss Emily carries her head high. Perhaps, the narrator
says, this was her way of demanding "the recognition of her
dignity," showing "that touch of earthiness to reaffirm her
imperviousness."
Miss Emily's "earthiness" with Homer reminds the narrator of a
separate incident a year later. Miss Emily, looking strained and
thinner than usual, asks the town druggist for arsenic. By law
the druggist must find out the purpose of her purchase. Miss
Emily refuses to say. When she opens the package at home, it
is labeled simply, "For rats."
Analysis
Emily's association with Homer Barron causes a scandal in
Jefferson. He arrives in 1894, the year after her father's death.
The official period of Reconstruction following the Civil War
ended in 1877, but northerners still flocked to the South for job
opportunities. The end of the war didn't do much to change the
attitudes of the die-hard Southerners. In Jefferson black
women are required to wear aprons in public, and the black
men paving the sidewalks are called derogatory names.
Northerners were just as suspect as blacks, perhaps even
more so, and Homer's position as a day laborer puts him quite
low on the rungs of the social ladder. Someone of Miss Emily's
self-proclaimed stature would normally be hard-pressed to find
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Part Summaries 11
a reason to associate with such a man, much less go out with
him in public week after week.
Naturally the town gossips assume Miss Emily has become a
"fallen woman." To put it more bluntly, they think she has had
sex with Homer Barron. Women of this era were expected to
maintain their honor and good virtue by not engaging in sexual
relations before marriage. Flirtation was fine, but any hint of
sexual impropriety could severely damage a woman's
reputation and her marital prospects. A rumor about
extramarital activities is one of the worst things that could
happen to a woman of Miss Emily's station. Her continuing
relationship with Homer effectively ruins any future prospects
of matrimony with a proper southern gentleman.
This doesn't bother Miss Emily at first. "She carried her head
high" even when she knew the townspeople were whispering
about her. A year later however, her strong facade shows
cracks. When she turns up at the druggist's to buy the arsenic,
she looks terrible. Her skin is "strained across the temples and
about the eyesockets," a look that the narrator compares to
how a lighthouse keeper appears after keeping watch for so
long. In the convoluted timeline of Faulkner's narrative, this visit
takes place a year after Miss Emily and Homer became
romantically involved. Her cousins are visiting from out of town,
and Homer has disappeared for a while. Something is taking a
physical toll on Miss Emily. It could be the arrival of her family,
or, more likely, it's that she and Homer have courted for more
than a year and he still hasn't proposed. The Griersons' recent
fall from the upper echelons of society has made Miss Emily
more mindful than ever of what is expected from her as a
woman, and the pressure to conform is apparent in her
appearance. She needs to marry, and fast. Homer Barron is her
last chance.
Part 4
Summary
The townspeople are convinced Miss Emily is going to kill
herself with the arsenic. It is known around town Homer Barron
isn't a "marrying man," and their yearlong relationship hasn't
resulted in any public plans for the future. This is too much for
some of the ladies. They think Miss Emily is "a disgrace to the
town," and they force the Baptist minister to talk to her about
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
her conduct. The talk obviously does not go well as the
minister refuses to talk to anyone but his wife about it. His wife
writes to Miss Emily's cousins in Alabama.
The arrival of the cousins seems to fix things. Miss Emily
purchases a man's toilet set—traditionally a comb, a mirror, and
a brush—and has the initials HB engraved on each piece. She
also buys "a complete outfit of men's clothing, including a
nightshirt." The townspeople take this as a sign Miss Emily and
Homer are married. Then they realize Homer is gone. They
figure he is preparing a new home for Emily's arrival or at least
laying low until the cousins depart. Sure enough three days
after the cousins leave Homer is seen on Miss Emily's
doorstep. He is never seen again.
Miss Emily, too, seems to have disappeared. When she finally
emerges six months later she is overweight, and her hair has
started to turn gray. A few years later she offers children's
china painting classes at her home to "the daughters and
granddaughters of Colonel Sartoris's contemporaries." The
lessons last a handful of years but are cut short by a lack of
students. Miss Emily becomes a recluse again. The town gets
free mail delivery, but Miss Emily refuses to have a mailbox or
house numbers installed on the family home. A tax bill is sent
to her every December, and every December it remains
unclaimed at the post office. At 74 she dies in a downstairs
bedroom, "her gray head propped on a pillow ... moldy with age
and lack of sunlight."
Analysis
The townspeople of Jefferson are sympathetic to Miss Emily's
plight. They understand the stress and loss of reputation
associated with spinsterhood. Yet instead of offering to accept
her the way she is, they collectively decide "it would be the
best thing" if she killed herself. This seems barbaric to today's
reader, but in the 19th century suicide was one of the more
acceptable means of reclaiming one's dignity after being
labeled as "fallen." Though men were actually three more times
likely than women to commit suicide, Victorian literature was
filled with stories of female suicide. These fictional suicides
were a product of the cultural belief that women were weaker
than men and thus less equipped to deal with the hardships of
life. Thanks to these stories people in the Victorian era
(1837–1901) believed it was natural for a woman to want to kill
herself if she couldn't uphold the ideals of a society obsessed
with the virtuous woman.
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Part Summaries 12
The narrator dances around the reason Homer won't marry
Miss Emily. It was "known that he drank with the younger men
in the Elks' Club," and he said himself that "he liked men."
Today's reader understands these clues to imply that Homer
may be gay, but readers in the 1930s wouldn't have
automatically jumped to that conclusion. Homer is portrayed as
a man's man, a burly beer drinker with a cigar clenched in his
teeth. He doesn't fit to the stereotype of the effeminate gay
male still widely in circulation in the 1930s. Homosexuality was
considered an abnormality during Faulkner's time. That's what
makes his inclusion of a sympathetic character who may be
gay so surprising. It would have been easy to cast Homer
Barron as the villain based on his implied sexual orientation
alone. Instead he is Miss Emily's prey.
Part 4 sees Miss Emily transform from a target of speculation
to being "a tradition, a duty, and a care," as she is introduced in
Part 1. The disappearance of Homer Barron proves to the
townspeople Miss Emily will not have a happy ending, and the
older generation feels an obligation to help her in any small
way they can. They send their daughters to china painting
lessons, but the daughters go "in the same spirit that they were
sent to church on Sundays" with money for the collection plate.
This southern sense of obligation disappears when the older
generation's daughters and sons grow up and become "the
backbone and the spirit of the town." Their daughters do not
take lessons from Miss Emily; china painting, like the teacher
herself, is useless and outdated. The younger generation's
attitude indicates Faulkner's thoughts about the cost of
progress. Social and cultural advancements—such as door-to-
door mail delivery—come at the expense of the things that
make a place or people so singular. In this case the values and
customs that gave the South its distinct character are pushed
aside for generic American ideals.
Part 5
Summary
The news of Miss Emily's death spreads through the town, and
Tobe meets a group of women at the door. He shows them in,
then walks "right through the house and out the back," never to
be seen again. Miss Emily's Alabama cousins are sent for, and
the funeral takes place two days after their arrival. The whole
town attends, young and old. The last living veterans of the
A Rose for Emily Study Guide Quotes 13

Civil War, who are older than Miss Emily, are convinced they thwarted by the ideals she held so dear.
came of age at the same time as the deceased woman, who
was born at the start of the war. The narrator observes they Part 5 of "A Rose for Emily" is notable not just for what is

are "confusing time with its mathematical progression, as the discovered in Miss Emily's house but also for the second

old do." paragraph, in which the narrator makes personal observations

Miss Emily is buried. Days later the townspeople finally get to
see what's hiding in "one room in that region above stairs
which no one had seen in forty years." The door is broken
down, revealing a bridal suite covered in a "thin, acrid pall as of
the tomb." The entire room is decorated in a faded rose color.
A man's tarnished toilet set is on the dresser; a suit is on the
chair.
Homer Barron's skeletal remains are on the bed, cloaked in a
nightshirt. An indentation on the empty pillow next to him is
about human nature. The "very old men" in their Confederate
army uniforms remember the Old South not as it actually was
but as "a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches."
Those who cling to the past romanticize what actually
happened. Miss Emily falls victim to this more than anyone
else, and her life is all the more miserable for it. "A Rose for
Emily" is ultimately a cautionary tale about the destructive
nature of the romanticism prevalent after the Civil War,
particularly with regard to women's roles in society.

g Quotes
marked only by "a long strand of iron-gray hair."

Analysis
"Alive, Miss Emily had been a
Miss Emily didn't intend the arsenic for herself. Her target was tradition, a duty, and a care."
always Homer Barron. When her cousins come to town and
Homer disappears, she finally acknowledges he's not going to
— Narrator, Part 1
marry her. She's already lost one man—her father—and she's
not going to lose another. Some may view Homer's death as
the ultimate revenge of a woman wronged, but it can also be Miss Emily is more of a symbol to the citizens of Jefferson than
seen as an act of desperation. Miss Emily was terrified of being an actual person. She serves as a reminder of how life was in
alone again. She didn't just kill Homer. She constructed a the years before and following the Civil War. Though southern
beautiful bridal suite with all the trappings of a happy culture evolves, Miss Emily does not.
newlywed couple, then killed him in her home, possibly even in
that room, so she would have access to his corpse. She built
the fantasy life she had been so long denied by both her father "Not that Miss Emily would have
and Homer himself.
accepted charity."
Many interpretations of "A Rose for Emily" describe Miss Emily
as a necrophiliac, or someone who is sexually attracted to — Narrator, Part 1
dead bodies. The narrator gives no indication Miss Emily
engaged in such practices, only that "[t]he body had
Miss Emily embodies the stereotype of the upper-class
apparently once lain in the attitude of an embrace." Miss Emily
southern woman made of steel. Accepting financial help would
didn't want to have sex with Homer Barron's dead body; she
be even worse than admitting there is a problem in the first
just wanted someone, anyone, even a corpse, to lie next to her
place. Colonel Sartoris knows she won't swallow her pride to
during the long, lonely nights. By the looks of the empty pillow
ask for help, so he concocts a story about a debt the city owes
she slept next to him for many years. Homer's death isn't a
her father.
surprise to the citizens of Jefferson or the reader, but the
revelation about what Miss Emily did with the body comes as a
shock. Miss Emily isn't the bitter spinster the townspeople
think her to be, but a deeply lonely woman whose happiness is "It was another link between the

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide Quotes 14

Miss Emily maintains her sense of dignity and class even when
gross, teeming world and the high
people in the town think she has been sleeping with Homer
and mighty Griersons." Barron. She is defiant in the face of gossip, and she doesn't
dignify their low thoughts with even the merest hint of
— Narrator, Part 2 acknowledgment.

The smell emanating from Miss Emily's house is a reminder the

Griersons are no longer pristine and regal, above such things
"For rats."
as decay.
— Druggist, Part 3

"When she got to be thirty and The druggist's note on the box of arsenic indicates the poison
is to be used for rats. In a sense the druggist is right. Miss
was still single, we were ...
Emily uses the arsenic to kill the biggest rat in her life, Homer
vindicated." Barron, who does not marry her after an extensive courtship.

— Narrator, Part 2
"That ... which had thwarted her
The townspeople are not exactly happy Emily is still single but woman's life ... had been ... too
think that, due to the Griersons' high and mighty attitude, her
loneliness is somehow deserved.
furious to die."

— Narrator, Part 4

"With nothing left, she would ...

The narrator is saying the influence Mr. Grierson had on his
cling to that which had robbed her,
daughter doesn't go with him to his grave. She will never be
as people will." free from the unhappy life he constructs for her.

— Narrator, Part 2
"Daily, monthly, yearly we watched
Mr. Grierson prevented Miss Emily from marrying and the Negro grow grayer and more
surrounding herself with people who love her. She refuses to
acknowledge his death because he is literally the only person
stooped."
in her life and she cannot bear being alone. His status as family
patriarch is what earns her unwavering devotion. — Narrator, Part 4

The passage of time is marked by the graying of hair and the

"She carried her head high aging of Tobe's body, quickly advancing the timeline back to
where the story began.
enough—even when we believed
that she was fallen."
"Thus she passed from generation
— Narrator, Part 3
to generation—dear, inescapable,

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A Rose for Emily Study Guide
impervious, tranquil, and perverse."
— Narrator, Part 4
Miss Emily means so many things to the citizens of Jefferson.
Her age and family name require they revere her, and she is
both terrifying and not easy to forget.
"They waited until Miss Emily was
decently in the ground before they
opened it."
— Narrator, Part 5
The narrator isn't a member of the party who breaks down
Miss Emily's bedroom door. He says "they" instead of "we."
This indicates the great respect the narrator has for Miss
Emily. Though he has no problem going into the room to see
what's there, he doesn't want to be the one to actually expose
her secrets.
"The long sleep that outlasts love,
... conquers even the grimace of
love, had cuckolded him."
— Narrator, Part 5
Death has turned Homer Barron into a cuckold, or a man
whose wife is cheating on him. Cuckold generally has a
negative connotation and is often used to emasculate the man
it is used to describe. In this instance Emily's actions to ensure
his fidelity have taken away his masculine authority.
l Symbols
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Symbols 15
The Grierson House
The "big, squarish" house symbolizes Emily Grierson's
crumbling hopes and mental condition, along with the Grierson
family's fall from their position in southern high society. The
house had been constructed in a "lightsome" or carefree style
"with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies" on the "most
select street" in Jefferson. Throughout her youth when she and
the house were in their prime, Emily saw her hopes for
marriage and a family destroyed as her father judged each
young suitor not "quite good enough" for his daughter. As the
story's timeline skips around the reader can ascertain Emily's
emotional state and the Griersons' status by the condition of
the house. When the reader first meets Miss Emily, the
formerly grand house is described as "an eyesore among
eyesores" in a run-down, junk-filled neighborhood. In Part 2,
however, the Grierson home is in pretty good condition save
for one thing: the smell of Homer Barron's rotting corpse. This
blemish on an otherwise fine property indicates the fall from
grace on the horizon. The appearance of the Grierson home is
a physical representation of the family's status and Emily's
descent into delusion and madness. By the end of Miss Emily's
life what used to be such a source of pride is now a source of
pity.
Gray Hair
Like the Grierson House hair color is used to indicate the
passing of time in "A Rose for Emily." Emily Grierson's original
hair color is never stated, but when she finally emerges from
her house after Homer Barron's disappearance the narrator
notices "her hair [is] turning gray." The servant Tobe's hair also
turns gray, and the townspeople track how long it has been
since Miss Emily was last seen by the color of his hair, "daily,
monthly, yearly."
As Miss Emily ages her hair grows "grayer and grayer" until it is
a "vigorous iron-gray, like the hair of an active man." The
narrator's comparison of Emily's hair to that of a man is apt, as
is its description as "vigorous" and "iron-gray," vigor and iron
both indicating strength. Her hair starts to turn gray
immediately after Homer's disappearance, which coincides
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
with Emily's tacit refusal to take care of the smell on her
property. By the time her hair is completely gray she is flat-out
refusing to cooperate with city officials on a number of issues.
The graying of her hair over time symbolizes the strengthening
of her will—iron-like —to live as she pleases, in defiance of
social strictures.
Man's Toilet Set
The toilet set, or grooming kit, Miss Emily purchases for Homer
Barron is a generous gift that represents the hope Emily has
placed on an anticipated union with Homer Barron. Usually
including a brush, a comb, and a mirror backed with silver,
men's toilet sets were more than just toiletries; they were a
status symbol that indicated membership of the aristocracy.
Such a purchase would have been a major expense for a
woman with limited income, but the concept of maintaining her
role as an aristocrat is important to Miss Emily. By marrying
Homer (and his money) she will be able to save the family's
name and position.
She doesn't marry him, of course, and when the toilet set is
seen again it's in the bridal-suite-turned-tomb. The narrator's
description of the scene is one of immeasurable sadness. The
careful tableau arranged years before is covered in a thick
layer of dust. The toilet mirrors the decay of the bridal suite.
Disuse has tarnished the formerly shiny silver; the HB
monogram is almost illegible. Its decay symbolizes the
crumbling of the ways of the Old South, the crumbling of the
town's connection to the past, and the crumbling of the heart,
which had finally found an outlet in Homer Barron.
m Themes
Post–Civil War South
Southern culture didn't change all at once after the Civil War,
partly because specific customs and manners were an
ingrained way of life and partly because those who lived
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Themes 16
through the war clung to the memories of life before it began.
This is particularly true for former aristocrats like Miss Emily
and Colonel Sartoris. Their families were prosperous and
powerful before the war. For Miss Emily and Colonel Sartoris
preserving the ways of the "Old South" is a means of
protecting the family legacy.
Faulkner and the narrator believe those who cling to the past
view it with rose-tinted glasses. Those who long for the past
erroneously view it as "a huge meadow which no winter ever
quite touches." The past seems so much better than the
present because people do not remember it clearly thanks to
the "narrow bottle-neck of the most recent decade of years."
As is the case with the very old men wearing their Civil War
uniforms to Emily Grierson's funeral, the passage of time blurs
the reality of distant experiences. The past is never as good as
it's remembered.
Tradition versus Progress
The citizens of Jefferson are divided into two camps: the older
generation, which upholds the traditions of the Old South, and
the younger generation, which is more focused on progress
than the way things were done in the past. These two parties
continually butt heads about what is practical versus what is
proper etiquette, particularly when it comes to dealing with
Miss Emily.
Southern gentility dictates women, particularly aristocratic
women, be treated as if they were fragile objects requiring the
utmost care. Colonel Sartoris's promise that Emily Grierson will
no longer have to pay taxes is an example of traditional
southern manners. He reasons a single female will have no
income of her own, and, as the daughter of a well-respected
member of the community, she should not be troubled with
money, which is up to the men to think about and disperse.
Thirty years later the Board of Aldermen can't understand this
line of thinking. From their point of view they had to make their
own ways after the destruction of the war. No one is exempt
from these hardships and new responsibilities, not even
formerly aristocratic spinsters. Everyone must pay taxes.
Many southerners feared the North's influence following the
Civil War. As the older generation in Jefferson passes on and
fades away, so do the manners and customs particular to the
A Rose for Emily Study Guide
Old South. These manners, which included deference to family
rankings, landowner graciousness, and a high degree of
formality, existed because of a slave economy. Southern
gentility conveniently overlooked the fact that their financial
and social success was built on the blood and toil of slaves.
When the ways of the Old South came crumbling down, the
older generation refused to acknowledge its role in creating an
unsustainable way of life and instead blamed the growing
influence of the North. Modern conveniences championed by
the younger generation, such as paved sidewalks and door-to-
door mail service, were scapegoats for the perceived
destruction of how things used to be. To the older generation
in Jefferson the price of progress is the erasure of the charm
and character that had made the South such a singular place
for more than a century. To the younger generation progress is
a necessary part of economic and social recovery.
Patriarchy
Emily Grierson, like many women of the Victorian era, is a
victim of a society run entirely by men. The first and most
damaging male influence in her life is her father. Mr. Grierson
uses the family's aristocratic lineage to effectively imprison his
daughter in her own home by refusing any suitors who come to
the door on the grounds they're not good enough for his only
child. It is he, not Emily, who makes this judgment. She remains
imprisoned after his death. With no prospects for marriage and
no income of her own, she is forced to remain in the family's
crumbling mansion. Even after his death Mr. Grierson keeps a
tight grip on Emily's future.
Emily's father isn't the only controlling man in Jefferson.
Colonel Sartoris makes a law that "no Negro woman should
appear on the streets without an apron" but doesn't make any
comments about the attire of black men. Judge Stevens
ignores the woman who complains about the smell at Miss
Emily's house; the man who says the same thing with "diffident
deprecation" is rewarded with action by the Board of
Aldermen. No matter their class, wealth, or color, women in
Jefferson are treated as less important than the town's men.
This isn't unusual for the time period in which "A Rose for
Emily" was written and when it takes place. What is unusual is
the change in Miss Emily's demeanor after Homer Barron's
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Suggested Reading 17
disappearance. Once cowed into subservience by her father,
then forced to find a suitable husband by society, post–Homer
Barron Miss Emily suddenly poses a threat to the patriarchy
that had so long controlled her. She no longer allows anyone to
tell her what to do—not the post office, not the Board of
Aldermen. Faulkner uses Miss Emily to show how the
patriarchy molded womanhood into a form that can easily be
controlled.
Pleasure in Misfortune
The Griersons' slide from southern aristocracy into a lower
class is a familiar theme in stories about the Civil War. Faulkner
adds another dimension to this riches-to-rags story by showing
how much the citizens of Jefferson delight in the inevitable fall
of the formerly mighty. This pleasure taken in the misfortune in
others, often referred to by the German term schadenfreude,
highlights the insecurities felt by those of lower social status.
For example, the narrator says that when the news spreads
Mr. Grierson left his daughter practically nothing, "in a way,
people were glad. At last they could pity Miss Emily." Her fall
makes them feel they are her equals or superiors, which in turn
makes them feel better about themselves. Though not a
flattering depiction of so-called southern manners, the
townspeople's increasing interest in Miss Emily's failing is an
accurate portrayal of the ugly side of human nature.
e Suggested Reading
Dilworth, Thomas. "A Romance to Kill For: Homicidal Complicity
in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily.'" Studies in Short Fiction 36.3
(1999): 251. Academic Search Elite. Web.
Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily. Logan: Perfection Learning,
1990. Print.
Klein, Thomas. "The Ghostly Voice of Gossip in Faulkner's A
ROSE FOR EMILY." Explicator 65.4 (2007): 229-32. Academic
Search Elite. Web.
Walsh, Mo. "Why Southern Gothic Rules the World." The
Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 4 Jul. 2015. Web.
A Rose for Emily Study Guide Suggested Reading 18

Wheeler, David. "A Rose for Emily" William Faulkner: A Critical

Analysis. N.p.: Dog's Tail, 2011. Kindle.

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