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The Explicator

ISSN: 0014-4940 (Print) 1939-926X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vexp20

Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery in A

ROSE FOR EMILY

Aubrey Binder

To cite this article: Aubrey Binder (2012) Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery in A
ROSE FOR EMILY, The Explicator, 70:1, 5-7, DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2012.656735

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.2012.656735

Published online: 21 Mar 2012.

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The Explicator, Vol. 70, No. 1, 5–7, 2012
Copyright

C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0014-4940 print / 1939-926X online
DOI: 10.1080/00144940.2012.656735

AUBREY BINDER
University of Central Missouri

Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery

in A ROSE FOR EMILY

Keywords: dust, William Faulkner, imagery, past

Roughly forty years after the townspeople assumed that Homer Barron
had deserted Emily Grierson, the townspeople’s entrance into a closed-off
room in the now-deceased woman’s house uncovers a glimpse into the
undisclosed events of the past. The townspeople discover Homer Barron’s
body and find “what was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the
nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay; and upon
him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and
biding dust” (Faulkner 502). This passage shows two strong motifs running
through William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”: dust and decay. The reader
finds descriptions of decay in the slow degrading of the town, Emily’s
inherited home, and even in the aging Emily herself. But it is Faulkner’s use
of dust imagery that provides the key to understanding the role of the past
and the manner in which it lingers in the present in “A Rose for Emily.” The
slow accumulation and obscuring nature of dust symbolizes not only how
the passage of time and change “cover” yet do not erase events of the past
but also reflect how the past is uncovered.
The manner in which dust covers the objects (and people) in Emily’s
archaic home represents the obscuring of past events. Unlike decay, which
changes and erodes what exists, dust covers but does not ruin. Similarly, the
past does not become changed or eroded. What has happened in the past
always has happened. For example, the townspeople’s longtime belief that
Homer abandoned Emily does not change the fact that Emily murdered him.
Nor does the town’s lack of knowledge about the murder erode the action it-
self in time. The murder is concealed by secrecy and false assumptions—just

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as the body of Homer Barron is covered with an “even coating of the patient
and biding dust” (502). The narrator’s personification of the dust reveals
much about the nature of the past. The dust’s “even coating” covers both
Homer’s body and “the pillow beside him” indiscriminately, reflecting the
gradual accumulation of time without regard for what past events the years
cover. Moreover, the dust’s “patient and biding” nature suggests it is content
to remain covering its object yet not completely resistant to a good “dusting.”
Like the dust concealing the truth about Homer Barron’s disappearance, the
past is always there waiting to be remembered and uncovered.
The extent of the dust accumulation in the story reflects the nature of what
becomes completely concealed and what remains resistant to the effects of
the efforts of people and time. Unlike specific events in time which have an
apparent beginning and end, such as Homer Barron’s murder, other elements
of the past continue to demand perception despite the passage of time. For
instance, Emily’s “house filled with dust and shadows” provides a visual
representation of the lingering influence of Emily’s father, the eminence of
the Griersons and Emily herself. Unlike the room in which Homer Barron’s
body resides, the remainder of Emily’s house is occupied, though sparsely.
Although dust accumulates in places, it is also displaced through the small
disturbances that daily living creates. When Emily’s father dies, the physical
presence of his influence dies with him, but the effects of his actions remain
to wreak havoc on Emily’s future. Her father’s actions leave her with little
money and no husband at a spinster age, arguably the cause for Emily’s
determination to hold on to Homer at any cost. Moreover, although the
townspeople begin to feel sorry for her despite their distaste for the elite
class standing she inherited, it is the lingering influence of the Grierson
name that allows Emily to get away with murder. Of course, with Emily’s
death, even these influences will succumb to obscurity, as Emily’s house has
succumbed to a concealing coating of dust.
While some elements and events of the past remain obscured, others
become partly unearthed, and Faulkner’s dust imagery shows the manner in
which people unveil the past. Some unveilings are fairly gentle, such as when
the deputation disturbs Emily’s solitude with requests for tax money. As the
deputation descends on the house that smells of “dust and disuse,” the man-
servant opens a window blind and “a faint dust [rises] sluggishly about their
thighs, spinning with slow motes in the single sun-ray” (495). The slow
“spinning” of the “sluggish” dust mirrors the gradual uncovering of past
influences. Although the town and its politics have changed considerably
since the death of Colonel Sartoris and with the passage of time, the visit
Uncovering the Past: The Role of Dust Imagery in A ROSE FOR EMILY 7

with Emily uncovers reminders of a past generation. In fact, the single ray of
light coming through the open blinds illuminates a “crayon portrait of Miss
Emily’s father” (495)—a strong though “tarnished” reminder of Southern
class distinction. Like lingering influences from the past, the dust disturbed
by the group’s official visit will eventually fall back upon the house’s objects,
“biding” its time before someone causes it to swirl around the room again.
As the infiltration into Emily’s house after her death reflects, as the
years accumulate and the past becomes more fully “covered,” it is difficult
to “uncover” its secrets with gentleness and accuracy. The party determined
to unearth what secrets Emily’s closed-off room held knows the endeavor
will require “force” (502) but likely does not anticipate the violent shock
it receives when finally laying eyes upon Homer’s dust-covered remains.
In fact, the contrast between “the violence of breaking down the door” and
the subsequent “pervading dust” that seems to fill the room (502) parallels
the indiscriminate slow accumulation of time and humanity’s treatment of
and reaction to the past. Although the townspeople likely felt more shock
than pain (as Emily was a “monument” rather than someone with whom to
empathize), the discovery of Homer’s murder suggests that some uncovered
truths do cause harm. Moreover, an individual’s memory or discovery of
what happened in the past rarely accurately reflects the truth. The townspeo-
ple now know Emily murdered Homer Barron. They do not know the content
of the couple’s last conversation, whether Homer knew Emily had poisoned
him, or how Emily felt when she chose to literally hold on to Homer—even
in death. Like memory, what is uncovered about the past often comes in
pieces, and some things always remain unknown.
Unlike memory and decay, some details of the past may remain undis-
covered, but they still exist—“patient and biding” (502). The final image in
the story describes the discovery of a strand of Emily’s hair on the pillow
next to Homer’s. As this discovery takes place, the narrator describes an
“invisible dust dry and acrid in the nostrils” (502). Just like the “swirling
dust” disturbed but not eradicated by the town delegation’s visit, the past
remains to impart its influence in some manner on the present. The last
sentence of “A Rose for Emily” suggests that the townspeople will feel the
lingering influence of Emily Grierson and her generation, like dust lingering
in the nostrils.

Work Cited
Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Ed. R. V. Cassill. 4th
ed. New York: Norton, 1978. 494–502. Print.