A Rose for Emily

Summary

There are five pieces to the narrative. The narrator recounts Emily Grierson's death and
how the entire community came to her burial at her house, which had been closed to strangers for
more than ten years. Emily's house is the final relic of a bygone period in a once-sophisticated,
elite neighborhood. Following her father's death, Colonel Sartoris, the town's former mayor, had
deferred Emily's tax obligations to the town, saying that Mr. Grierson had previously lent the
municipality a large sum. As new town officials assume office, they try but fail to persuade Emily
to restart her payments. Emily reasserts that she is not compelled to pay taxes in Jefferson when
members of the Board of Aldermen pay her a visit in the dusty and outdated parlor, and that the
authorities should speak with Colonel Sartoris about the situation. He had, however, been deceased
for about a decade at that time. Tobe, her servant, is asked to show the guys out.

The narrator narrates a period thirty years ago when Emily fights another official enquiry
on behalf of the town officials when the villagers notice a strong stink emerging from her farm in
section II. Emily's father has recently died, and the guy whom the townfolk expected Emily to
marry has abandoned her. As the number of complaints grows, Judge Stevens, the mayor at the
time, orders lime to be sprinkled over the Grierson house's foundation in the middle of the night.
The stink fades after a few weeks, but the locals begin to feel sorry for Emily as she becomes
increasingly reclusive, recalling her great aunt's insanity. The women of the town call Emily the
day following Mr. Grierson's death to express their condolences. Emily greets them at the door
and claims that her father is alive, a ruse she maintains for three days. She ultimately hands up her
father's remains to be buried.

In part III, the narrator discusses Emily's extended sickness following this occurrence. The
municipality hires workers to pave the walkways the summer after her father's death, and a
construction company led by northerner Homer Barron is granted the job. Emily goes to the drug
shop to get arsenic, a potent poison, as the affair continues and her image is increasingly tarnished.
By law, she must declare how she intends to use the arsenic. She gives no explanation, and the
item is labeled "for rats" when it arrives at her residence.

The narrator discusses some of the townspeople's worry that Emily may use the poison to
kill herself in section IV. Despite their prolonged Sunday routine, her possible marriage to Homer
appears increasingly implausible. The town's most furious ladies demand that the Baptist preacher
meet with Emily. He never talks about what happened after his stay and swears he'll never return.
As a result, the minister's wife writes to Emily's two cousins in Alabama, who are visiting for a
while. The couple's marriage is brought up again when Emily gets a silver toilet set monogrammed
with Homer's initials. Homer has been missing from town, and it's assumed that he's either
preparing for Emily's relocation to the North or avoiding Emily's obnoxious family. Homer visits
the Grierson residence one evening after the cousins have left and is never seen again. Emily
becomes chubby and gray while she is cooped up in the house. Despite the odd china painting
class she conducts, she keeps her door locked to strangers. Emily refuses to recognize the tax bill,
like she does every year. She finally shuts down the house's top level. Nothing is heard from her
until she dies at the age of seventy-four, save for the rare sight of her through the window. The
servant is the only one who enters and exits the house.

The narrator describes what happens after Emily dies in section V. The women, village
elders, and two cousins attend Emily's funeral, which is held in the parlor. The townsfolk break
down the door of a locked upper room that had not been opened in forty years after some time has
passed. The things for an impending wedding and a man's attire are lined up in the room, which
has been frozen in time. Homer Barron's body is also splayed out on the bed, in a stage of severe
decomposition. Onlookers see a head imprint in the pillow next to Homer's corpse, as well as a
long strand of Emily's gray hair on the pillow.