A Rose for Emily

By William Faulkner

CHARACTERS:
 Emily Grierson
The object of fascination in the story. An eccentric recluse, Emily is a mysterious figure
who changes from a vibrant and hopeful young girl to a cloistered and secretive old
woman. Devastated and alone after her father’s death, she is an object of pity for the
townspeople. After a life of having potential suitors rejected by her father, she spends
time after his death with a newcomer, Homer Barron, although the chances of his
marrying her decrease as the years pass. Bloated and pallid in her later years, her hair
turns steel gray. She ultimately poisons Homer and seals his corpse into an upstairs room.
 Homer Barron
A foreman from the North. Homer is a large man with a dark complexion, a booming
voice, and light-colored eyes. A gruff and demanding boss, he wins many admirers in
Jefferson because of his gregarious nature and good sense of humor. He develops an
interest in Emily and takes her for Sunday drives in a yellow-wheeled buggy. Despite his
attributes, the townspeople view him as a poor, if not scandalous, choice for a mate. He
disappears in Emily’s house and decomposes in an attic bedroom after she kills him.
 Judge Stevens
A mayor of Jefferson. Eighty years old, Judge Stevens attempts to delicately handle the
complaints about the smell emanating from the Grierson property. To be respectful of
Emily’s pride and former position in the community, he and the aldermen decide to
sprinkle lime on the property in the middle of the night.
 Mr. Grierson
Emily’s father. Mr. Grierson is a controlling, looming presence even in death, and the
community clearly sees his lasting influence over Emily. He deliberately thwarts Emily’s
attempts to find a husband in order to keep her under his control. We get glimpses of him
in the story: in the crayon portrait kept on the gilt-edged easel in the parlor, and
silhouetted in the doorway, horsewhip in hand, having chased off another of Emily’s
suitors.
 Tobe
Emily’s servant. Tobe, his voice supposedly rusty from lack of use, is the only lifeline
that Emily has to the outside world. For years, he dutifully cares for her and tends to her
needs. Eventually the townspeople stop grilling him for information about Emily. After
Emily’s death, he walks out the back door and never returns.
  Colonel Sartoris
A former mayor of Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris absolves Emily of any tax burden after the
death of her father. His elaborate and benevolent gesture is not heeded by the succeeding
generation of town leaders.

Theme:
One of the many themes communicated in A Rose for Emily is “a silent life leads to a silent
death”. This theme relates to death in the sense that Homer died a very quiet death. Nobody
really new that he had left/died considering he hadn’t been a major influence in the community.
The death of homer ties to directly into the motif of violence because he was poisoned by Emily.

PLOT

Climax:
Rising action:
When Emily kills Homer. She is so afraid of losing him that she kills
When Homer Barron
him, to keep him forever. She preserves his corpse, and will never
comes into town. He
worry about losing him again.
gains the affection of
the town, and the
 Falling Action:

When Emily is starting to get old. She is fading into

death, and the town realizes.

Conflict:

Two years after her

father’s death and Resolution:
Exposition:
her sweetheart the In “A Rose for Emily” the resolution is Miss Emily
Miss Emily one we believed dying. The conflict in this story is Miss Emily’s fear
was a would marry her, of losing her loved ones. Although this resolution
tradition, a deserted her. She may not be favored by all readers, it solves the
duty, and a went out very little conflict.
care. She is a after her father’s
figure of death, and son
recognition, after her
and sweetheart left her,
importance in people hardly ever
her town. Her saw her. This is her
family and second loss of a
ancestral loved one, after
history earns Colonel Sartoris.
great respect, This starts her
while losing of and
sometimes clinging to of loved
she doesn’t ones.
get that
respect.
Although
some people
protect her,
many people
are just
curious about
her and her
mysterious
life. Point of View:
First Person Point of View
The narrator speaks sometimes for the men of Jefferson, sometimes for the women, and often for
both. It also spans three generations of Jeffersonians, including the generation of Miss Emily's
father, Miss Emily's generation, and the "newer generation," made up of the children of Miss
Emily's contemporaries. The narrator is pretty hard on the first two generations, and it's easy to
see how their treatment of Miss Emily may have led to her downfall. This lends the narrative a
somewhat confessional feel.

While we're on the subject of "we," notice no one townsperson is completely responsible for
what happened to Emily. (It's fair to say, though, that some are more responsible than others.)
The willingness of the town to now admit responsibility is a hopeful sign, and one that allows us
to envision a better future for generations to come.

Foreshadow:
Arsenic
One instance of foreshadowing occurs when Emily Grierson buys arsenic from the druggist.
According to the narrator, Emily is a haughty aristocrat who thinks she is better than most of the
other townspeople. Emily uses her demeanor to bully the druggist into selling her poison.
“I want some poison,” she demands, though she refuses to tell the druggist the purpose of her
purchase. The law requires that the druggist know what the poison will be used for, so he
eventually gives in and writes “for rats” on the box.

Letting Go
Emily has trouble letting go of those she loves, even in death. The first instance if this propensity
occurs when Emily’s father dies: “The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the
house and offer condolence and aid, as is our custom. Miss Emily met them at the door, dressed
as usual and with no trace of grief on her face. She told them that her father was not dead. She
did that for three days, with the ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her
to let them dispose of the body. Just as they were about to resort to law and force, she broke
down, and they buried her father quickly”.

SETTING:
The story takes place in Jefferson, Mississippi. Emily's house, like Emily herself, is a monument,
the only remaining emblem of a dying world of Southern aristocracy.
CONFLICT:
Person vs. Self
Emily tends deal with a lot of problems by herself. Her father never let her date or marry anyone
because he thought they weren’t good enough for her. After her father died, she tried to keep the
body, she didn’t really have anyone in her life except her father. When her father died, she lost
everyone that mattered to her. She eventually started dating people and getting back out into the
world again. She had met Homer whom she had hoped to marry one day. The towns people were
worried because he was a northerner and a Yankee therefore, they tried to get her to stop seeing
him, but they soon learned Homer was more interested in living the life of a single guy. When
Emily learned of this, she went to the drug store to buy arsenic, she wanted to ensure Homer did
not leave her.

TONE:
The mood of the story is melancholy, ominous, and eerie. It made the readers want to keep
reading as they didn't know what was to come. It was also a sad story, as Emily's life included
sadness and loneliness.
"'I want arsenic.' The druggist looked down at her. She looked back at him, erect, her face like a
strained flag. 'Why, of course,' the druggist said. 'If that's what you want. But the law requires
you to tell what you are going to use it for.' Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in
order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it
up."

This relates Southern Gothic Literature because the mood showed the readers how it represents
the style of literature.

Being dark, ominous, and eerie showed the Southern Gothic Literature style.