A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily, is a fascinating story by William Faulkner that depicts the life of a woman who resorted to living in solitude and has surrounded herself with death.

The narration of Miss Emily is from a third person, “we” perspective, leading us to believe that a member of the community is narrating the story. It has to be an older man because he describes Emily’s life from the time she was young until her death. A man that is good at telling old tales or ghost stories.

In her later years Miss Emily was portrayed as a woman whose appearance shows the difficult times of her life. Each wrinkle has a different story. She is pale from confining herself to her home after being rejected by the man she loved. She was a tradition or an obligation to her community; a proud woman who would never ask for help and living for the past in an unrealistic society. Every town has a Miss Emily.

The setting of the story is Miss Emily’s house that has decayed with age. It was a large house with balconies and had once been a beautiful home in the neighborhood. However, like its owner, its age and lack of upkeep had caught up with it. The home was confining, dark and gruesome.

The theme of death is imminent in this story. First, it is the death of Miss Emily herself and the depiction of how the town has attended her funeral. The second instance is the death of Emily’s father, which brings about the reason that Colonel Sartoris forgave her from paying taxes. Yet after Colonel Sartoris has died, the tax issue comes about once again. Lastly, after the funeral was over and the town enters the prison like home, the body of Miss Emily’s love was found dead in his bedroom after she has passed away. A gray hair on the pillow beside him leads the audience to believe she had been sleeping with his dead body for quite some time.