A Rose For Emily Section 2 Analysis

I nominate Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" (pages 143 - 151) as the best short story that I read this week. I enjoy "A Rose for Emily" because it brings you into a storyline that you can relate to or at least think you can relate to as the reader. I think you will find in this essay that Emily is not who you think she is.

The story is basically set up in 5 different sections. In section 1 we go straight to the setting of the story as Emily has died and everyone has attended her funeral in her home that no one has entered in over 10 years. This is where they go to a room that has not been opened in over 20 years where they find her assistant Homer laying on the bed bones and all. In section 2 we see where the story goes back to a time where Emily

But once the Colonel had passed away the townspeople wanted Emily to start paying her taxes again, but she refused to do this. In section 3 we see that Emily is suffering from a disease that is caused by the previous section while dealing with her fathers passing. Once the town starts making improvements a man named Homer is chosen to do the work for the town. At this point, he is seen winning over the heart of Emily over and the townspeople are not liking this because Homer is way beneath her family statue. As the love affair keeps growing and growing Emily decides to go to the drugstore and purchase a poison called Arsenic. When asked why she is going to need this she says "rats". In section 4 of the storyline, we see that the town is thinking Emily and Homer are going to get married, but when the Baptist pastor comes to speak with Emily he explains that he will never go in her home again. So Emily's cousins come into town from Alabama to be with her. Once her cousins leave to go back home, Homer enters Emily's home and is never seen again. Emily never comes out of her house after this and the townspeople still press the subject of her paying her taxes every year.