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Homer's Loss In A Rose For Emily

1524 Words7 Pages

The Loss of Loved Ones

The story starts off with everyone attending Miss Emily Grierson's funeral. Next the story goes on to describe who Miss Emily was and why she had such importance to the town. Miss Emily was described as a woman who was stuck in the past. For the most part she never came out of her home, especially after her father died. Miss Emily was around for a very long time and never paid taxes because of Colonel Sartoris said, "no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes."(Faulkner). Colonel Sartoris had passed away and a new group of council members were formed. These council members had a lot of problems with Miss Emily, for one she still refused to pay her taxes saying that the Colonel said …show more content…

Faulkner characterizes Homer as the type of guy who like attention, but with such little information he is also painted as mysterious. "Homer Barron is the Yankee construction foreman who become Emily Grierson's first real beau" ("A Rose for Emily"). Faulkner seems to be talking about how Homer plays a role in the story and how he became part of Emily's life. This is the majority of what is described about Homer which is strange because he plays a big part in the story. " Whenever you heard a lot of laughing anywhere about the square, Homer Barron would be in the center of the group" (Faulkner). This quote implies that Homer was very outgoing and loved being the center of attention. This quote also gives us a little more insight into who …show more content…

Death is something that surrounds Emily for the whole story and is part of the reason why she is who she is. "Death is prevalent, both literally and figuratively"("A Rose for Emily"). Faulkner seems to use death an excuse for Emily's behavior on behalf of the town. "The day after his death all the ladies prepared to call at the house and offer condolence and aid"(Faulkner). This is just an example from the story on just how surround Miss Emily was by death. Death is what drove her to kill Homer, so he couldn't leave her.

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It is clear that in her era, Miss Emily was seen as traditional American Southern women, who lived to become an inferior women to man but was later a burden to her society. She was a lady who was secluded from society, lived a psychopathic life, which at the end, and was no secret for the town’s people. While Miss Emily was alive, she lived in a secluded home of a single father, thus leading her to be dependent upon him. She did not have much of a socially engaged life, for her father drove men away. When he finally died, Miss Emily told the townspeople that he was not dead, and finally, on the third day, let the town’s people buried him (William Faulkner 1105).

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Emily grapples with her emotions, desires and her mental state. In the small southern town of Jefferson where “Alive, Miss Emily has been a tradition, a duty, and a carer (Falkner (3)). Miss Emily, more of a symbol to the town than an actual person. She embodies the upper-class southern women made of steel, accepting any help would be even worse than admitting that there is a problem in the first place. Miss Emily, struggling within herself to accept the new culture of the town, refuses to pay the taxes nor accept help.

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768 Words | 4 Pages

Though, Emily’s death is not what the author wants the reader to focus on, instead, he attempts to get across the image of her house, an old house that “had once been white” and had no one other than a servant has entered the inside for around ten years. On line 18, the author states that Emily’s house is “an eyesore among eyesores.” Gothic literature focuses on the potential evil and uses settings of dark, eerie, and in this case, Emily’s “decay[ing]” house. Nonetheless, it is stated that even with an eyesore of a house, while Emily was alive, she was considered a “tradition, a duty, and a care.” This leads the reader to be curious and caring towards her just as the old generation was; however, when

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780 Words | 4 Pages

People often tend to move on from the past and leave it behind, but for Emily Grierson, the past was a simpler and better time to live. After her father´s death years ago the town takes away her taxes and states that she no longer owes any. Now several years later new leaders of the town try to take Emily´s money. People around her are modernizing their homes and Emily stays old fashioned. The town soon starts to see that Miss Emily shows a reflection of the town 's past .

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716 Words | 3 Pages

Homer Barron is described as “a big, dark, ready man, with a big voice and eyes lighter than his face” (Faulkner 4). No woman wants to feel as if they’re unattractive, especially when it comes to someone they like in an intimate way. However, Emily’s problem wasn’t that she was unattractive because according to Faulkner, she was quite beautiful in her youth. The ultimate issue did not lie on Emily, but on Homer Barron because of his odd remark that he liked men. Emily must have been confused and a tad bit sad to find out that the man she liked didn’t like her back.

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856 Words | 4 Pages

As a young girl, Emily is cut off socially by her father who drove off all her suitors. When he dies she refuses to accept his death for three days, “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.” After the three days, the townspeople intervened and buried her father

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876 Words | 4 Pages

The Presidency of Donald Trump has been a very hot and controversial topic recently, there are many critics that say he is a bad president and do not like what he is doing, but he has done what is best for our country to the best of his abilities. President Trump started his presidency without having any governmental experience at all, but had addressed many hot topics such as immigration and taxes, and devised very sound and convincing ways to solves these problems. Critics pick apart his tweets and speeches to make him seem like a terrible person and president when he is just proposing viable plans to solve ongoing problems. Under President Trump’s administration, there have been many changes and proposals that have raised immense controversy.

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She is unable to comprehend her father’s death. Miss Emily’s reaction proves her reality did not line up with what actually happened. “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.”

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By claiming that the city owed her father, Colonel Sartoris decided to completely exempt Emily Grierson from paying any taxes to the city of Jefferson. This arrangement worked well until the next generation took over, and they were unsatisfied with this situation. Therefore, the new generation attempted to collect taxes from Miss Emily. She blatantly refused and continued to claim she had no taxes in Jefferson because of her father and Colonel Sartoris. Any tax notice that was sent to her was unclaimed and returned.

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1055 Words | 5 Pages

As the story goes on, Faulkner describes Emily’s death: “When Miss Emily Grierson died the whole town went to her funeral: the men out of respectful affection for a fallen monument and the women mostly out of curiosity” (Faulkner). Faulkner emphasizes that while men are caring and respectful women act only based on curiosity. Indeed, the role of women in the southern society is less significant than the role of

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1024 Words | 5 Pages

The townspeople would not suspect anything else about the disappearance of Homer until the day of Miss Emily’s funeral. This is when they would find out just how crazy Miss Emily was. The last day Homer is seen going into her house was possibly the last day he would live. Miss Emily’s house was dusty and dirty like that of a woman who just did not care anymore. There was one room in the house that no one was able to get into for forty or so years (Faulkner, 1930).

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704 Words | 3 Pages

This act can already tell the reader that she could have psychological problems but it was pushed off by the neighbors who believed she was just hurt. She refuses to move on from this death and also refuses to recognize the Colonel Sartoris death after they agreed that she does not owe taxes. Miss Emily was no required to pay property taxes due to the fact of past favors that her father had done for the town. Faulkner reveals how

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1223 Words | 5 Pages

The townspeople had made her into the scapegoat, which is a lamb whose sins are all placed upon and all the town’s knowledge of this killing was placed upon Emily. During the timeline of the story, Emily lived in a romance and a myth, because every white southern woman was to conform to the town’s traditional social status as a well-dressed and obedient Eve. Emily refused to acknowledge her father and lover’s death and kept them at home, because she idolized and idealized both of them beyond the life of death due to her desperation for companionship. The reason why Emily was never troubled by the town alderman when she refused to pay the taxes, because women of class were not to be bothered by worldly obligations. The judge rejected the complaints of the neighbor’s for her didn’t make to make it an issue, because you don’t just tell a lady to her face that she smells bad.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

“A Rose for Emily”, written by William Faulkner, starts with a funeral for the main character, Emily Grierson. Emily was a quiet woman and very reserved. It was rumored that no one had seen her in nearly a decade except for her servant. She also has one of the nicest homes in town. Emily was also the only person in the town who is never forced to pay taxes, until near the time of her death.

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, Faulkner’s story demonstrates gothic literature due to the death portrayed throughout. During various parts of the story, death and decay stand out. For example, death can is shown when Emily’s father dies when she is thirty years old. Even though she was isolated most of her life due to her father, the death of him affected her, both emotionally and mentally. This is stated in “After her father 's death she went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all.”

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