A Rose For Emily Literary Analysis

The author William Faulkner writes a lot of his work with similar themes. Most used in his work is love, death, the American dream, mystery and gothic literature. Faulkner was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. He worked for a New York bookstore. A Rose for Emily was published in 1931. His other pieces like The Bear, Light in August, Spotted Horses and more all have similar themes. In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner’s message is a love story of a non-marrying man and a mad woman who have a twisted relationship. Faulkner in A Rose for Emily illustrates a twisted love between two completely different people.
“A Rose for Emily” is about an older woman “Emily Grierson” who has a very imitating personality. She’s first

Homer is known for drinking with the younger men in Elk’s club, and that he is not a marrying man. Homer and Emily’s relationship is frowned upon because the townspeople have the idea they will never get married rather their relationship is more of an affair. The rumors of the town do not affect their relationship the couple tends to ignore it. Several people try to get in the middle of their relationship including the mayor of Jefferson Colonel Sartoris, Emily’s cousins, Judge Stevens, and also the mayor’s wife. While all of this happens Homer leaves town for several days, three days after Emily’s cousins go back to Alabama Homer is see entering the house but is not seen alive

One being Emily’s father death “that prompts Colonel Sartoris to remit Emily’s taxes into perpetuity” (Akers). What Akers is trying to say is that Emily’s taxes will present value of future payments will eventually never be paid. Death is prevalent both figuratively and prevalently. When Emily’s father dies she keeps his body for three days and finally allows his body to be buried. The narrator also mentions the madness of death of old lady Wyatt, Emily’s aunt who was also labeled mad. Another death would be of her lover Homer who she poisoned. Emily bought arsenic while her cousins are visiting her from the druggist. The druggist questioned Emily but being so convincing all Emily had to do was give the druggist a look to get what she wanted. The arsenic was labeled “for rats” on the box. Arsenic is a poisonous chemical that could have very different outcomes and symptoms. Several years later when Emily dies the upstairs is reopened to the townspeople, that’s when a long strand of iron gray hair lying on a pillow next to the corpse of her loved one. “death functions as a process that not only can provide moments of clarity and revelation but also can yield more unresolved questions than answers”