William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” is a short story that emphasizes the dramatic historical changes that consumed the generation following the Reconstruction Era. This was a time when southern plantation owners, who had been society’s elite and had dominated the South’s economy and social structure, were now forced to find a new place within the new hierarchy. Having lost the Civil War, Southerners met these changes with resentment and indignation. Many years would pass before the Old South was purged to make room for the new ways forced upon it. The last vestiges of refinement and southern ideology wither and fade in many towns like that of Jefferson as time leaves the antebellum South behind. In staunch opposition, though, Emily holds

Miss Emily Grierson is affected by the time, the environment, and the society that surrounds her, forcing her to shelter herself from the harsh treatment that drove her to hide away within the walls of her lavish mansion. Faulkner describes her as “Thus she passed from generation to generation—dear, inescapable, impervious, tranquil, and perverse.” This estrangement makes her feel rejected by society and anxious that she will forever be alone. She truly wants to marry and finds comfort and a sense of hope with Homer Barron, a northerner, who is another victim of society’s cruel game of judgment. The community feels that Homer is beneath Emily in social status and condemns the relationship. The story states that “. . . there were still others, older people, who said that even grief could not cause a real lady to forget noblesse oblige . . .” because the citizens believe that Emily will never find a man who is worthy of her honor and

The citizens of Jefferson see her as someone who “. . . carried her head high enough--even when we believed that she was fallen.” Faulkner calls her strength “imperviousness,” and it is important to note that despite everything, even the town’s disdain for her antiquated attachment to the ways of the Old South, she prevails in maintaining her honor and dignity. The townsfolk rummage through her belongings, finding secrets that have been locked away for years. In the upstairs bedroom, they discover Homer in a nightshirt with a toilet set and a man’s suit, all of which Emily had purchased along with the poison and carefully placed on display in a gruesome bridal shrine. Among these relics and beside the decaying Homer, is a second pillow with the indentation of a head and an iron-grey hair that belongs to the elderly