William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

“A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a short story about a woman named Emily Grierson. This short story is told through the first person perspective of an individual townsperson, since the narrator is never stated to be a main character within the story. Furthermore, the story is taking place in the following years of the Civil War. The Reconstruction Era in the Southern part of the country was also taking place around this time. Many families, such as Emily’s family in this case, were incredibly wealthy since they had owned slaves and forced them to work on their personal plantation. Since “A Rose for Emily” had taken place after the Civil War, wealthy families like Emily’s no longer have the immense amount of wealth that they had before.

A recurring and main problem that is stated throughout this entire story is how Emily constantly refuses to pay her governmental taxes. Although, Emily’s family did not receive as much income after the Civil War, the family still had enough money to maintain their high status. “The women mostly out of curiosity to see inside her house… no one save an old man servant- a combined gardener and cook…” (Faulkner, 224). Since the Grierson’s family had a few servants, they were not desperately poor after the Civil War which means Emily can afford to pay the taxes. Furthermore, Emily does not pay the taxes since it connects to the theme of the story which is moving forward from the past. Before the Civil War, Americans did not have to pay taxes until President Lincoln had created a law for income tax in 1861. Since Emily Grierson did not want to move forward, she simply ignored the townspeople in despite of not wanting to change her

Throughout Emily’s entire life, the only thing she ever really wanted and the only thing she ever dreamed of having was to have a man to love and care about. Furthermore, her father never allowed for this dream to ever come to reality. This fact only further state how no matter how hard Emily may try; she will never be able to escape her past. People of the community can see the negative effect that Mr. Grierson impacted on his daughter. After many years, and the fact that her father is now deceased, she is still traumatized from her father's actions that she never allowed herself to become involved with any man at all. Although Emily allowed herself to become involved with a man named Homer Barron. When Homer comes back and enters Emily’s home, he is never to be seen again. Soon after, his corpse is found rotting in Emily's bed with a single gray strand of hair. Emily could not escape the past since her family had raised her to never be with a man, she couldn't handle being with