A Rose For Emily Essay

In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily", he writes a story that occurs in the fictitious town of Jefferson, Mississippi. The story begins with a narrator discussing a woman who died in her old age, and how her life impacted a community. The narrator states in the story that Miss Emily, through her family history, places herself above the other members of her community. He also says that she considered herself to be above the law. When her beau, Homer Baron disappears, everyone in town believes that he moved away, but in reality Miss Emily kills him and keeps him in her home so that they can always be together. With no regard to the laws against homicide, she thinks only of her happiness. "A Rose for Emily" implies that trying to be above the law will always wreak destructive consequences for those who try.

Miss Emily Grierson was a woman who was born into what was perceived to be a rich family. She was raised in an upper class home that her prominent family owned. Her father was thought to be financially secure, but when he died, it was proven that the only thing that was left to Miss Emily was the house. She was in fact "left alone, and a pauper" (Faulkner 30). The mayor, at the time of her father's death, was Colonel Sartoris. After her father died Colonel Sartoris had "remitted her taxes" and he had "invented the tale, to the effect that Miss Emily's father had loaned money to the town, which the town preferred this way of repaying" (Faulkner 29). Ten years after the death of Colonel Sartoris the town approached Miss Emily and tried to convince her that she needed to pay her taxes. She defended herself stating, "See Colonel Sartoris, I have no taxes in Jefferson" (Faulkner 30). Miss Emily's refusal to pay the taxes even though Sartoris had been dead for many years showed that she did not have to follow the laws because she believed herself above the law.

In the story, a man with a construction company came into town and began courting Miss Emily. During their courtship, everyone felt that she had finally found herself a husband, but they also noticed that Homer had not been around for a while. One day Miss Emily went to the drug store to buy some poison, and the druggist told her that by law he had to know why she was buying it and she refused to tell him. The druggist took it upon himself to write on the bottle that the poison was purchased "For Rats" (Faulkner 32).