A Rose For Emily

"A Rose for Emily", by William Faulkner, begins and ends with the death of Miss Emily

Grierson, the main character of the story. In the story William Faulkner uses

characterization to reveal the character of Miss Emily. Faulkner divided the story "into

five sections, the first and last section having to do with the present, and the now of

the narration, with the three middle sections detailing the past" (Davis 35). Faulkner

expresses the content of Miss Emily's character through physical description, through her

actions, words, and feelings, through the narrator's direct comments about her, and

through the actions, words, and feelings of other characters. Faulkner best uses

characterization to examine the theme of the story, we are the products of our

environment.

Miss Emily lives for many years as a recluse, as a result of her surroundings. In the

story the narrator comments that "no one save an old man-servant-a combined gardener and

cook-had seen [the house] in at least ten years" (Faulkner 217). Miss Emily's father is

partly to blame for her life as a recluse. Faulkner's narrator says that, "We remembered

all the young men her father had driven away" (221). Critic Donald Akers notes that:

In the story, Emily's overprotective, overbearing father denies her a normal relationship

with the opposite sex by chasing away any potential mates. Because her father is the only

man with whom she has had a close relationship, she denies his death and keeps his corpse

in her house until she breaks down three days later when the doctors insist she let them

take the body. (2)

Her father robs her from many of life's necessities. She misses out on having friends,

being a normal woman, and her ability to be happy. Emily is so used to having her father

be there for her, she figures that by keeping his body he can still be part of her life.

Miss Emily may have lived in seclusion, but her heart longed for companionship.

The summer after her father's death, the town brought in a construction company to begin

paving the sidewalks. The foreman of the company was Homer Barron. The town then begins

to see him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons together. Michael L. Burduck, of The

University of Mississippi Studies in English, notes in his article that "Faulkner himself

sheds interesting light on this matter when he describes Miss Emily as a woman 'that just

wanted to be loved and to love and to have a husband and a family'" (210). It is later

gossiped that Miss Emily had bought arsenic, and the town all said, "She will kill

herself"(Faulkner 223). Later it was gossiped that she had bought a man's toilet set and

men's clothing and the town was glad because they thought that the two either were or

were getting married. Emily now feels that "without a husband, her life will have no

meaning" ("A Rose for Emily 1). It is noted by Daniel Akers that "Homer himself may not

exactly be enthusiastic about marrying Emily. However, it is left to the reader to

imagine the exact circumstances leading to Homer's denouement. Finally, Emily takes the

offensive by poisoning Homer so he can't abandon her" (3). Miss Emily's desire for love

and companionship drives her to murder Homer Baron with arsenic poison that was bought to

be used for rats. Critic Michael L. Burduck says:

Our narrator knows that Emily purchased poison, ostensibly to kill "rats". One slang use

of the term "rat" applies to a man who has cheated on his lover. Perhaps Faulkner's

tale-teller suspects that Emily feared that