A Rose For Emily

The Mystery of Emily Grierson

As remarkable a story as A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner was, the irony presented about Miss Emily's life was truly remarkable. The life and death of Emily Grierson drew a lot of attention from the entire town. Faulkner's description of the women in the town seemed to make the audience feel as if they were curious about her way of life. This short story was set in the town of Jefferson where for many years Miss Emily lived with her father. When her father passed away Faulkner described the decline in sanity Miss Emily endured. The mystery of many unanswered questions all came out following her death.

The story starts by giving a lot of information on the house and town Miss Emily lived in along with the details about her life and death. When reading the story a person can tell that this is written by someone who lives in the town and knows of the family. The narrator has possibly been around for a number of years. The protagonist seems to be Emily in this story because of the chain of events she has endured leading to her mental instability. The narrator also gives information about the mental state of her family. The narrator described Emily when she started getting interested in boys by saying, "So when she got thirsty and was still single, we were not pleased exactly, but vindicated; even with insanity in the family she wouldn't have turned down all of her chances if they had really materialized" (Faulkner 93). This statement lets the audience know that the narrator has knowledge about Miss Emily's family and their past mental illnesses.

The antagonist in A Rose for Emily I feel would be the mental state Miss Emily is in. It seemed that her mental and physical health seemed to decline tremendously through out the story. Emily's father died leaving Emily holding on to the only person who seemed to care for her. The story tells of how Emily's father drove young men away so all she had left was him. After her father's passing the story describes how Emily lied about her father being dead and how she kept him in the house for three days. The first sign showing mental instability was very obvious at the beginning of the story, but this was only the start of all the problems she would endure through her life. The second sign was to come later in the story when her lies and seclusion from the rest of the town take place.

As the narrator describes Emily's love interest, Homer Barron, I felt as if she might have a chance to regain her sanity by spending time with this man. The narrator describes the relationship by saying, "Presently we began to see him and Miss Emily on Sunday afternoons driving the yellow-wheeled buggy and the matched team of bays from the livery stable" (Faulkner 93). This line makes me feel as if Miss Emily might be happy and in control of her life. Later in the story Miss Emily goes to by poison from the drug store and is very secretive about the reason behind buying it. The narrator believed that she would kill herself because of the secrecy and way she approached the druggist in getting the poison. Later in the story the reader will find out that the poison was not for suicide reasons. Emily's love Homer Barron also falls from sight sometime after this.

Part of the climax of the story fell when the narrator described