A Rose For Emily

"A Rose for Emily"

What a reader thinks about a story can completely change in one line. The author will build up presuppositions of characters and expected results throughout the whole story, but in one paragraph or sentence, all of those beliefs can change. In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner concludes the story with an ending that leaves the reader surprised.

Miss Emily is portrayed as a woman who keeps to herself at all times. Even though it was mentioned that Homer Barron was over at her house frequently, the reader still is given the impression, that as a whole, Miss Emily did not fit well with others. So when the story ends, "We saw a long stand of iron-gray hair," it is revealed to the reader that Miss Emily, in fact, wanted to be loved quite desperately. Miss Emily wanted to be with Homer despite the fact he was assumed to be a homosexual. Her longing for love even remained when Homer had died. Throughout the story, the reader concludes that Miss Emily had been deprived of a life of love due to her father, but it is not until the last line reveals her actions that the reader realizes how severely hopeless she was for love. Perhaps, the fact that she had never been able to have a boyfriend because of her father led her to kill Homer; she wanted him to only be with her.

Miss Emily was not only a person who was cut off from true love, but she was also mentally disturbed and did not know the right way to deal with the feeling she had. She took matters into her own hands and decided to get what she wanted. She was a woman who longed for love like a child does, but she dealt with it in ways a child would never imagine.